"Do you want fries with that?"

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on AUG 7, 2022

"Do you want fries with that?"

 

The martial arts are largely unregulated here in the US. There are seldom background checks carried out on teachers like there are in other countries. Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check or Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (UK), you don’t need anything special to open a dojo or school.

You don’t even need to know much about martial arts to open a school. You could do a smattering of training in a bunch of different styles, make up a bunch of crap about your qualifications, and run a business. Those new students are not going to find you out for a couple of years…… But they will.

To be an instructor requires a certain level of maturity, responsibility, honesty, morals, experience and depth of knowledge of your art.

Poor quality instruction is irresponsible, dangerous, unforgivable, and quite frankly, fraudulent.

The students are of course the victims. Students are being deceived, on so many levels, which is really very sad. And the instructor is deceiving the public and the local authorities.

Enter the McDojo, which has found a place on many street corners and strip malls.

But as a business, a school needs to make sufficient income to pay its overheads like rent, advertising, possibly wages and so on. These were not traditionally considerations for martial arts schools of old, or those in church or community halls etc.

There’s nothing wrong with making a living from the martial arts as long as you are professional, you’re truthful, and you have the knowledge that is expected of any good teacher, whether in the martial arts or otherwise.

The consequences of training at a McDojo, is if by chance, students really have to use their skills and do get into a fight, their training may very likely have rendered them vastly overconfident about their abilities, which can in fact be non-existent, or even made worse by faulty training….. and it can be downright dangerous.

Let’s stop here for a moment. Training can honestly be the thing that saves your life one day. It’s a serious topic, very much worth considering.

Unfortunately, it is sad that a great many of the wrong people get involved in the martial arts and become instructors.

It’s full of bullies, scam artists, liars, cheats, and arrogant unqualified instructors who claim their style is superior, stronger, and they will tell you that you will become the ultimate fighter.

McDojo’s cater to a certain demographic which are usually people who are unwilling to put in the blood sweat and tears to earn their grade. In the place of hard work, these instructors are more than willing to pony up their cash for a black belt.

These fake martial arts teachers profit off of unsuspecting students, they ruin the legitimacy and image of real martial artists who practice their art seriously. Fake martial arts teachers will constantly brag about how their style or discipline of martial arts is the best, and that their style / school is better than all the other styles / schools out there.

They will incessantly name-drop, make reference to, or use other more famous names, their teacher, their lineage or legacy, or otherwise leverage some other person they never met or don’t have close ties to, to represent their martial arts, or to prop themselves up as important or legitimate.

Fake martial arts teachers promote unsafe training environments that could get their students seriously hurt or even killed, and scam innocent people out of their hard earned money……. Yes, we hate fake martial arts teachers.

You know who you are. But you will get found out…… and you have been.