I strongly disagree. I think it is the instructor's responsibility to demonstrate to teh student what they are learning, but more importantly, why! Yes, from there you may develop new applications for what you have learned, but the initial demonstration is very important. I have strong feelings about the new sport aspects of TKD vs self defense too. In my TKD school people do no worry about getting punched to the head because it is illegal in TKD comp. Well I am old school Tang Soo Do and punching to the head while in close combat is second nature. So, when sparring I notice many times that people will get in real close to me in order to avoid getting kicked. They will actually get close enough to bump chests. In TSD they would have gotten their heads ripped off, but in TKD it is strategy. Not a very good strategy for self defense mind you. I worry about the future of martial arts because of silly things like this. We forget to use our hands and forget to control distance and forget to cover our heads, adn spend all of our time focusing on hitting a dot on a beer cooler that has been strapped to someone's body.
