Nearly all the problems in the martial arts today can be traced back to poor teaching.

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on AUG 14, 2022

Nearly all the problems in the martial arts today can be traced back to poor teaching.

 

I have had the good fortune to have been in roles inside and outside of the martial arts, that have exposed me to a wide range of learning and teaching approaches and methods. One thing I have learned, is that I still have much to learn, and this learning will never end.

Just because someone is a black belt or a teacher with many years of experience, and his teacher was; “insert Japanese name here”, doesn’t mean that they’re always right. Yes, they’re very confident and sure of themselves, but unfortunately that still doesn’t mean that their advice is right, or that it’s right for you.

You should not blindly believe everything they have to say. A lot of people have years of experience doing the wrong things. Experience doesn’t necessarily reflect skill, talent, wisdom, or results.

Listen to your teachers, but don’t just blindly believe everything they teach you. Think for yourself, apply logic and common sense, and do your own research.

Unfortunately, there are many misguided teachers who don’t know how critical thinking works, they are content with a superficial understanding of karate, perhaps they literally don’t know any different. And there are those who believe they have it all. Where that becomes a real problem is when they believe their ‘superficial understanding to be a full understanding’.

Many people who join karate classes tell us their purpose for wanting to try the martial arts is to learn how to defend themselves.

And this is where I see the problems begin, because I see teachers who think their training method can prepare anyone to protect themselves in a live situation.

I am of the view that people need to be clear on their goals, and then practice with a view to achieving those goals. It’s ok to want to practice karate as exercise, art or sport. Where problems arise is when practitioners have a different goal and are being misled that their training will deliver on that goal.

You can’t train exclusively in exercise, art or sport and expect self-protection skills to develop by default.

If instructors know that what they are teaching is not appropriate for self-protection, but they present it as such, then they are being dishonest.

If instructors don’t know that what they are teaching is inappropriate for self-protection, I would suggest that there is still dishonesty there, because they have not done the correct analysis in checking if the training they offer will deliver on the aims they have stated.

If the karate they are teaching leads them to believe that this analysis has already been done by those they learnt from, their instructors, this is blind faith.

Teachers must be familiar with the history of karate, and the “non-practical” developments of the early to mid-20th Century in Japan and Okinawa, which were then spread all over the world, with many interpretations lost along the way.

The problem with many instructors is their view of karate can be limited in scope, their own teacher said “..this..” so it must be true, they rarely look outside their own area of experience, because their “style” or “legacy is right, and no one bothers to challenge it.

There are both bad teachers and good teachers everywhere, in all organizations and styles, in Japan, in Okinawa, and in other countries. To be a great master of the martial arts is not the same as being a great teacher. These are two different things. Not all masters of karate are also masters of teaching.

Nearly all the problems in the martial arts today can be traced back to poor teaching. I don’t mean just those teachers who are inadequate because they pretend to have skills they don’t have, or who teach because it satisfies their ego. I also mean teachers who are honest, well-intentioned and dedicated, but still poor teachers, because ‘they believe their superficial understanding to be a full understanding.’