Qualities of your worst teacher?

[hogstooth]

Worst teacher was because he had an ego that wouldn't allow his head to fit through the dojo door. The students suffered because he was more interested in telling and showing you how good he was instead of teaching. He was however a really good fighter and could back up what he preached. But was very arrogant.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Arrogance... down the nose attitude (didn't help he was 6'4")... God complex... only stayed about 3 months I think

Not to go off topic, but as I am 6'3" I have to ask was it an issue with you that lead to the instructor sensing your issue with someone taller than you?

I have seen some guys come in and are upset when they are not the biggest or the tallest or the fastest or all three.

I have seen some of them stay and tell me they like to spar me as they guys they would fight would be the bigger guys my size.

Later those that stayed even longer, have told me that they realized they got cocky and would stare at the big guy, or think he was staring at them for not being the tallest in the room. The issue was every other tall person in world but it was them, even at 5'10.


Then again, size is not a limiting factor for ego. So, his ego could have had no limits. I only ask so I may learn and or see other data points.

Thanks

 

[Rich Parsons]

Never see him working out--he just talks.

Jeff,

I have seen some old timers in other arts, walk around and adjust and correct body and weight and technique. Being they were in their 70's or 80's and had some injuries in life they could not do jump spinning kicks nor could they spar, but they could still coach and teach.

I have seen some put to this condition in their 50's or 60's because of a medical condition, even though they did the work outs before. They now could not, but had lots of knowledge to share.

Is that bad?

 

[thetruth]

Hello, I would be nice to see our "TEACHERS" practice what they preach!

than again...do we do the same?

If you can't say nice things? ...best to keep it to yourself?

....see what I mean?

Aloha,

Probably wouldn't be advisable to name names here but that whole if you don't have something nice to say don't say anything doesn't always apply. If I know someone is an A-hole and does bad things why shouldn't I say so? That 'say nice things' quote really only applies when you just have personality issues etc which aren't of any great significance. If they actually do bad things well tough luck to them if people talk about them.

Cheers
Sam:asian:

 

[tshadowchaser]

Thinking back some of the qualities of my worst teacher where:

he only knew the material slightly better than the students starting out ( he had been allowed to teach before reaching black belt because he moved so far from his instructor)

he gave people false information on what was required when a student sparred with his instructor ( this caused a few to fail their first black test when they got to that point)

he could not stand for any student to land a good clean kick on him ( he would put full power in his next kick to "SHOW" them what he could do)

he tried to date every good looking girl in class when his wife was not around

he did most of his testing and his wife’s testing when away visiting another instructor. Come to think of it no student of his was ever around for any of his wife’s tests, EVER>

he changed associations frequently to get more rank and thusly changed the requirements of his students all the time

 

[t01880]

Worst Teachers?

In college( I was an English lit major), I took a course with this little old man who kinda looked like Droopy from the old cartoons. Talked like him too. He would lecture the entire class and would NOT answer questions in class. Talk about boring. I made the mistake of taking another course with him later on. Same format. same level of excruciating boredom.

Also in college, I took a philosophy course with this guy with a really thick german accent who treated the class as if it were an advanced seminar. he would come in and ask us if we had any questions without reviewing a bit of it.

In karate, I had one sensei who left his organization because it was focused too much on members giving money and other concerns that had little to do with training. The problem was that he thought karate should be the end-all and be-all of our lives. It became a cult-like atmosphere, and the thing that I was doing to help manage my stress(i.e. taking a martial art) became one of the bigger sources of stress in my life.

 

[JadeDragon3]

I think that one of the worst qualities that I found in one of my teachers would be cockiness although he could back it up, I'll give him that.

 

[YoungMan]

To me, the worst teachers embody two characteristics:

1. Lying about rank, background, and/or credentials. Don't tell me you have HONORARY degrees in these styles, it means nothing and I could care less. What organization, who is your instructor, and how many years?

2. Making the class about you instead of the students. The students are not there to see how great you are, they are there to develop their own technique and passion for the art.

 

[BrandonLucas]

I think one of the worst things any teacher can do is play favorites. It causes others in the class to not have equal instruction.

I know that everyone learns at different speeds, and I fully understand how someone may be taught more that someone else because they may learn faster, but it's not the same thing as being the "teacher's pet".

Aside from that just being annoying, it really is unprofessional....and I've seen this both in academic classes as well as MA classes.

Of course, the whole ego thing is pretty bad, as well.

 

[foggymorning162]

Of course instructors are just people too. It is possible to be a despicable person and a good instructor or a great induvidual who just sucks at teaching.

It is also possible to be a great martial artist and suck at teaching or be a great teacher and not so great at performing the techniques.

 

[bluemtn]

No real attention to students, no feedback, no helpful words of advice along the way, no change in structure in what is done on occasion.

 

[tko4u]

EGO>all things. His ego was so big and inflated, it completely negated any talent he ever had.

 

[trainable]

• He rarely told us what we were doing right
• He sat in his office most of the time
• He bragged about "knocking people out, or hurting them" when he was too tired.
• He knocked out a 15 year old in class
• He constantly contradicted the other sensei
• He didnt bring the proper belts to award at tests
• He promoted blatantly unqualified students
• He complained about his family status in class
• He got pretty chunky before most of us quit

When I started, I liked him because he pointed out much of what I could improve on. I remember my opinion of him changing after my purple belt test. I felt I had performed the test of my life (thus far). He threw in some "off the books" trials (Bo form, Seated attacks, weapons attacks) that were for much higher ranks, but because of my "other" training they got lumped into my test. The other sensei praised my performance heavily, but he nitpicked the bo form, my stances (I have physical limitations that prevent me from "getting low"), and my Katas. He then spanked the other sensei for praising me so heavily. Then, after he "passed" me, he didnt even have a belt for me or two other students.

I left with another of my friends there, and have since joined one of the sensei that left also. I admire those who are still in it to learn new things. The learning is what it is all about. "Stones in the Pond" so to speak.

 

[Josh Oakley]

I've been blessed with fantastic instructors but I have also been challenged by the instructor I replaced. When I took over the dojo I now run, the books were a mess, the dojo was dirty, the student base was down by half of what it had been and the dojo was in debt, and I spent most of this year getting students to be at the level they were supposed to have been for the belt they're wearing, while finding a way to make sure they stayed long enough to get fixed without getting discouraged about their previous subpar instruction. I also gave away some free training to students just to help that along.

The previous guy was about himself, not the dojo. And the dojo suffered because of it. Thankfully there were only a couple of students who ended up burning out. But it's sad, since the guy was a decent fighter and at one point was a decent instructor as well. If your business skills aren't up to par though and you don't make corrective action FAST, the stress WILL bleed into other areas, like it did here.

 

[jasonjgrant]

I've only been studying for 2 years and in that time I've studied under 6 instructors in the SAME school. For a while it was ludricus. I started because I absolutely hated cardio at the gym and frankly that's why I stayed where I was for so long. Today it's a different story.

What I haven't seen in this thread is something I think is probably the most important: instructors teaching martial arts are teaching more than movement, form, strikes, and defenses. They are teaching discipline, confidence, perserverance, and mental strength.

When the curriculum only focuses on the former yet the student needs the latter, a gap can form. I can see how it's easy for many people to give up.

An instructor is a mentor. I've seen in this thread "they're human,too" a ton of times. We students are human as well. Sometimes us humans need more than than technique.

 

[morph4me]

Ego, and an inability to explain a technique, he could tell you that you were doing it wrong, but couldn't explain how to do it right.