Teacher? Klutz? Shark? Master? Clown? Seducer? Friend? God?
No human can be expected to be perfect. A Martial Arts teacher will have
limitation, flaws and peculiarities. So long as the students keep this
in mind, they have a chance of prospering in their endeavours - with the
guidance of their teacher. Without a teacher, the student must invent and
personally validate a whole art - a task for true geniuses only!
This page is to offer some guidance and suggestions for assessing what the
teacher may be, so that the student can make appropriate judgements.
There are many good, and many poor teachers out there. Abuses range from
propagation of nonsense, to sexual abuse, cult formation, unwarranted
profit taking, physical intimidation, corruption of spirit, and using
methods which damage physical or mental health.
If there is a problem, it may be hard for a student to walk out: The
teacher knows more and has cultivated a high status; peer pressure from
the group may have a lot of sway; technical material may be quite good
(and would be missed); for such a minor matter the student may
not wish to 'make waves'; ...
It represents more growth in the student to walk out than to
persist when something is wrong. What can go wrong?