I have to comment on something that was sent to me via private messges. Please read and let me know if I am the only one who hates it when teachers get greedy, and brainwash thier students into thinking that 1000’s of dollars is perfectly fine to shell out to take tests…here it is
Quote from mantidland" to me…
“you recently said that it costs thousands of dollars to be a part of the A.C.M.A.F. This isn’t true at all. So the sifu test is 1000 ok, I think this is fine for a few reasons. 1) it ensures that those who wish to become a sifu are serious about the commitment. 2) In order for a martial art style to grow and prosper in America, it must become an organization. Otherwise you end up with material missing, halfassed instructors etc.. Think of it as a Franchise. Once the thousand is payed, if money is such a big factor, then one can make as much as he sets out to with his own school. As for the monthly dues, I paid 90 for tai chi and kung fu together, which I think is reasonable (some schools have contracts and make you pay up to 150). So the dues are only 10 dollars more than I have been paying to continue my education. Which again, If one is teaching, the dues are paid for by having one or two students” End quote
comment on #1 Ok I think that those who wish to become a sifu can be very serious about the commiment without paying a grand to show thier seriousness. hard work and loylaty are enough for me. what do the rest of you think?
#2 I also think that any school or system can be orginized and not have material missing and half assed instructors without money being the underlieng motive. yes or no?
Sounds like a brain washing… hello I 'm tommy Vu I will show you how to make a thousand dollarsin the next 5 minutes just like that OK? now I just need 10 of you to send me $100 right away and I will show you how to make $1000 you see? you become millionaire just like me…nothin to it
Because everyone knows, if you choose to teach Kung fu, you must be condemned to a life of poverty.
So I guess college is a big scam too eh?
2000 bucks per semester? Wow outrageous, we should be able to get through school based on hard work and loyalty right.
Please dont be bitter. I am just asking for people’s honest opion about the high costs of testing fee’s
I dont mind paying tuition, nor do I have a problem with annual dues.
However as a sifu and school owner and I could not sleep at night knowing that I charged a parent or college student a $1000 for a test. Or $400 for a uniform.
Because everyone knows, if you choose to teach Kung fu, you must be condemned to a life of poverty.[/b]
Well, yes. Because it is not possible to teach martial arts for a fee less than $1,000.00 per grade and make a decent living.
Originally Posted by Mantidland[b]
So I guess college is a big scam too eh?
2000 bucks per semester? Wow outrageous, we should be able to get through school based on hard work and loyalty right.[/b]
Right on the money again. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. Would be nice.
It’s not the fact of charges for the fees as such that EarthDragon is opposed to, it’s the sheer size of the cost.
Me personally, I’m against the cost of promotions in any event.
$1000 does seem pretty excessive. Maybe a contract to teach for free for a year or something would be a better way to ensure the commitment of the student being tested? Or some other incentive.
I’m not bitter at all, you’re the one that threatened me, don’t you remember?
Earthdragon: “The time will come when you will have to defend yourself and I will embarrass you in front of your students… lets see how much you learned for your 1000 dollars sucker”
In order for a martial art style to grow and prosper in America, it must become an organization. Otherwise you end up with material missing, halfassed instructors etc.. Think of it as a Franchise. Once the thousand is payed, if money is such a big factor, then one can make as much as he sets out to with his own school.[/B]
organizations really don’t matter that much - look at all the half arsed stuff that’s already available. Some of these schools are within organizations. And on top of that, when organizations come into play, so do politics.
As for thinking about it as a franchise, it sounds like this is how the McSchool began…
that said, I only pay 75/month and that’s to train in bjj, judo and muay thai.
When i did karate, it was £4 per 2hr lesson.
but there was a kids class before, so my sensi said if a help out in the kids class, i dont have to pay for my class. so that worked out ok.
each grading was bout £25, cos of belts and stuff like that, but my black belt was sponcered, so i didnt have to pay.
I went to TKD for a while with the TAGB, they charged £25/month, for 1x1hr lesson a week, and u pay in addvance. if u miss a lesson, u dont get the cash back.
Now my kung fu class is £4.50 for 1.5hrs with discounts the more train, cash at end of lesson.
Without getting in the debate of how much is fair for an MA school depending on size / facilities / extras / etc … the fees that I used to pay were:
school 1 - $40 per month, 4 classes per week plus full use of the facilities
school 2 - $90 per month, 5 classes per week plus full use of the facilities
school 3 - $60 per month, 3 classes per week plus use of the facilities on weekends
In all the above places gradings or special seminars were usually $40 - $80 each (inclusive of belts, certificates, and other assorted stuff), and uniforms around the same price range too.
Now I actually get to train at places for free or even get $ for demos, and that’s a nice perk I would have loved when I was a poor student
I want to come over there soon and take some of this money these kind and devoted enthusiasts are so readily throwing out. Let me help lighten the loads on the wallets of America a little.
I will do everyone a favour and only charge 800 for the gold stick pins and we can do the uniforms for only a couple of hundred bucks…
Traditionally, the more $$$ you pay, the less you get.
Students pay in $$$ and get a general outline of the style. They can learn forms and the basic precepts.
Disciples pay attention and time and not $$$. They can learn the essence of the art. The Sifu will take personal responsability for their development. He puts everything he can into these students and doesn’t look for money because these ones are his hope for the future of the style. They will be responsable for protecting the reputation of the style and passing it on to disciples of their own some day.
You can only learn so much from an organization. The real learning takes place in 2 places.
Solo practice.
Time spent with Sifu outside of “class”.
$1000 can but buy you the legal right to run a franchise.
The most expensive school here is a TKD school that charges $90/month, and test fees are $200, until you get to 1st Black, where it jumps to $500. His students can’t fight their way out of a paper bag, but the classroom is packed full of people.
I don’t pay anything. I exchange lessons for teaching time. Our normal fee is $55/month for up to 6 classes a week, with $20 test fees.
Att: Seven Star… I was quoting mantidland. I did not say that he did. I just dont know how to use the quote thingy on this forum. I am the onne who doesnt agree with what he said or what he is justifing…
The quote tag placer only places beginning and ending bb code tags. However, I find that it is only able to accept one paragraph of words and doesn’t paste in anything that follows a non-breaking space.
So, I switched to Manual bbcoding.
if you wanna quote something do this:
select the text you want to quote from someones post and copy it to your clipboard
2.type in the opening tag [QU0TE]
(the o is a zero in this instance so that the following lines don’t become a quoted phrase)
3.paste in the text from your clip board
4.type in the closing tag ([/QU0TE])
5.make your comments.
Any paragraph you want to break out, just repeat the process until you have the now completely out of context quotes immediately answered with rapid fire and disgusted commentaies provided by yourself.
Always be sure to follow your general message with the rolly eyes icon, the smily icon or general jeers of “I am right and you’ve been retorted!”
Thank you kung lek.
As I am an old guy, I’m not the most computer oriented person. I still have problems with basic formatting. Hell when I was in college we JUST started DOS. LOL but I will try to follow your suggestions and hopefully not be misquoted in the future. thank you
