how many people here have been enrolled in mcdojos ?

[ATC]

Nope. Mine is not. I do not teach for profit so I can be selective with my students. More importantly, I can teach exactly what I want to teach and in the fashion I choose.

I have a rich, comprehensive curriculum precisely because there is no emphasis on gaining rank. You'll get it when you get it. It's not uncommon for someone to stay a white belt for a year in my school.

Would this fly if I wanted to run a commercial school? No. And that's precisely why I don't.

But it all depends on what someones perception of a McDojo is. If his standards are not the same as your standards and he perceives your students to be below his standards then he can still see your place as a McDojo. So his statement still holds true for him, thus making his original statement still true.

 

[ATC]

I think we can potentially define a McDojo with the following Criteria:

1. Emphasis on contracts
2. Frequent belt testing (monthly/bimonthly/quarterly) with fees
3. Gear must be purchased through school
4. BB Club or similar "express train" promoted heavily
5. Style changes based on current popular arts (XMA/MMA/etc.)
6. Poor quality of execution in high ranking students
7. Style was created by owner of school
8. Instructors in school lack visible skill

My thought is if any school has 4 or more of the symptoms (#8 is a requirement for McDojoness) then the school is a McDojo.

Many school are the sole or primary source of income for the instructor, so many symptoms may be driven by simple economics. Not one single symptom (except 8) automatically makes it a McDojo.

The key on flaky/business model vs. McDojo is if the instructor looks like Daniel LaRusso when he tries to execute the art he is teaching.

If you take your 8 listed and #8 being a must then you do not have a McDojo, you have a BullShido. There is a difference.

 

[dancingalone]

But it all depends on what someones perception of a McDojo is. If his standards are not the same as your standards and he perceives your students to be below his standards then he can still see your place as a McDojo. So his statement still holds true for him, thus making his original statement still true.

I see you are a relativist. I don't subscribe to the notion myself. Sometimes things are black and white.

 

[ATC]

Sometimes things are black and white.

I can agree with that.

 

[Steve]

Nope. Mine is not. I do not teach for profit so I can be selective with my students. More importantly, I can teach exactly what I want to teach and in the fashion I choose.

I have a rich, comprehensive curriculum precisely because there is no emphasis on gaining rank. You'll get it when you get it. It's not uncommon for someone to stay a white belt for a year in my school.

Would this fly if I wanted to run a commercial school? No. And that's precisely why I don't.

Actually, it's VERY common in a BJJ school, routine in fact, for a person to wear their white belt for at least a year, often as long as two years, and many BJJ schools make plenty of money.

On the tangent that this brings up, I think that many people here are selling the general public short, presuming that all or even most people are overly interested in gaining rank. I would suggest that this is only true because the MA community has placed such an emphasis on rank. In all other things we learn, proficiency is the only scale by which we're judged and improvement is the only reward. Sports, musical instruments, video games, board games... you name it. We play them. We practice them. We compete if appropriate or perform as required. We get better.

The one glaring exception is martial arts... where for whatever reason, instructors presume that if they don't stroke their students' egos often with unearned promotions and meaningless honorifics, they'll quit. The reality is, they'll quit anyway if they want.

This goes for kids, too.

 

[Touch Of Death]

what was your exp. like ?


:redcaptur

Everyone but me! HA HA