So, I haven't trained in karate (unless you count kenpo or a little bit of tang soo do), but I'd like to. It hasn't happened because I haven't found anyone who seemed interested in teaching karate as a
martial art, that was also doing it at a time and in a place that I could attend.
This seems spot on to me:
Most of the commercial karate schools I've seen (and I've looked at a lot of karate schools) seem to be completely focused on selling kids classes and/or are watered down to appeal to the lowest common denominator, often tired parents who just want a fun workout that's at a convenient time and place that they're going to have to be anyway and has the added bonus that they can bond with their kids. I think it's great for parents to do karate with their kids, but there are consequences for the quality of the art if that's the entirety of your adult student population.
It often feels to me like the instructors have either given up on teaching anything that might cause discomfort, or never trained any other way themselves. I don't just mean sparring either, workouts that make your legs wobbly and drench your gi in sweat, seem to be rare. When I talk with the instructors that have been around since the '80's or longer I often get the sense that they've been beaten down by current sensibilities. When I ask about kumite or conditioning, I often I get a sigh and then hear things like, "Oh, yeah, nobody wants to go to work with bruises anymore". I'm not interested in losing teeth nor do I need to always train like a potential Olympian, but if I'm taking a martial art I'd usually like some emphasis on the martial part and I ought to really work up a sweat with some kind of frequency.
I have seen a few clubs and garage schools that seem to teach karate as a martial art, and I've seen a couple of commercial Kyokushin schools that did too, but it was obvious that they were almost clubs as well, not really for profit.
Unfortunately, I think the problem has become a self perpetuating matter of perception. People think that MMA, BJJ, etc. are the arts to do if you want to know how to fight and that karate is for kids and adults who want maybe a workout with the trappings of a martial art. Because that's the cultural perception, the people who want to learn a martial art go to MMA, etc. schools and people who want a fun workout go to karate schools.
If the karate school is a commercial venture, and the owner wants to keep the doors open, they have to cater to the workout folks. Which means that when someone who really wants to do a martial art comes in to view a class and they compare it to the MMA or Muay Thai school down the street, they go to the other school. Which then means the karate school has to cater even more to the workout folks and the kids. Wash, rinse, repeat.
I don't know that karate needs to evolve exactly, maybe it needs to devolve back to its origins, and if anything, take a page from MMA (when possible) and look for opportunities to spar with people from different arts. Not to do things the way the other arts do but to understand how to apply karate when you face someone doing something very different. Much like
@JowGaWolf is doing with his kung fu. I don't know how to break that cycle, or if it can be broken, until there's a karate movie craze or a new hard contact karate sport format that takes off on pay per view. Either of those is going to be largely luck. I'm just musing out loud here, I don't feel like I've got any real answers.
I'm not trying to bag on karate. I think that every style of karate that I've watched has had something valuable to offer. I'd enjoy training with a good instructor. I just think that (in the US anyway) it's becoming, or has become, something less than it was and could be at many schools.
And, since this is a karate thread, as a side note, if anyone
does know of a good karate school/club that actually has adult classes with adults in them, teaching quality, traditional karate, on the east side of Phoenix, AZ, please let me know!