One shouldn't have to. If I were to run a school again I wouldn't teach fulltime. I would teach part time and have a job that makes money too. I know of a freaking awesome master that doesn't teach full time, and loves it that way. It is sad how some organizations disregard some instructors/masters/grandmasters just because they teach part time and for the enjoyment of teaching rather than being full time and eventually getting burnt out.
Martial arts as a business career is a pretty modern invention. Probably only 15-20% of martial arts instructors make a living solely from teaching martial arts. The majority teach part time in commercial, recreational, college clubs, or home settings.
Even where martial arts are extremely popular like Asian countries, the majority of martial arts is not taught by fulltime instructors.
The vast majority of martial arts instructors, even now days, have other occupations. Some unskilled, and some highly professional.
Many great instructors taught/teach at rec centers, YMCA's, garages's, etc.
William Chow taught at the "Young Buddhist Association", "Catholic Youth Organization", "Kaheka Gym", "Nuuana YMCA" , in his back yard, and in the park. He turned out students like Adriano Emperado, Ed Parker, Bill Chun, Sam Kuoha, and others.
Adriano Emperado taught at the "Halawa Housing Area" (housing for the poor), "Palama Settlement" (rec center for the poorest residents of Honolulu), "Kaimuki YMCA", and "Waihiwa YMCA". He and 4 other martial artists from the poor Kalihi District of Honolulu, created a martial art system that has produced several world champions and is now practiced in 37 countries.
Walter Godin taught at the "Palama Settlement" and several other locations. One of his black belts is John Hackleman. One of Hackleman's black belts is Chuck Liddell.
My own instructor was a 2 time national champion, was in the first American martial arts group to be invited to mainland China in the 80's, and has taught seminars around the USA, Spain, England, Canada, Germany, and Mexico. The only places he's ever had a school was at the San Clemente (Calif) parks and rec, and his garage.
Some so-called "professional" fulltime martial arts instructors look down on the part time instructors. But the instructors credentials/experience and what he/she can teach you, is much more important then whether they has a nice commercial building that's open 6 days a week.
Let's look at 2 instructors. One is a 21 year old who trained at a nice commercial school, went thru a "instructors academy" and 3-4 years later buys his own franchise. He dosen't have much life experience because since he was a teenager, he's been working on someday being a "karate teacher". Besides teaching, he's learned how to run a business and recruit students.
The next instructor trained for 8-10 years, is a 2nd degree black belt. He teaches at the local YMCA, because he has a full time career, and dosen't want to be a businessman. He want's to concentrate on teaching and his own training. He's 30 years old, and his fulltime job for the last 8 years has been as a police officer. Over the last 8 years his fulltime job has taught him which one's of his martial arts techniques really work, and which ones don't. He's learned how criminals think, and how to deal with them, or avoid them. He's learned what kind of mistakes victims make.
So, now considering that the main purpose of martial arts training is to learn self defense, which instructor would be a better choice? The fulltime "professional", or the "part time" instructor?
