Respect?

I think most martial arts have a strong basis of respect in them, especially for people of higher rank.

In fact in TKD the second line of the students oath is “I shall respect my instructors and seniors”. I can see why most martial arts have this strong belief in respect, after all there must be respect for there to be order in any group of people.

But today I found myself wondering what the BB in charge was doing and thinking, he’s not our normal instructor, but I just didn’t think he knew quite what he was doing, a lot of his exercises seamed detrimental and not well thought out.

So my question to others is, should a person who was given a black belt by someone I’ve never met, automatically gain my respect, or should he have to earn it like anyone.

I realise this could be considered quite controversial, but I felt it had to be asked.

I suppose i'm going to get a bit of flaming here, but so long as I get a few well thought out answers I’ll be happy.

 

Earn it. He's not special just because his belt is darker.

 

Everyone I meet has my respect - they don't need to earn it.

They can, however, lose it.

 

Maybe his ability to teach effectively should be in question. Is he a qualified Instructor? Has he had any experience in teaching or helping out in the class before? I'm a TKD (TAGB) BB and an Assistant Instructor, hoping to be fully qualified later this year.

I've been involved with teaching lower grade patterns, 3, 2 & 1 step sparring, line work and various exercises since I was a Blue belt (about 3yrs experience). This doesn't automatically make me any better to take a class than anyone else, but has given me some experience to know what does & doesn't work, and that's what helps. Experience, confidence and knowledge in what you are teaching.

As far as the respect thing goes, as a senior grade you should respect them. But if you're experiencing any doubts, speak with your regular instructor first. Hopefully they will be open to your comments. At the end of the day, it's their club and income in jeopardy. If his students are unhappy they could leave.

 

Should you respect him because he is a Black belt? NO

You should respect him because he was sent to teach you something. Maybe you are not used to his style or view of the art. Maybe his teaching is bad, but maybe its just foreign to you, ther is more than one right way to do things.

If you have doubts then ask your instructor or even talk to the replacement instructor. If that upsets them then too bad, respect is a two way street.

 

Is it, really?

 

If your Instructor has enough respect for someone to ask them to stand in, then aren't you disrespecting your Instructor by failing to respect those in whom he trusts?

 

Depends on the quality of the instructor and the treatment/behavior from the person he puts in charge.... Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

 

Like Yoda said, I'd show everyone respect until they loose it.

I wouldn't obviously disrespect soneone my instructor has put in charge, but thats more to do with respecting the intructor than the BB.

They'd get a certain level of repect out of trust of the intructor, but that can easily be lost :woo:

 

Well it's not like i went into the class thinking, "man he's crap i dont like him". But everyone was feeling the same way, that this guys ideas just werent right.

One of the other black belts, who has been asked to run the class before and everyone agreed did a good job of it, he was so annoyed by these techniques that he suddenly stopped and sat out.

I think i lost some respect for the BB who sat out, after all if i know this is silly but still continue, because someone saw fit to put him in charge, then couldnt he and then raise his worries when the instructor got back.

But i still think that i respect and instructor as an instructor, but then after learning with them, if they are good i being to respect them as a GOOD instructor.

dunno...

 

My sentiments exactely, BB get's respect untill the open there mouths and make me lose it, or are ill-informed/ can't be bothered to improve find out information.

Incidentely a BB means they've shown thier ability not they can organise a class structure.

Believe me when you first start out it can be quite daunting. Takes years of practice to become a good instructor.

I've been an assistant for almost 4 out of 8 years training and just finished my first year as instructor. Only now do I consider the structure of the class to be something I'm happy with.

Still loads to improve on though!!

 

Black Belts seem to affect people in different ways.....some fall prey to the power trip and people like that should be avoided.

If someone has something to teach they should be listened to irrespective of their grade. They may have much more experience than their belt ....you never know. They may have experience in something you're unfamiliar with. Some of the stuff may seem strange but make sense when put in context - personally I find lots of grappling drills like that.

Or of course they may be teaching crap!!! You can always ammend what they are doing slightly and silently to get some benefit from it if you're convinced that they're doing is garbage.......if not roll with it.

you can always ask the benefits of a particular exercise in a non threatening way? Hell you might learn something!!!!

 

No doubt you'll tell me later but wot was e up to that everyone objected so badly to?

 

As Tosh Spice points out, being good at something doesn't necessarily mean you have the skills to pass your knowledge on to people in an effective way. In any discipline, being able to teach a class requires a whole load of other skills, in addition to having reached a certain level of proficiency.

Is it what he does or how he does it that you have a problem with?

I had a similar experience myself when my instructor left one of his black belt students in charge for a month. Not only did the new guy do things differently, but when doing so he quite often made a point of saying he was doing it that way because he disagreed with our regular instructors method. So much for respect!

In the end I thought it was best just to try to keep an open mind and see it as a good opportunity to get a fresh perspective on things, which is exactly what it worked out to be, so my vote would be to give the guy a chance and see how things work out. Perhaps if he does something you're not sure about you could ask him to explain why he's doing it that way.

I certainly don't agree with the viewpoint that asking your teacher questions shows any lack of respect (unless its along the lines of "what the hell do you think you're doing?" )

 

True, but can you expect someone to start teaching and be good straight away. Like you say Sys-x just because they are a good MA'ist doesn't mean they have teaching skills. A teacher learns for years to teach, but we're often shoved to the front of the class maybe as much of a learning experience for him as the students...........

 

He hehe As an example i'll put you in front of the class and get you to teach them Sajo-Jurugi.

He he , explaining things is sometimes hard!!

 

hehe explaining is the hard bit, you think you can do it, well maybe you can but you stand in front of people and say do this, and that like this, put your leg there like that, and if people couldn't see you they wouldn't have a clue what to do!

 

I wasnt claiming he was a bad teacher, he explained what he wanted us to do, and we tried it, but some of the excersises where of no good. What i was asking is should you just do as your told cause he's a higher grade and placed in charge or was the black belt who sat out and refused to take part in the excersises he though where bad, right?

For example, he had an excersise where one person was on their knees and placed there arms up, then a person would stand behind them and put pressure on their hands and the other person would put pressure against it.

But the pressure was forcing your arms behind your back and downwards, very dangerous for your shoulder blades and your upper back.

Should i just have taken his word and carried out the excersise, or should i have said to the intructor, this seams like a bad excersise and refused to participate?

 

Personally I think it helps if you think of yourself as your own "training manager". You take instruction from others but ultimatey your responsible for yourself.

Doing a dangerous exercise cos someone told you to is akin to putting your hand in the fire for the very same reason.

Maybe there was method in their madness, but you're the one paying so you have to call at least some of the shots

Personally I'd be sceptical of that exercise too......did you ask what the purpose was?