Question by nwohioguy: What do you think about this state as an instructor?
Recently I have been in a moderately heated discussion on another forum about the value of NAPMA, MAIA and all those other make it rich associations in the martial arts world. One of the heads of one organization posted this in the forum “”Here’s another question – do you think your students (kids, parents, etc) want to achieve the same things as a broke instructor: run down Ford Pinto, struggling to pay the rent – or do you think they want to be like the Mercedes driving, Rolex wearing highly successful martial arts professional?”
Before I post my view on this I am interested to see what other martial arts instructors think or feel about this statement. Thank you.
Excellent answer Judomofo and agreed! One of the reasons I was appauled by this statement is the amount that it does to do two things:
1. It shows the arrogance and judgemental views of people with money towards those without. According to this statement this person says that all people want their children to learn from some who is rich…as if that means you are successful.
2. It shows that, in this case, he feels that you judge the quality of a school based on the material possesions that instructor owns instead of raw passion, desire and ability to teach others.
Thank you everyone and I wam leaving this question open since I have not heard from ShihanJ or Pugpaws yet.
Also – I agree that is quite alright to make a living at martial arts but we must live that life in humility. Teaching to own a lexus or rolex is stupid in my opinion.
James – ofcourse I wanted your answer as well you have great insight. Thank you. I do agree with many things in your post as well. You nailed it on the head when explaining that in the beginning people do not understand the importance of credentials but as they develop a more serious want for training they soon come to realize the importance of their Sensei having those items. I also agree to be a “school owner” (not just a teacher) you have to have more than just martial arts training and will need a good business sense…unless you are happy being stuck in the garage and teaching for scraps and struggling to pay the bills. This was an excellent answer with good points as well. Thank you.
JW – I found this interesting “They have never been to my dojo to see the instructions that we have. But they have paid a lot of money and haven’t gotten much other than belts”…don’t you think that this is a big problem? I know many people who took classes at the ATA and quit…yet they ask us and never come in. Do you think it is because they were really just wanting to quit anyway or do you really believe it was the costs? I mean if they really do want the training then why not come in and sign up instead of saying it and never doing it after they quit the expensive mcdojos?
Hey ShihanJ…anything on this yet? I am getting ready to close it. Thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by judomofo
Well my thoughts are long and drawn out on this, I will try to condense.
First, I don’t think a Martial Arts instructor needs to be the absolute role model for all things in life for his students. I think he needs to be their role model in Martial Arts. I would take a highly skilled, great character pinto drive broke instructor over a poorly skilled, watered down teaching Benzo rolex wearing instructor.
I also don’t believe that whole thing that making money in Martial Arts is a bad thing. If you are a great teacher and your business thrives, that is a good thing. I don’t think you have to be condemned to a life of poverty, and that any profit has to be negated. If you are good at what you do and become successful then you are living the American dream. You are doing what you love, making money, and are good at it.
I don’t feel that a Martial Arts instructor should be chastised if he makes money.
What I do have issue with is schools that change, or set out solely to make money by capitalizing on Martial Arts. That teach watered down versions of arts, charge students exorbatant rates for belt fees when it requires nothing of the instructor aside from the cost of a belt. Particularly places that feel the need to hand out black belts and have fast tracks to black belts. While they are not taken seriously by the Martial Arts community, the fact of the matter is that they do weaken the reputation and evolution of styles. They churn out instructors who have no business teaching, who open another school and continue on. Through attrition they make particular styles or arts weaker.
Furthermore I think that they hurt their students by giving them a misguided idea of a Martial Art, as well as an overinflated idea of their own abilities. You know when you hear “I saw such and such beat up a such and such black belt?” it is usually because the black belt came from one of these types of schools.
Personally I don’t need a guy to be wearing a rolex to show me real, applicable skill.
We have Olympic athletes who have to work regular jobs and seek endorsments. We have professional fighters doing the exact same.
There are uknown numbers of elite combat soldiers who are highly skilled and homeless.
I also don’t think that material worth is what is inspiring to a student. If we want to base the inspirational appeal of material items, a kid is going to be way more inspired by a local drug dealer than the average McDojo sensei.
I think character, skill, discipline, inspiration, and leadership are traits that can be instilled by a person no matter what their standard of living is.
I don’t fault anyone for wanting to their dojo to also be a successful business. There are countless great, large, highly successful dojos out there teaching true applicable Martial Arts at an elite level.
I do fault the guy who is willing to debase his own ideals and that of his Martial Art in order to make a buck, or whose sole intention in gaining rank and status in Martial Arts is to try to make a buck. Those people who are willing to teach what equates to weak Tae Bo and pass it off as applicable self defense in order to gain and keep students.
I also fault the guy who lies or fraudelently states a background in order to help his apparent credentials for self defense and uses it solely to dupe unsuspecting uneducated people into paying him money for teaching them the absolute garbage that he makes up.
While making money in Martial Arts is not bad, completely changing a Martial Art or it’s values to gain and keep students, along with relying on marketing, contractual manuvering and such is bad. Cult of personalities, fraudelent claims and credentials, and willingly promoting people not ready for the rank bestowed on them as a means to keep students and make money is more than just bad, it is disgusting and immoral.
That is just my take, obviously plenty of us could write novels on this stuff.
Give your answer to this question below!
Read Full Post »
