15 year old girl teaching?

Discussion in 'Weapons' started by puma, Oct 5, 2010.

  1. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    hmmm skill at what though?

    That one site said she has "1st dan in Ken Jutsu" which just looks odd to be honest.

    Based on the above claim I'd call into question her background.
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2010
  2. puma

    puma Valued Member

    LOL! It probably is misplaced.

    Regardless of what she knows, or probably doesn't, I can ot see how a15 year old can be allowed to teach their own class/seminar. It can't be legal surely? And I am surprised that the parents would put their kid in such a position. She can't have any coaching qualifications or insurance.
     
  3. Neil Gendzwill

    Neil Gendzwill Valued Member

    There's no legal qualifications required to teach/coach martial arts that I'm aware of in the UK or the US or Canada. Some organizations impose restrictions of course but that's entirely an internal matter. As far as insurance goes, if she can't get insurance maybe she is just taking the risk. We taught kendo in our club for years without insurance, never an issue. We only have insurance now because we're part of the local YMCA's official programs. Not one single student ever asked me "are you insured?" And very, very few ever asked about my qualifications - not a single one has asked for a certificate or anything like that. They just take what I tell them on faith, apparently.
     
  4. Bruce W Sims

    Bruce W Sims Banned Banned

    We have "martial theatre", "martial commerce", "martial arts" so why not "martial performance art" or "martial dance". I see nothing wrong with the concept except when someone does ONE thing and identifies it as something else (IE. Kendo vs Kenjutsu; point-sparring vs self-defense etc etc).

    BTW: I can't speak for who underwrites this young lady, but if she is going to flap a metal blade around like that she would have to be crazy not to have any. (IMHO)

    Best Wishes,

    Bruce
     
  5. puma

    puma Valued Member

    Agreed.

    With teaching, surely there are rules in place. Every instructor I know has coaching qualifications, CRB checks, child protection, etc, etc. This girl can't have anything. Also, some halls only let you hire them if you are 21 or over. Some are 18. And you can't hire them in someone else's name. If you are hiring for commercial reasons, and I assume she is charging people, you have to be the name on the form. You don't have kids teaching anything else. So why can she get away with it? Genius whizz kids at maths don't teach in schools. No matter how great they are they can't run a class. I'm not sure going by her website how much of what she claims is true either. I can't see any real martial arts qualifications on there at all. Seems a con to me. It certainly doesn't look like she has ever done Kenjutsu.
     
  6. Neil Gendzwill

    Neil Gendzwill Valued Member

    Who is enforcing these rules? Moreover, where are these rules written? Martial arts are notoriously unregulated. Aside from banning various weapons and regulating those organizations who receive funding, governments stay out.

    For example, if I want to teach Judo here in Canada, I can do it through Judo Canada but I would need to have a certain rank and have taken certain coaching courses. The government requires those qualifications because Judo receives funding due to its Olympic status. But if I wanted to just open a dojo somewhere and teach without association to Judo Canada, I could do that too and nobody could do anything about it. AFAIK I could also teach tap-dancing or gymnastics if I wanted to, there's no cops rounding up unqualified coaches around here.

    For kendo it's even less regulated as the government's not involved at all. CKF requires I have at least 5 dan to have responsibility for my own dojo but I don't need any other coaching credentials. And as before, if I wanted to open a non-CKF dojo there's nothing they can do about it.

    I don't know all the details about how this is run in the UK but I'd be startled if it was much different.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2010
  7. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    Anyone e-mailed Rubie to ask her?
     
  8. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    No we're all happy here talking behind her back :eek:

    Good point Van Zandt.
     
  9. puma

    puma Valued Member

    No body is talking behind her back. She seems like the type of person who would google herself quite a bit, so she must have come across this. She is more than welcome to explain things, although I don't see how anyone can justify a young girl teaching something she says herself she is not very experienced in. She says she has 3 years sword training. Not a lot. That probably means one lesson a week for an hour or so as well I would imagine. Should still be training herself, not teaching in my opinion.
     
