new program??

[Michael Billings]

You do what you can ... and try to lead by example. We can only do what we can do, and hope that it is enough to help someone else. Touching one life in a positive way is worth the trouble and time for me. Especially when it is one of my students and it comes as a complete suprise to me! When I am down, like Edmund Jr., I dip down into a few of those "feel goods" and it picks me back up a bit.

"Seniors" out there who do not lead by example, may have at one time ... or may not have - in their younger years. But now they stand at the forefront of Kenpo, and Walk the Walk, don't just Talk the Talk. And I am talking ethical responsibility here. We all have things we regret, how we treated others, unkind things we have said, or actions we have taken, it's part of being human. But I don't think all the "Seniors" "don't bother." I Hope you were generalizing given this particular individual's apparently ravenous actions.

:soapbox:
There I go again! STOP ME THEY SCREAMED!!!

-Michael
UKS-Texas

 

[GouRonin]

It's hard to have any sympathy. The art is tearing itself apart at a business level. Every senior is saying, "I deserve to get paid for my years of work and effort." I'd never say they didn't. But then all these other guys come up and claim they can teach you the same stuff and low and behold their prices are close to the seniors but just a few bucks cheaper. The seniors say to themselves, "If these guys can make X bucks an hour then I deserve at least X."

It should work that the ranks ought to let you know who to be paying. But the general public doesn't know. You have the seniors saying, "I'll charge this much for rank too." But then these no name guys shoot up in rank and the public says to themselves, "Heck, these guys are all pretty high ranked." They have no clue what to buy.

In most cases of supply and demand the lowest price wins but not in this case. Eash person wants to be making the big bucks and fuels they are worth more than the other guy and they start to price themselves out of the market. It's a bit like killing the golden goose. It doesn't happen all at once but it happens slowly.
If I open a store and charge more than my competition then I better have a better quality product or awesome customer service.

Much as in baseball, when these guys demanding prices they are not worth start in, the stars of the game suffer as well. Then eventually they outprice themselves. Soon the fans get a little cheesed that they are feeding this machine.

No one is saying that the these guys don't deserve to make a living off of what they do. They're not monks with a vow of poverty. But American Kenpo is becoming so much like TKD that it's not funny. Inflated belt ranks. High prices. Poorer instruction starting to prevail because of the loss of knowledge. Less and less time to black.

"It shall also be my responsibility to protect any student from ravenous individuals who would try to take advantage of personal weaknesses, to divest the gullible into unprofitable gains"

I see a few standing their ground like a mighty oak in the wind. I see the rest making hand gliders and taking flight to soar to supposed glory, not realizing that they will not have anywhere to land once they have taken off.

 

[Goldendragon7]

Originally posted by GouRonin
How can you expect others to follow that when the people leading don't bother?

I think you should re-examine what you say......... not "ALL" People Leading .............. fit your statement!

But indeed .............. there are "a few" out there that live by the dollar and promote folks without working with their material that they teach. One "look see" viewing then promote.... is weak at best to just entice someone into their association .... or the mail order black belt video course, which goes to show how easy belt ranks can be found ... sorry --- bought ........ today....!!

NO Honor, or Integrity at ALL with these few supposed Seniors, and then some ask why the system is so disseminated. Easy........ a few rotten leaders.

Thank goodness there are (Yin/Yang) several good teachers with the best intentions as well!!

"If it's that easy...... question the quality."

Power to the Meercats!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:asian:

 

[GouRonin]

Originally posted by Goldendragon7
I think you should re-examine what you say......... not "ALL" People Leading .............. fit your statement!

But indeed .............. there are "a few" out there that live by the dollar.

........ a few rotten leaders.

I've spoken with you on this and I know you actually believe it's only a few. It's not. It's out of control. Like the jar of ants that double in population every minute, no one seems to understand it's in that very last minute when everything is lost.

It's not just a few. I would hasten to say it's the majority. I don't know why people cannot see that.

Originally posted by Goldendragon7
Thank goodness there are (Yin/Yang) several good teachers with the best intentions as well!!

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." I hear what you are saying. There ARE good teachers out there. There are more BAD teachers IMHO.

Originally posted by Goldendragon7
"If it's that easy...... question the quality."

Welcome to north america where everything is fast food oriented. The motto "Nothing good can come without hard long work" has been replaced with, "If you think think you may fail, it's probably not worth doing so why bother trying?"

I am telling you. There is an epidemic on the rise. Yeats wrote it best when he said: "And what rough beast, it's hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"

 

[rmcrobertson]

There's an extended discussion of this sort of issue in left-leaning cultural criticism, and has been ever since Walter Benjamin's (now there was a guy with bad timing!), "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." I recommend reading Guy Debord (also killed himself), "The Society of the Spectacle." basically, the problem is this: can a work of art predicated upon the notions of a feudal society (for example, direct transmission to the student) survive in a historical period organized around aimulacra, reproduction in all its forms?

I also recommend reading Lionel Trilling, "Sincerity and Authenticity," which is about the history of these two concepts.

OK, OK. It's just the way I see it.

 

[rmcrobertson]

Oops. First off, it's "simulacra," not aimulacra. Second, where the hell am I remembering, "meercats," from? is it Telzey's stories, or is it C.J. Cheeryh, a considerably-underappreciated writer...all martial artists sholuld be forced to read, "Downbelow Station," on the matter of fighting strategy.

 

[Seig]

Originally posted by RCastillo

I thought about it real hard, but I decided to study under Seig, that way, the beatings I get are legitimate.

C'mon up, it'll be fun!

 

[meni]

Originally posted by nightingale8472

using videos is fine for review, or for a very advanced student, but you just plain can't learn good quality basics without an instructor standing there nitpicking.

I do not know why bother just go to your local martial arts store and by a black belt, save about 885 bucks!