[QUOTE=YouKnowWho;1031706]It’s a lose-lose-lose-lose situation no matter which way you go.[/quote]
I can see where you’re coming from to some extent.
Case 1: teacher is too good:
A: In the past 10 years, you have always beaten me 15-0. None of those moves that you taught me can work on you. You have totally destroyed my self-confidence for all these years. I find it just doesn’t benefit me in any way.
B: 
The way I’m trying to avoid this pitfall(just pounding on students) is that, if they glove up with me, it’s so that I am drilling techniques. Thus, they have a number of offensive moves they are allowed(and are working), while I only have certain responses I’m trying to work. Thus, they get to see how I’m training, they’re largely training the same way, they are constantly refining their basic strikes, but are not put into the fire and demoralized. I also constantly tell anyone “Don’t be demoralized from being hit or making an error, or you’re making a second error. You make a mistake, that may work against you, or it may make your opponent do something they wouldn’t normally think to do in a fight, and open an opportunity for you. You don’t get to define the entire fight, if it’s a fight worth having, and neither do your mistakes necessarily define the whole fight. You have to train being unphased even when things seem bad. It’s just something you work and improve at.”
Additionally, most of my students come from a mma background, and are young and in great shape, so my old @ss has to work pretty hard. Short exchanges I might dominate, but rounds are different, successive rounds more so, and, by limiting my options, they get room to grow, and I get to hone different aspects of my system.
Thus, if they get to box, and I can solely set up throws, and we both know this, I’m gonna come out looking good sometimes, but I’m gonna get hit.
Case 2: teacher is good but not good enough:
A: You taught me 200 moves in the past 10 years but I have seen you only use 20 moves when I wrestled with you. If you can’t use the other 180 moves on me, I don’t think you are qualified to be my teacher.
B:
Definitely see where you’re coming from on this one. Being able to use four moves does not a teacher make. This is where I have found it useful to be aware of what other people in my style and similar styles use well. There are moves from my style I’d mostly use against the rare guy taller than me, but that shorter fighters in my system use as bread and butter. There’s moves that I use that the shorter guys don’t. I keep aware of these.
Further, because of reforms in my system, until now, few knew the whole system in the sense of having the form for study, and fewer still actually studied it, so the awareness of who uses what move was limited to a very small number. This is what I tell my students, “I don’t really care about teaching, though I enjoy working with you guys. My main training partner moved, and so I need more heads working the problem, and the only way to get that is to lay the whole system at your feet and work together on it. I want questioning and testing, not compliance. I want more heads working the system, and I want diverse training partners with varied backgrounds, whether they study this system or not.”
This is not a class for pay. These students don’t need new adventures every week. I don’t need to tell them that the fun adventures of constant meaningless changes and fun times are not comparable to contact in any way, shape, or form, nor nearly as adventurous or fun. So, it seems to work well so far.
Case 3: teacher is just a bit better than student:
A: You taught me effortless throws but I have seen you use a lot of force when you throw me. If you can’t throw me “effortless”, I don’t think you are qualified to be my teacher.
B:
I applaud any student who is discerning in teachers. All I try to provide is the most realistic kung fu class I can for the people who want to work the system, and not the culture. We’ll constantly work the same moves, and constantly improve at them, but some may not be my bread and butter, and thus may have room for improvement. Plus, I’d be the last to claim that, in sparring between equals, things are gonna go easy. My students each have other teachers and varied talents, so all things are not always equal.
For those who want to criticize my lack of culture, I point out that the basis of the culture is in cultivation, not posturing, and, if they wish to go further, we can discuss the classics in the original language and grammar. If the conversation gets that far, I hope to learn a bit more classical Chinese syntax. If not, good, I don’t need more discussions of classical Chinese philosophy from people who learned it from their kung fu teacher. I learned from scholars, and I’m just passable, I’ll not waste my time studying the pop culture version of it.
A: Today we wrestled 15 rounds and I can beat you 15-0. What make you think that you are qualified to be my teacher any more?
B:
Since I never seek to retain students, no one can accuse me of it. Anyone is free to leave. When people don’t show up for unknown reasons, I don’t sweat it. As long as they improve over the time they have, I’m okay with it. They’re not alive to be my students, they choose to at times, that’s all. I wouldn’t expect a better to study with me, unless he felt that I knew some things he could make use of, in which case, I would not question his judgment, either. I make zero claims. I tell my students, “I am a practitioner, if a respected one in some circles. I am in the position of teaching because I need more training partners who do this system. There are no magic moves. It’s an internal style, so it tends to require a lot of focus on body mechanics, an obsessive focus on body mechanics, so it’s a lot of work. I’ll keep the work realistic, but it’s still work. Some people like the work, some like knitting, I don’t see one as better than the other, I just like this work, and I don’t care for sweaters. They make me itchy.”
You know, the normal traditional sifu thing.
