And this would be the difference between a good school and a poor school. Which is why I said earlier that it is the individual school and instructor that are important.
I have been to a number of TKD and karate schools in my area, none of them ATA; I don't think that there are any ATA in my area. At some of these schools, I have seen instruction that borders on criminal in its lack of quality. Yet these were schools in respectable organizations and sometimes with ties to respectable masters in the local area. Of course, these schools were all chains and all had the slickest literature and websites.
Just to clarify, I'm not slaming chains or slick advertising. There are some very fine chain schools in the area and some fine schools with strong marketing. That just happened to be the common thread between the bad eggs.
My point is that none of these schools were ATA schools and the SD curriculum was superior to what you'd see in the ATA curriculum. The problem was that it was taught so poorly that the students would have been better off at a good sport school with zero SD.
Daniel
If I'm understanding you correctly, I agree with you here.
If we're talking about somebody walking in off the street and seeing a class full of kids jumping through hoops wearing blackbelts, then it's probably not going to matter whether ATA or ITF is painted on the door in big red letters. That much I can agree with.
The problem, though, is that 90% of the schools with ATA on their door have the same set of issues. ATA, the organization, does nothing to help the steady decline of instruction for TKD...in fact, it does the opposite by adding to it.
So, what I'm saying here, is that it's true that there are schools of all makes, models, types, brands, etc. that have poor instruction and cirriculum. But the ATA seems to be at the head of the class in this regard, if they're not the leader of the pack.
IMO, if the ATA were to fold, you would see a large, large portion of the problems and issues that TKD has float away like a piece of shipwrecked debris.
In regards to what I was saying as far as it all depending on what you're looking for...
If someone is looking for hardcore training, and all that is available are ATA schools, (which seem to pop up all over the place, very much like Wal-Mart like Sylo was comparing them to), then all they have to do is sit in on a class and see for themselves what they would and would not get out of attending class there.
However, if someone isn't sure of what they're looking for, but knows that they want to be involved in a serious martial art, all it takes is for the slick-talking instructor/salesman to convince them that they've come to the right place. So, now the person who was looking for something that would benefit them in the aspect of SD are unknowingly paying for a service that just won't benefit them much at all.
Now, I do agree that it's up to the individual to research what they want to pay for...but it's also up to the school to be upfront about the services that they offer. I wouldn't expect for an ATA instructor to tell me that the school sucks, and isn't what I'm looking for...
IMO, the best practice for this would be that what the student is looking for should either be volunteered by the student, or should be asked by the instructor. If the student isn't sure of what they're looking for, then the instructor should be up front about what
is offered, and what the student should expect to learn from attending the school, and what would be expected of them.
I don't think that this is being done with any degree of truthfulness on the ATA organization's part. Like you said, they have slick advertising that misdirects potential students to think that they're getting quality instruction...when in reality, if the potential student were able to compare an ATA class to another TKD class that actually has live training, then they would be able to see the difference.
The problem is that many people either aren't able to compare classes because they aren't near a different school or don't have access to literature or videos that would allow them to compare, or they simply don't know that they
should compare the classes. If the instructor is slick enough, then they can convince students of most anything regarding the instruction there. Instructors are looked at as having the most knowledge of martial arts..beyond anyone else at the school...and they should.
But the ATA is good at making sure the students don't realize that their training may not be what they're looking for...and that the training that they're receiving is the best possible training they could get.
