"Do you look the other way, as you hand him his orange belt?"
Orange belt is not that big of a deal. I would, though, hold a child at orange belt if they are just not getting it due to a lack of practice. Some people have actual physical challenges and will always be a bit "behind". Others just are flat out not trying. The thing is, the non-tryers will give up eventually anyway. I think the best we can do is not give them a black belt within 1 or two years unless they are heavily competing and also training 8 hours or more a week.
"Do you sign him to a contract, so you have the luxury of failing him?"
Sure. If a martial arts student does not want to do the contract thing or expensive fees thing, there are plenty of rec center, YMCA or church clubs. There may even be people who teach for free. Go to one of those. But if you want the Big Name, pay the Big Bucks. And you should. It takes a lot to run a business. Gym memberships make you pay in advance, right? If you reduce the martial arts to a mere physical exercise, why not!
" Or do you go out of business, because four kids can't pay the bills. "
Some of us are working regular jobs while teaching a little on the side. Let me tell you, that is actually difficult. Not only does it take a longer time for us to get ourselves promoted---if we can ever get promoted again after teaching independently simply because we don't have much time for working and family and exercise and training and teaching and private lessons and church and doctors and job training and education. And....etc. But that is probably the only way you could keep it "pure".
I have no problem with the McDojos. Mc Sensei has bills to pay and customers to satisfy. More power to him or her!
We live in a consumer culture where we eat, drink and entertain ourselves with things we know are bad for us because they make us feel good. We have infected the martial arts with the same dilemna.
What are we going to do about it?
There are several things I look at and consider myself in relation to your question. I have already commented before in this forum about those that study and train in the middle of nowhere and its the only place available. For them they have no other options and so I temper some of what I think and say to them or about them because I am one of the lucky ones who had a choice and good places to train available to me during much of my time studying martial arts. Even some of the instructors mean well and are aware of their short comings and will make efforts to improve their own skills, knowledge, and ability as well as that of their students when they have the opportunity to. The ones that I don't have much respect for are those that are greedy and know better and who don 't care at all and instead are only in it for the money and really do a disservice to their students as well as themselves.
As for some of the other comments in your question like teaching a paraplegic and such I always found it useful to apply simple logic along with also some thought to things like this. I would never accept such a student for training nor take their money but if they ever wanted to come in and watch and observe they would always be welcome to and included with the group of people that I always had coming in to sometimes just do that.
Teaching spoiled, indolent children was not a problem much either. Students who did not recognize who was in charge and calling the shots and that were disruptive I would not keep as students or even have them in my classes. I can remember refunding more than once someones money to them and telling them that my school was not for them and their child and once I had made that determination there was no appeal on their part or money that would sway that decision. Training in martial and fighting arts is not for everybody and I have always applied that also when deciding if I would even take someone on as a student also.
Lastly is that I had certain core values and standards that I kept holy. By that I mean they were absolute and violating them usually created more trouble and problems for me and others rather than instead applying them and trying to fix the student. So the simple answer was to not violate them and instead do what I could to correct the situation so that I would not have to. That might mean giving a student some extra attention and working with them or even giving them a free private lesson or two. Whatever it took I was basically in for because to violate those core values and standards would just lead me down a road that was filled with all sorts of other problems.
By doing and applying the above I did not have a huge problem filling my school with good quality students and being able to pay the bills and have money left over. My biggest problem was getting enough rest from teaching and being there all the time and finding more time to take on one more thing, fix one more problem that might come up, or dealing with stuff outside my school and business that would come up that I had little or no control over.
I would not agree with the excuses for a McDojo and that is what it really is - excuses.
The argument for having McStudents and catering to their moms to promote teaching a few dedicate students is unethical and tantamount to the justification politicians, thieves, wife beaters, and such use to excuse their actions - I did bad, but I also did good so everything is okay.
By going along with the premise of McDojo's, you are in effect misleading the McStudent. You may help a dedicated student reach a high level of understanding (which is questionable), but you also aided in the corruption of your art and the McStudent. And once you go down that path, it just gets easier and easier to justify further corruption.
As a teacher, you are the keeper of knowledge that was preserved and handed down to you. It is not really your art (at least not entirely). You have an obligation to those who went before you who sacrificed and dedicated themselves to preserve and developed the martial art you practice AND hand it off to the next generation in such a way that it is at least at good as you received it.
I've watched a few of my friends that are old timers in the martial arts use that same argument to slowly change their Dojo into what I would call a Mcdojo. They said that by doing those things they would have enough students to pay the bills. Then they think because they teach a few hardcore students the real stuff it makes everything OK. Well I won't argue with them since it would be a waste of my time. BUT, no matter how much good the few core students get or do from training, what about the majority of the students that learn trash and may end up opening their own schools. Then they will certainly teach trash as they don't know any better.
...
You can only get a McMuffin at a McDonalds. You can only find McStudents at McDojos.
If the student is so enthralled with himself and his trophies, then the instructor needs to challenge that student. Handing out belts because the student is fat, dumb, and lazy is exactly what a McDojo is, and what a McDojo does.
