In the late 12060's or early 1970's Blackbelt Magazine published the findings of a large study ot teh martial arts in the U.S.A. (All styles).
They said:
* Less than 3% of all martial arts students EVER reach black belt.
* Of those that became black belts less than 50% of them ever reached 2nd dan black belt.
Children were basically non-existent in martial arts schools. It was to rough for them. I saw many adults quit after one or two classes. Training was long, and tough. Sparring was a major part of most classes. Fighting at many schools was hard contact. We had no hand and foot pads. Injuries were normal.
So why did Taekwondo become so popular...? It is due to the hard nosed business and sales practices they used and still do. It attracts many students because people like the flashy kicks.
Lowering of requirements for promotion, automatic promotion of students at regular intervals, and the lowering of ages requirements all contributed to the mess we have today.
In fairness I will say this.... I have met many Taekwondo stylists. The ones I met in the late 60's and early 70's were deadly. A few today are also deadly. Unfortunately, much is no longer taught and what is is watered down for mom, pop, and the kiddies. It has become a look good feel good activity. In many schools it is nothing more than a high priced baby sitting service that hands out belts. In the 60's there were o children in the martial arts, so there were o children wearing black belts. Now children are more than 85% of all martial arts students in the U.S.A. Trying to compare the average martial arts class of today to those of the 60's and 70's, is like comparing a bicycle to a Lamborghini.
...
Not really who but more like which group of people. Most western countries belong in the 1st/2nd world category. Their resource and economy is more stable than the rest which gives opportunities to make money. So western countries would be a good place to sell their trade. The scammers knew that white people in general who have no knowledge of the real product would get easily tricked. So it's mostly about profit.
Normally in a martial art school you would take more than 10 years to get a certain rank or move up but ever since it was "westernized" everything became compacted, narrowed, and watered down. The "masters" understood that this group of people want instantaneous rewards and they lack the ability to stay focused if they weren't awarded. Which is the reason why even morons can have 3rd dan black belt whatever the crap is.
So who's to blame? Mostly the western audience. Ever since Bruce Lee entered the scene martial arts in general gain a lot of popularity dramatically and MA was a good product to sell to the idiots. The "grandmasters" are mostly out to get your tuition. They realize that the only way to make them stay in their school is to give them a goal by making them do competitions which turns TKD and many other TMA into sport. Yes, even that hardcore mma/ufc/k-1 is a sport. Mind you.....most TMA grandmasters are not fond and actually disapprove of using their art for sports or for selfish reasons. To them it's their life and turning their art into a game of point and dancing to entertain the audience is a huge disrespect to the late masters. Jigoro Kano, Chojun Miyagi, Yip Man, etc. I deeply respect these masters in their respective styles and they are the definition of true martial artists.
I would love to know where everyone is getting there information on Taekwondo from. I honestly think it's from trolls on the internet, hearing stuff from people or experiencing at a bad, fake Dojang. Yes, it's popular and for that there are a lot of crap schools just wanting to make money. But the actual art when taught properly is as good as any other martial art.
Taekwondo didn't go it that direction. People got greedy and decided to cheek people for money.
It is difficult to say to what extent Taekwondo has become "watered down" since it was first practiced in Korea. Each Korean immigrant to the U.S. after 1950 who taught Taekwondo instructed a little differently than the other. I am amazed that Taekwondo has still survived in its traditional form since the UFC became popular in the mid-1990s.
Taekwondo is a safety-oriented sport and method of physical fitness with a strong emphasis on self-discipline and respect for others. Naturally, most parents don't want their school-aged children getting badly injured, so Taekwondo is often a happy medium between kids who want to spar and parents who don't want their children to end up in the emergency room.
I agree with you that most fancy moves are completely useless in a street fight.
A very very very long answer made very very very short:
The Koreans (especially the government) got crazy with expanding its influence in the world.
It became "impractical" when standards were continuously being dropped because more and more instructors who didn't know what they were doing were opening their own schools. Then the Olympics, then the pursuit of money, and now, I find myself doing everything I can to keep my style as alive as possible while watching kids up the block do 1080s and call it Martial arts.
Because it's a great art...? I don't think the ones are taught in the army are watered down.
@Taya is: Oh my god just get out of here.
@Taya is a fag: Okay, since you've asked for logic I will give you logic.
TKD is not a fraud art or not working and double the range. It's just like what you learn, since kicks have more power than punches. I want you to get out of here because you have no knowledge of Martial Arts whatsoever. TKD can't defend you? That's one for Stupid Taya. Since I do not feel like wasting time on you and research everything about facts for you being stupid. Let's just say you are stupid.
I somewhat blame America. Look at Chinese cuisine. Now look at P.F. Chang's. Yeah. That's what happens when you take something foreign and Americanize it.
That's not to say TKD is completely impractical in the US. There are a lot of great TKD schools that teach effective martial arts. Even if some of it seems flamboyant, it can be effective. Tornado kicks, back kicks, even spinning hook kicks are effective. But they are high risk, high reward so they are seldom seen. But that doesn't make them useless. But those crazy 720 kicks and flips and stuff are pretty useless. I mean look at the demos they are used at. They use the thinnest boards because it doesn't generate much power.
Because of the Olympics and there marketing.
Tkd use to be great many of the schools use to be full contact.
Then they started to unify it into a sport to get into the Olympics and it went kaput from there
There are still a-lot of good tae kwon do schools.
But for the sake of answering your question... money. Money, money, money.
And a large lil kid fanbase.
I honestly have no idea and I'm not entirely sure TKD wasn't just always like that. I've never seen any real historical documents depicting TKD to be used well anyway. Some might say "It was used in the battle of ___ 3000 years ago so obviously it's effective!" but I really never see evidence for such things. In all honesty, the training methods and techniques of most martial arts are pretty crappy.
@Billy: How about instead of telling me to get out, you use logic to prove me wrong? If you can support a counter-argument with logic, then I'm MORE than willing to change my mind about TKD. I'll train any art that I feel will help me defend myself.
It has become the most popular martial arts, especially in the U.S. But do you think it has become so watered down compared to what it was originally too? I see almost every dojo they teach fancy moves first. It's like for showing off for athleticism rather than for what it's supposed to be: an art for defending yourself.
How and who made Taekwondo go in that direction?