  10. Bruce W Sims

    Bruce W Sims Banned Banned

    As an Educator, I tend to get pretty picky anytime someone identifies themselves as a teacher....regardless of the subject. Though some folks may give me grief, I hold that teaching is very much as a sacred responsibility that requires that a person be able to guide their students through a host of challenges, teaching them along the way how best to find answers for themselves. Fact is there are a lot of adults I wouldn't trust with this sort of challenge, and even after 20 years experience I still drop the ball.

    I would also like to say, speaking for myself, that I, for one, getting pretty tired of children being touted as "prodigies" by their parents. If John Doe wants to brag on "Little Muffin" for being able to play Chop-stix at the age of 3 I can understand that. But please don't tell me that a 15 y/o girl has the insight, understanding and experience to "teach".

    Best Wishes,

    Bruce
     
  11. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    My point was that while we're all here discussing her it might be good manners to drop her, or her representative, a line and see if she wishes to answer any of the points here.
     
  12. puma

    puma Valued Member

    Okay, fair enough. I get the impression she probably won't want to come on here and answer questions though. This wasn't just digging at her. I am sure there are others out there doing the same. It's just that I personally find it shocking, especially when swords are involved.
     
  13. ScottUK

    ScottUK More human than human...

    XMA kenjutsu pwns you all.

    Give her a shinken, I say. I'm sure she is more than capable of using it safely.
     
  14. Bruce W Sims

    Bruce W Sims Banned Banned

    Hmmmm.....just a side thought. Are we sharing any sort of concern about her preserving some particular tradition or have we assumed that she is only representing a sort of "martial dance"? I suppose it doesn't mean a whole lot to the discussion but I think its an important question when someone represents themselves as a teacher: that is: what, exactly, is she a "teacher" of? Thoughts?

    Best Wishes,

    Bruce
     
  15. ScottUK

    ScottUK More human than human...

    No concerns at all if she does XMA.

    It ain't even kenbu so I can't be arsed to consider it as anything of interest and am only grudgingly commenting on here...
     
  16. puma

    puma Valued Member

    Well she certainly does the dancing, but it states on her site that she studied Kenjutsu for all of 3 years and that she teaches sword. I don't know if that means Kenjutsu courses or just twiddling a pretend sword about. What I don't get is why at her age, and after only very minimum training, she thinks she can just go off and do her own thing. Why isn't she with the instructor? Shouldn't her instructor being teaching these courses, not her? It seems she teaches herself freestyle as well. Again, why isn't she with her instructor? She is so young. Surely she doesn't believe she knows it all? Unless of course I am very mistaken and she does train under someone qualified, in which case I appologise just incase. But watching her videos it looks like she has hardly been taught at all. There are certainly a lot of girls that age just as flexible, can kick far better, certainly technically, better gymnasts, etc, etc. There was a mention in her question and answers that she did Kickboxing once, but again there seems little evidence. The question about kicking with both legs seemed a little odd as well. Who would ask that?

    Having said that, her website gives the impression that she isn't really interested in MA at all, rather trying to be some kind of model. It certainly doesn't seem she trains to better herself or for the passion of MA. It seems like a typical attempt at short-cut to fame. I surprised she hasn't been on Britain Got Talent yet.
     
  17. Bruce W Sims

    Bruce W Sims Banned Banned

    I guess thats the impression I am getting. I see parallels between what this person is doing and the sort of gun tricks that are popular at "Wild West shows". Being able to shoot a playing card or twirl a pistol is certainly fun but I would not classify it as practical or serious gun handling. Now if one were to train on a course such as those sequential situational challenges many LEO-s negotiate I would cetainly consider that serious pistol training. But, then, I would expect that a serious sword person would be training at cutting targets rather than simply twirling a sword. Is any of this making sense?

    Best Wishes,

    Bruce
     
  18. embra

    embra Valued Member

    What a load of old (young) cobblers.
     
  19. puma

    puma Valued Member

    Yes it does.
     

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