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The thug jumps out of the darkenss and smashes a whole darned trash can on your head! Do you ask him to take that trash can off you and help you up because, doggone it, you're only on your ninth Karate lesson and haven't reached the what do you do when a trash can flattens you part? Or do you ask him to administer first aid because, here it comes, you didn't sign a long enough contract at your local dojo?
There is a point to all this silliness, why do the martial arts take so long to learn? You can teach a guy to fly a jet, get in a dogfight and get shot down, spend time in a concentration camp, get released and run for political office, and become a senator, and retire, in the time it takes to learn some systems of the martial arts. I heard of one system that it takes seventeen years to get to Black Belt in!
Of course, there is the answer that you're learning more than just self defense. You're learning a life style, you're investing in your old age, you're solving the martial mysteries of the ages. But that garbage can is still flying at your head and you've already taken ten whole lessons so what are you gonna do?
One of the old saying that I heard, long time ago, is garbage in, garbage out. The sad fact of the matter is that if something is hard to put into your head, then it might not be easily accessed and used. Maybe it would be appropriate to find an art that is as easily absorbed as track, or boxing.
Yes, I know Karate is not a sport, it is an art, but it can still be learned quickly and easily. It just has to be taught by concept, and not by one mystical technique after another. Techniques that are random data, to be truthful, don't really relate to one another.
That is one of the major problems, you know, you learn a thousand techniques, and until you reach number one thousand and one, you don't have enough data to be able to make sense out of the whole thing. And then, after a hundred years, you finally become competent. And die.
The solution is that the martial arts must be taught on a conceptual basis. Instead of having a fellow memorize endless strings of tricks, have him learn the rather simple principles behind those tricks. Have him learn conceptually and he's suddenly going to be able to figure out those thousand techniques without any need for endless memorization.
That's the key, you know, give him an acorn and water him, and watch the tree sprout. Unfortunately, most martial artists, not to be disrespectful, are lost in the branches. But that's the real way to teach, give the guy a concept, plug him into a few situations which demand he create solutions pretty darned quick, and, zingo bingo, you've got yourself an instant martial artist.
There is a point to all this silliness, why do the martial arts take so long to learn? You can teach a guy to fly a jet, get in a dogfight and get shot down, spend time in a concentration camp, get released and run for political office, and become a senator, and retire, in the time it takes to learn some systems of the martial arts. I heard of one system that it takes seventeen years to get to Black Belt in!
Of course, there is the answer that you're learning more than just self defense. You're learning a life style, you're investing in your old age, you're solving the martial mysteries of the ages. But that garbage can is still flying at your head and you've already taken ten whole lessons so what are you gonna do?
One of the old saying that I heard, long time ago, is garbage in, garbage out. The sad fact of the matter is that if something is hard to put into your head, then it might not be easily accessed and used. Maybe it would be appropriate to find an art that is as easily absorbed as track, or boxing.
Yes, I know Karate is not a sport, it is an art, but it can still be learned quickly and easily. It just has to be taught by concept, and not by one mystical technique after another. Techniques that are random data, to be truthful, don't really relate to one another.
That is one of the major problems, you know, you learn a thousand techniques, and until you reach number one thousand and one, you don't have enough data to be able to make sense out of the whole thing. And then, after a hundred years, you finally become competent. And die.
The solution is that the martial arts must be taught on a conceptual basis. Instead of having a fellow memorize endless strings of tricks, have him learn the rather simple principles behind those tricks. Have him learn conceptually and he's suddenly going to be able to figure out those thousand techniques without any need for endless memorization.
That's the key, you know, give him an acorn and water him, and watch the tree sprout. Unfortunately, most martial artists, not to be disrespectful, are lost in the branches. But that's the real way to teach, give the guy a concept, plug him into a few situations which demand he create solutions pretty darned quick, and, zingo bingo, you've got yourself an instant martial artist.
About the Author:
Al Case has studied the martial arts for over over forty plus+ years. You can see if he Backs Up his Talk at Monster Martial Arts.
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