If the instructor "means well" he would not promote that student. He would not give that student privileges. But also, he would respect that student, and encourage him, and motivate him, and train him properly in attempts to change that student - not just flatly give up! If the kid can't do Taeguek Sam Jang properly, then, he has no business passing the test - PERIOD. Of course, the instructor has the responsibility for setting expectations, and tell the kid that if he can't do his form, he won't test. He also has the responsibility to provide the necessary instruction so that the kid can go home and improve on it. And if the kid does not improve on it, the instructor need only tell him to wait for the next testing cycle. What's so hard about that?
Honestly, there's nothing you can do if you can't find a way to motivate these kids. I lose students all the time to the McDojos down the block from me. I charge NOTHING for my services. They charge $200 per month, and they have to pay $75 for testing, buy a uniform, patches, gym bags, weapons, and sparring gear for a healthy $600 when they sign up. Day 1: $800. Eight hundred dollars for their very first day on the mat. People would rather pay EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS than work out with me.
My instruction may not be complete. But neither is the McDojo down the block. I'll be damned if I hand a kid a black belt who doesn't know how to fall down properly, or get up.
teaching MA of any kind is a business unless you are incredibly wealthy. The guy may have a family, may have a mortgage, car payment, definitely has rent and utilities to pay. Having a MA school is difficult to do and make a real living off of it so some that do it full time need to make some business decisions that may keep the doors open and be able to meet his/her monthly debts. They may have to take on a few "bad" students that pay the bills or teach a class they are not so thrilled about because it pays the bills and he/she can focus more on the "real work" as they may see it. The burden of the monthly bills can destroy a business and life.
He may be taking on those students in hopes of getting thru to them what they really need to learn and know. It takes a very long time to be able to teach what you want to who you want when you want and be able to support yourself and or family so maybe this guy is just working a plan that will someday make it so he does not need that kind of student.
I know both kinds of instructors. Some who struggle because they don't want to give in and another that has and does make 6 even 7 figures doing what he needs to do and goes around showing others how to make 6 figures or more but there is a lot you have to give in to and probably be a McDojo. Just because a guy has a McDojo it does not mean he knows nothing. This guy is knowledgeable and talented has been around some very well known fighters. His past, I guess, motivated him once he saw how he could make tuns of $$ even though it meant giving in. The lure of $$$ can really motivate some and even the most well meaning teachers can get caught up in it.
I feel outraged by your comment Harvey. Your hardass definition of what you think the martial artist should be, disgraces many of the McStudents who all mean well. At the end of the day, the McStudents are the ones dealing with the cards they have been dealt, many of them can't help their situation.
If you're a student like me, you're trying to find yourself. You don't exactly know what you want out of life, except that you want to be apart of a culture you're fascinated with, and you find a profound appreciation in the exercise. Chances are also likely, that you're stuck in the damn USA of all places.
Your reference to Japanese animes reminded me a lot of Bleach. To be honest, if that's what gives a person some meaning, or gets them off his/her couch, i say more power to them. We need more people in the world who aren't afraid to chase their imaginations, aren't afraid to take the plunge, and are courageous enough to join what i can only consider a beneficial cause.
I would rather train only a few dedicated students then have a hundred not know crap.
Your students represent and are a reflection of you.
If they want to have a student that doesn't know crap to represent them, then that is their issue not mine
I feel dumber for having read that.
A student is the reflection of the teacher, If the student has a poor attitude and wont be subjective to change his attitude then he is untrainable and someone i would part ways with. I mold the mind as well as the body
It is better to struggle through the start with few quality students, than to prosper with many incompetent students. It better to be upfront and honest with everyone who comes in your door about how you run your school, that quality in training and execution is paramount over time and money spent. It does no one good if you have 30 students that believe they are qualified when they are not. I'd rather the self-absorbed parent take their "brat" to the school across the street than to jeopardize my reputation as an instructor.
And yes, I would teach those four guys/gals in my garage or back yard if that's what it took. A good reputation will bring in serious students. It will take longer to prosper and be able to expand, but to sacrifice quality in training can mean sacrificing your students' safety. I'm not willing to do that.
I'm not talking about Rex Kwon Do.
I'm talking about the guy who means well. The guy who is qualified to teach, who started at 12, earned his black belt at 18, spent five years studying under the Grandmaster in Korea, loves the job, but has a dojo full of McStudents, and four real karatekas.
A McStudent is a kid with a baseless sense of self worth. A wall full of participation trophies, proudly displayed. A dog that doesn't listen to anyone. His favourite cartoon involves a bunch of guys floating around; kung fu fighting; lasers shooting out of their hands; angry about something. He plays his favourite character on that cartoon in the dojo. And a pushy mom whose best friend's son got a black belt in eight months.
His Taegeuk Sam Jung was just fricking awful, but he will cry, and Mama will take her money to the McDojo across the street if you fail him. Do you look the other way, as you hand him his orange belt? Do you sign him to a contract, so you have the luxury of failing him? Or do you go out of business, because four kids can't pay the bills.
What would you do? Would you shut down the school, get a job roofing houses, and try to teach those four guys in your garage? Or just use the McStudents to pay the bills, while the four serious karatekas get a genuine education?
Is a teacher only as good as his students? You can't teach a paraplegic to can can. And you can't teach spoiled, indolent children karate.
It's easy enough to sit in judgement. Not quite as easy in practice.
