Return of small Taekwondo

[SageGhost83]

Then, not all black belt certificates will be equal.

I personally don't consider all black belts to be equal *right now*, and for the very reason that you stated above - the Kukkiwon is willing to certify anyone and everyone for the right price. We need Kwan-based schools again, and badly.

 

[terryl965]

I personally don't consider all black belts to be equal *right now*, and for the very reason that you stated above - the Kukkiwon is willing to certify anyone and everyone for the right price. We need Kwan-based schools again, and badly.

I agree whole heartily.

 

[Jai]

Now I'm wondering here having seen this from the student and teacher side of things. What is the general feeling of large seemingly monopoly based TKD systems like the ATA? Most instructors are required to open multiple schools to even be considered to advance in rank, therefore in general flowing more cash into the ATA. I find that a little disturbing. A lot of schools today not just TKD but other arts as well, are willing to pass students along just for showing up, mainly because if they hold a student back, god forbid they may not return next month and the school is out money.

I would rather learn in a class of 5 students that want to learn, then a group of 50 that don't care.

 

[StuartA]

I personally don't consider all black belts to be equal *right now*, and for the very reason that you stated above - the Kukkiwon is willing to certify anyone and everyone for the right price. We need Kwan-based schools again, and badly.

Or just an association that actually has high grading requirements and standards and actually cares more the the quality than $$$$.

Hmmm... now theres a thought


Stuart

 

[StuartA]

What is the general feeling of large seemingly monopoly based TKD systems like the ATA? Most instructors are required to open multiple schools to even be considered to advance in rank, therefore in general flowing more cash into the ATA. I find that a little disturbing. A lot of schools today not just TKD but other arts as well, are willing to pass students along just for showing up, mainly because if they hold a student back, god forbid they may not return next month and the school is out money.

Which is why TKD has got itself in the state it is in! I wont comment on the above question as I may offend someone.

I would rather learn in a class of 5 students that want to learn, then a group of 50 that don't care.

As would I

Stuart

 

[SageGhost83]

Which is why TKD has got itself in the state it is in!

I second that!

 

[Kacey]

I have seen big schools that were very well run with incredibly high quality training and standards; I have seen small schools that screamed "McDojo"... but I will grant you that both situations are rare. Nonetheless, it can be done. Still, I'll take quality any way I can get it - and that in general, that seems to be more common in smaller settings.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I'm rather with Iceman on the idea of things swinging back in the direction of the small. That always seems to go that way, at least in the US; bigger is better for about five to fifteen years, then boutique stores become all the rage. Then about fifteen years later, people whine about selection and the internet became the big rage. Then they miss the quality and service of the small place and get scared about identity theft and they transition back.

The pendulum is always swinging and the trick is to do what you do well and to not compromise, even as the pendulum shifts away, knowing that the pendulum will eventually come back your way. One of the advantages of the small school with a part time staff is that the part time staff has other means of making ends meet and will show up to train regardless of where the pendulum is, thus they can ride it out.

A lot of people get hung up on organizations, but I think that organizations are simply vehicles that may or may not be beneficial to a school. The KKW is a prime example. Personally, I don't see the KKW going anywhere. Its too well established and far to pervasive to simply go away after one person passes on, however important that one person may be.

But going the direction of the small is, in my own opinion, distinct from organization and requirements of said organizations. While I am aware of organizations and what they offer or don't, I don't concern myself with who a school is affiliated with; it is the quality of the instructor that counts. I looked at a number of places before I made my way to my current dojang. Admittedly, my son and I joined for the kendo classes originally, but now both of my sons and I are practicing TKD here as well.

Within my own area, there are dozens of TKD schools. Still more schools offering other arts. Each schools' staff has a reputation for a certain teaching style. When large companies don't deliver (as they inevitably don't), customers seeking quality will turn to the smaller schools. It is then the reputation and quality of the instruction that will make or break a school. If the school is a top notch school and has KKW/WTF affiliation to boot, thats a nice extra, but not a necessity.

Ultimately, big box martial arts schools will not go away. And thats alright. But as the big boxes come up short in quality and/or shift focus to cater to the MMA crowd (hey, its the next big thing, so the big box must offer it), the smaller traditional schools will see, I believe, a resurgence in popularity. Not a huge resurgence, but a resurgence nonetheless. As people find the benefit in the traditional school, I believe that the traditional school will benefit.

Just a few thoughts.

Daniel

 

[exile]

Ultimately, big box martial arts schools will not go away. And thats alright. But as the big boxes come up short in quality and/or shift focus to cater to the MMA crowd (hey, its the next big thing, so the big box must offer it), the smaller traditional schools will see, I believe, a resurgence in popularity. Not a huge resurgence, but a resurgence nonetheless. As people find the benefit in the traditional school, I believe that the traditional school will benefit.

There's a brilliant parallel here in the modern story of English beer, with hundreds of separate, small breweries—county level or even smaller—even into the early 20th century; a catastrophic series of amalgamations into the Big Six (Watney's, Newcastle & Tyne, Whitbread's and so on) in the 1960s and 70s, the rise of the Campaign for Real Ale, who fought like cornered patriotic guerrilas and eventually increased the level of beer awareness and education amongst the British public to the point where the regional and local brewers, offering handcrafted ales in casks without gasification, could reestablish themselves, as well as defeating the 'tied house system', whereby a few megabrewers could own 90% or so of the pubs in the country and offer nothing but their own 'piss and wind', as it was contemptuously (and accurately) called by aficionados. Real ale—malt, hops, yeast and water, no additives, no chemicals, served by draught or gravity, not gas pressure—came back with a vengeance, and some of the best beers in the world are now brewed by people in the UK who weren't even born when CAMRA first started rolling. And there's a very nice subplot: the supposed economies of scale that the brewing industry invoked to argue that the small regional brewer was part of the age of dinosaurs never materialized; the inflexibility of the mass production system and the failure of quality turned so many people against the Big Six that a couple of them deep sixed, and today, high-quality handcrafted beer is the name of the game in the UK brewing industry. To me, this little tale is an infinitely hopeful example of one of my articles of faith: in the end, quality has a more than fighting chance against quantity. And that goes for the MA business as well.