School and Punishment inside the dojo

[Lorak]

Regarding schoolwork, on one hand I think that an instructor should be responsible for his students, so if they were failing to do their schoolwork to attend training, I think he should intervene. However, what if you're just not good at learning and training is the only thing you do well?

My past teacher required that kids bring in thier report cards. But he wasn't so much concerned with grades as thier conduct. He realized that some kids are just not academic gifted, and was more concerned with conduct (that which they could control).

In the school I just joined, I think it is much the same. I know they list that the goal of all students should be a B average. But I think it is just that. A goal.

I do know that the kids do have a form they take to thier school teachers to fill out concerning thier behavior before they are allowed to test for the next rank.

They can still attend class, but can not test until thier behavior improves.

Disipline in class:

As a Youth coach. Your safest beat is to be very clear to the parents of your kids, what you expect from thier kids while in your care. You don't need a long list of items like "for offense x the punichment is Y"

Just let them know that punishments for disrupting class, can include exercise, sitting out, not testing until behavior improves, ect.

While you hate to lose a kid (usually because of parent). You have to weigh keeping one kid. With disrupting the learning of all the others present.

 

[IWishToLearn]

Very interesting story was told to me by one of the fellow students at my dojo. Apparently a young kid was acting out in class and the head instructor called him out on and said "you need to calm down and pay attention or I will have ask you to step out of class today". Fair enough, and well with in his rights to do so. Im sure it is very distracting to a kid acting crazy behind you while you are trying to teach other kids material. Well again the kid started to act up and the instructor finally stopped class and asked him to step off the training area. The kid did as he was asked but apparently the parent had a huge problem. He started yelling about how "Im paying you to teach my kid karate and not to act like a school teach and punish him" and so forth and so on. From what I was told my instructor handled it really well and explained his thoughts, but the parent was still not very happy and vowed to not come back

Now my question to the instructors out there:
- Has this happened to you?
- If yes, how did you handle the situation?
- If no, how would you handle it?
- Was my instructor right in asking the kid to leave?

This also raised an interesting question for me. Would it be right for an instructor to base his willingness to teach kids depending on how well they perform in school? Meaning if say little Timmy gets a bad grade on his report card but little Sarah gets really good grades, would it be ok if the instructor made little Timmy do drills while little Sarah gets to learn new stuff? Is an instructor allowed to get involved like this? Do any of you instructors out there have a program like this set up? Let me know.

B

Your instructor was fully justified. I don't care if I'm being paid a million dollars...I'm not teaching you anything if you don't play by the rules. You're paying for a service, and like all services, is predicated upon a base set of understandings that allow the efficiency of the service to go forward. Violate the understandings and the service is a mute point.

 

[tempus]

Well....my Sensei has not run into the issue, but me as a student made another student quit. This girl was a purple belt for the longest time and she was about 16. I am much older and like to train. She would go on and on about everything except train and mostly due it when the Sensei would pass by and be out of ear shot. This went on for a about a year and I bit my lip each time. Finally we have all had those days that everything is going wrong and I was all stressed out from work. I just wanted to train. The Sensei put me to working with her, she was the higher belt, and he had to step out to talk to some people. Make a long story short, I told her to finally shutup and either train or move on. She never came back after that and her father told the sensei he wanted to beat the you know what out of me. Was I wrong..probably, but it happens.

 

[Kreth]

I see no problem with it.

Because at this point that student is not only wasting HIS time he's wasting the rest of the class's time too.

And this is exactly the point. It doesn't matter how much the parent is paying if the kid is disrupting class. If you went to the movies, would you expect to be able to disrupt the movie for everyone else simply because you bought a ticket?

 

[Nomad]

I completely agree that I would also have asked the child to sit on the side and not participate (whether for a set period or the rest of the class would depend on the severity and frequency of his disruptions. If the parent didn't like it, they are welcome to go somewhere else.

In terms of the school grades; we don't punish kids for getting poor grades, but do encourage them to strive for good grades through a "scholarship award" that is given out once per year to those with good grades... get to come up in front of the group at a special ceremony and get a token prize.

Good grades and martial arts can be connected because if a child's grades start slipping, the extracurricular activities (like karate classes) tend to be the first thing to go when the parents try to intervene.

 

[USMATCSensei]

I make the kids at least get a "c" on report card because this is average.
When they sign up they all hear about it. If they cant hold that they pay but we also have teachers that will come in and help anyone that needs it. It cost 100 push ups everyday below a c. As for disapline they get the treatment if not paying attention or whatever. The have to do handstands on the wall for 1 min with arms bent and head off the floor. Chair position, flutter kicks, whatever but usually it happens once and the kids straighten up. then the parents come to me the next day and say why cant i get my kids to mind like you do..Rules are rules stand by them and everyone has good time. All in all I have never had any trouble with parents or kids and thats not bad I think for owning this school for 5 years with 150 students.
any help would be great. Thanks

 

[Traditionalist]

I have a kids class from ages 9 to 15 and I've very much old school with them. I even have a small, fat, wifflebat the I use to correct them if they get sloppy on their leg-lifts or anything else. The students actually call it "The Whacker" and if I don't bring it out they remind me to go get it. Strange I know. None of our instructors get paid to teach classes so we don't have to worry about dealing with situations that could mean our lively hood is threatened. When one of my students act up the whole class is punished I find that sooner or later the kids do the discipline for me and everyone starts to be a little more considerate because you don't want to be the one the class blames for doing extra. I'm also very fortunate because none of my students want their parents to stay and watch class so I hardly ever get that parent problem. As for grades I tell my parents and kids that I'm here to teach martial arts and the discipline behind it. I'm not here to make sure "Little Johnny" passes math class. I do have an award system if the kids decide to bring me their report card. Each kid gets 1 point per class for partcipation and if they bring in their report card I give extra based on what they made A is 2 points, B is 1 point, C is zero points, D is -1 and F is -2. so far I haven't received one report card. The key I think is that I have them exercise so much they don't have time or the energy to goof off. Plus I have to get them ready for the adult class.