How do I know if I am at a quality martial arts school?
This is a question I was asked recently, and what caught my attention was the wording, with the implication being that the person isn't trying to find a school, but rather make an evaluation of the school in which he is already enrolled.
Initially, I started to craft my response based on things to look for when selecting a school, which turned into a good-size checklist (which I'll probably do in another article). But the answer to the actual question asked turned out to be a little different and boils down to, at least for me, one thing:
The underlying question determining the quality of the school is in determined the quality of the teacher. A martial arts teacher is more than just a carrier and transmitter of knowledge. There was knowledge passed to him and it is his job (and perhaps profession) to pass it on to you. In order to do that he must truly understand the knowledge and have put in the effort to make it his own. Therefore, the best indicator to the quality of a teacher, and the best way to measure that, is by asking why.
If a teacher shows you a technique and can't answer why it's done a particular way or why it works the way it does, etc., this shows that he may not understand it fully himself. If he doesn't truly understand it, then how do you know he's teaching it correctly to you?
A bad answer (possibly the worst, in my opinion) to the question of "why" is, "Because this is how it was taught to me." This means he is simply imitating whatever he was shown and regurgitating the information without any indication of internalizing it.
Indirectly, asking why also validates the material you're learning. The teacher might be able to give answers, but they may not make much sense. In this circumstance it could be that the teacher doesn't really understand the material, or he understands the material just fine but it's flawed.
By the way, sometimes the instructor doesn't have the answer, and this is okay. A low quality instructor will give you the bad answer above. A high quality instructor will have the humility to recognize he doesn't have the answer and either try to find out, or better yet, work with you to find out together.
If you can confidently ask the question why, and you get a satisfying answer, then there's a good chance you're at a quality school because you have a quality teacher.
Initially, I started to craft my response based on things to look for when selecting a school, which turned into a good-size checklist (which I'll probably do in another article). But the answer to the actual question asked turned out to be a little different and boils down to, at least for me, one thing:
Can the teacher answer the question, "Why?"
The underlying question determining the quality of the school is in determined the quality of the teacher. A martial arts teacher is more than just a carrier and transmitter of knowledge. There was knowledge passed to him and it is his job (and perhaps profession) to pass it on to you. In order to do that he must truly understand the knowledge and have put in the effort to make it his own. Therefore, the best indicator to the quality of a teacher, and the best way to measure that, is by asking why.
If a teacher shows you a technique and can't answer why it's done a particular way or why it works the way it does, etc., this shows that he may not understand it fully himself. If he doesn't truly understand it, then how do you know he's teaching it correctly to you?
A bad answer (possibly the worst, in my opinion) to the question of "why" is, "Because this is how it was taught to me." This means he is simply imitating whatever he was shown and regurgitating the information without any indication of internalizing it.
Indirectly, asking why also validates the material you're learning. The teacher might be able to give answers, but they may not make much sense. In this circumstance it could be that the teacher doesn't really understand the material, or he understands the material just fine but it's flawed.
By the way, sometimes the instructor doesn't have the answer, and this is okay. A low quality instructor will give you the bad answer above. A high quality instructor will have the humility to recognize he doesn't have the answer and either try to find out, or better yet, work with you to find out together.
If you can confidently ask the question why, and you get a satisfying answer, then there's a good chance you're at a quality school because you have a quality teacher.