The only thing I can say is that we have a few kids that are preparing to test soon and from what I can tell are a few things happen.
1. The kids or even adults, do not understand the principles behind the techniques being used in the form. The tend to just move the body in the direction it needs to be going and then swing the arms or legs as if that will be enough. This results in just going through motions with no thought of setup for the techniques at all. You will see punches from the belly with no chamber or twist. You will see blocks come from angles that will no block anything and so on.
2. Laziness. I see many people that are just plain lazy. They don't even attempt to do a proper stance as it requires to much effort. Walking stance looks like ready stance, front stance looks like walking stance, and back stance looks like nothing I have ever seen in any martial art. They put no power into their techniques making them look like a dance. This same laziness also creates what was described in what I listed above in list one. Bad looking forms because of no setup and smooth transitions. No hand chamber, no leg recoil, no blocking setup at the proper placement.
3. List item 1 and 2 are the fault of the instructor. The instructor needs to make sure that these things are corrected. However it is the students responsibility to practice at home. 45 minutes to 1 hour 3 times per weeks is not enough time to perfect any techniques. Class as it is structured is for being exposed to things and then perfecting on your own. Techniques are shown in class but can in no way be perfected in that same class. Once you go home you must practice them and in class instructors can only correct a small amount and then you go back to perfect those changes and so on. If you go home and do not practice then you simple come back only doing the same incorrect technique. An instructor will correct it but if you do not go back and practice the correction then you can still only come in and do it wrong again. Over time with class and home practice you will look good. Over time with class and no home practice you will look bad.
4. There are many instructors that are really not qualified to teach. They themselves do not know the what and why (principles) behind many of the forms or even the simple techniques that make up the form. Sad but it is true. So if you have someone teaching you to do a technique but they themselves do not even know the proper technique then you can only learn to do an even worse technique. The instructor him or herself can actually do a proper technique but if they do not understand why that technique is done the way it is all they can say is do as I do. Well what is it that you do and why. I just stand this way and block like this. OK, so you copy what you think you see, and the instructor looks at and even to them it looks OK because they don't know why or what it really should look like. So then they get a bunch of students that all have different looking forms. Some kick to low, and some to high. Some block out or in to far, and yet other not far enough. Some stand to wide and some to narrow. And the list go on.
This is just the tip of the issue of why forms can look so different from one student to the next. Can't wait to hear from some others and what they think or have observed.
