OP
L Canyon
Orange Belt
- Thread Starter
- #21
Hello L Canyon,
I find it interesting that you post these comments here about your school, and your instructor! There is not much about you in your profile, so I had to read some of your previous posts to get to know you better. I noticed where your teacher joined us here at MT:
And you welcomed him:
Then you ask....
Now, I have had experience with Kung-fu in my past, but I do not study San Soo - - I teach Taekwondo. Others have responded appropriately to your question above, and since it was asked on the General Martial Art forum, I will give my opinion.
I am aware that some schools have more lax discipline than others, and some instructors (or assistant instructors) are less qualified and experienced to deal with these issues. However, it seems to me that there is a level of misbehavior here that has been allowed for some time if a yellow belt and a green belt have promoted once or twice, yet not been taught better manners.
Any student who speaks in a boastful manner should be immediately told, by ANY senior rank to change their attitude, and apologize for bragging. If a student is being inappropriately, physically aggressive (even if this was a free work-out session), then a stern word from her senior (you) should have been enough to suffice in getting her to stop. The word we use in Taekwondo is "geuman." Anyone who continues after a senior gives that command will automatically do push-ups. There should never be the need to physically restrain someone to get them to comply.
If her slaps were part of a training drill for attacking you, then fine - you could restrain her, but then she would not have been out of line for attempting to slap you as it would have been part of the drill. If not, then your words as her senior should have carried enough respect to get her to stop. If she failed to stop upon your command, then you should have backed off, and either told her to follow you to the instructor in charge, or brought the instructor to her to deal with the misbehavior immediately.
Again, at the moment he spoke with an inappropriate attitude, your verbal correction as his senior rank should have set him straight about what type of attitude is expected of students. His response should have then been, "Yes, Sir." Failing to change his attitude, or responding to you with respect should have been brought to the instructor's attention immediately. "Sir, I'm having difficulty with a green belt who is showing poor attitude, and failing to show proper respect to me when I correct him."
You are a brown belt, and senior rank to both of these students (regardless of their ages, or your age). It is not your job to "set up rules" but it is part of your responsibility, as a senior rank Martial Artist, to enforce the rules of the school. If a head instructor, or school owner, can not be present on the floor when students are in the school, then it is their responsibility to place someone in charge - - preferably a certified instructor or assistant. If an assistant is present, and fails to address the problem, take it directly to their attention and ask for the guidance. If they still fail to handle the problem, go to the senior instructor, and respectfully discuss the issue. In the absence of an instructor, any senior rank should take it upon themselves to maintain discipline, and the rules of the school that should already be established and understood by every student. No one should consider this a "chore" and expect payment, but rather an honor, and part of your training as a senior rank for which you are paying for this opportunity to learn how to handle it better.
This statement concerns me the most. I would hope that a brown belt, who I would presume has been training with this "teacher" for some time now, would have a better relationship with their instructor than to send them an e-mail threatening to quit over such a trivial incident rather than to have a private conference and respectfully state the problem. By now, you should have a better understanding of the policies and procedures, and know your instructor's willingness to enforce the rules, and back up a brown belt if a junior is disrespectful.
If this has been an ongoing problem, then I would have expected you to have had at least one conference with your instructor. If you have, and the situation is not being resolved to your satisfaction, I would further expect that a brown belt, who respects his teacher, would go to him and say, "Sir, this is not working out for me, therefore I must respectfully leave your school."
If you do not respect this instructor to take these steps, and phrase the issue appropriately, in private, without the threat of not seeing your "$" in an impersonal e-mail, then you probably shouldn't be training with this person in the first place. With your instructor being a new member here at Martial Talk, he is probably also reading your comments here, and I can only imagine the embarrassment of this issue being brought out in this manner. However, looking at his profile, I believe he is likely advanced enough to not be troubled by the embarrassment, and has probably dealt with such issues in the past. I do suggest you go to him in private, and attempt to learn from his response rather than telling him off!
This is my opinion based on the little information that has been presented.
On the other hand, I could be completely wrong!
CM D.J. Eisenhart
Thank you for your comments.
He is a great teacher, and I have utmost respect for him, and yes, perhaps I should not have posted this here. I regret being involved in the whole incident, and one of my lessons from this shall be to figure out MY proper role should the same occur again.
The "moral" of the story, as I see it, is when students are given too much free reign, they will eventually act in any manner suitable to them.
