So i’m leading warm ups a few nights ago, and someone walks in to class late (which is constantly happening and i think that in itself is disrespectful, but that’s besides the point). This person, instead of walking around the class (hugging the wall), decides to walk through class, right between me and the class full of people i’m warming up, while i’m leading warm ups.
I’m not at all a person who demands respect from my junior brothers at school, or demands respect from anyone period, but this action doesn’t sit right with me. Does anyone view this as inappropriate?
He also took an open spot in the front row of the class to do his warm ups. Am I off for thinking that if you come in late to class, you stay in the back of the room to warm up? Am I off for thinking about this period?
Please let me know I’m not crazy.
Totally rude…
Such things would not be tolerated in my class and were NEVER tolerated in my teacher’s class.
You greet, be as unobtrusive as possible and take a back spot…and then get into the mainstream of the class as soon as possible.
Personally, I have been known to stop class and address people directly when they are rude.
I have known of one instance where my teacher came in to class, noted rude behavior, left the school for the day, and let it be known that if a change was not immediate, all classes would be cancelled until further notice. (that is one teacher that does not put up with bad manners from students).
If someone shows up late, make them do 50 pushups.
wow man. your teacher’s no joke. so many of the students at my school would be reprimanded if they went to your school.
thanks for the assurance. now i won’t mind saying something next time it happens.
50 pushups. Or he can go home. Period.
That’s how they do things at a traditional school.
-FJ
i think you’re right. it is rude. it violates the standards of conduct for most dojos or kwoons i know of, certainly. but more importantly, it violates common sense and courtesy.
if you were a violin teacher, and this guy were in one of the later classes, he wouldn’t come into your class to ‘warm up’, would he?
i would take him aside if you can do it though. before or after class. if you do it in front of the class, he may act up to avoid feeling as stupid. it may be that he just didn’t know any better. startling, but some people really are that clueless.
stuart b.
50 push ups for showing up late? That’s not the kind of school I would care to go to. I don’t need to be reprimanded. I’m an adult, if I’m late there is usually a reason. What if that individual can’t get off work early enough to make it to class without being a few minutes late? should they just stop going?
That is how my muay thai instructor handled it. If you show up late you do pushups. If you didn’t like it then either get there on time or go find another school.
that’s what i’m saying apoweyn…common sense and courtesy. i’ve never been told to walk around the class and not through it, and i’ve never been told not to take a spot in front. it just seemed like common sense to me.
GLW said it best i think…“You greet, be as unobtrusive as possible and take a back spot…and then get into the mainstream of the class as soon as possible.” did you have to be told that GLW? somehow i don’t think you did.
it could very well be that this guy doesn’t know better, so that’s how i will handle it. thanks again fellas.
on a side note apoweyn, do you teach? just wondering.
That guy was rude and disrespectful! It doesnt matter whether you re doing MA or any other thing, if you re late, you should take your place without disrupting the rest of the class.
As for doing 50 push ups, well, most of us would have a good excuse for being late, and if I’m late, I would send my sifu a txt telling him I’m gonna be late and why, or tell him after class.
But then again, there are loads of people who just dont care.
In my college I train us once a week, just to go over what we learned with our sifu, and one guy, he’s late, then he gets a drink and a snickers, eats and drinks while we are warming up.
He is one of the “advanced” students, so he’s disrespecting me while I’m teaching, and he’s showing a bad example to the newer students.
Got him back last week though, made him do the warm up and he totally f**cked up 
Galadriel
Perhaps walking through the class is rude, but showing up late for class IMO is not.
Many people show up late for class at my school. We all have jobs and lives, and sometimes it’s just not possible to be there at a certain exact time. Better to be late then not show up at all.
Paul
As for not being able to make it on time - If your teacher agrees, I don’t see why not. The 50 pushups I gave out (in my mind) were for disrespect, walking in front of the class, not asking permission to join the class.
At the same time, I emphathize with you. I used to belong to a traditional class, sometimes group punishment was applied (pushups,) they were sticklers for some rules, and I couldn’t deal very well with having to answer to the senior student, who was 18-19 year old youngbuck with an attitude while I was 26. It’s one thing when your a teenager that needs discipline, it’s another to be an adult who has to work, who maybe has a family. That’s one of the reasons I stopped attending that school, which was definitely geared towards teenagers. But, I took with me a few lessons about being serious and respectful in the class. Now I just pay for semi-private lessons, it’s better.
-FJ
Well at least in TKD there are rules for just about everything you mentioned (rules can be nice for situations like these when your not sure what to do).
You never walk through the lines (during warmups and such there are usually 4 formations rank based, high belts up front), and that goes for ANY time, if the teacher calls your name and asks you to come to the front of class you go to your right or left (whichever is closer) and run around the group, it’s disrespectful to run through the lines. Also if yuo show up late regardless of rank yuo always stay back, you can take your right place in the lines once the warmups are over and people start lining up again, but yuo dont come late to class and disrupt the warmups. Also if your late you do pushups, depending on how late. If you KNOW your not gonna make it on time, tell your teacher, dont just say “fu(k you i’m an adult and i have my reasons”, if you know for a fact taht you will always have to show up 10 minutes late let the teacher know and chances are it’s no biggie, but someone who always seems to be late “just because” sure as hell has to do pushups (it was also like this when i was in Kung Fu and kickboxing).
Btw that’s the reason i know my parents f.x. could never take up martial arts, they dont like taking commands and feel they are too grown up to have to do what they’r told “we’r adults i wont be treated like this”, they would propably just stop when it gets too hard and say they need rest and not listen to any commands barked at them to keep on going this is suppose to be hard, i just hate that attitude, i feel that discipline SHOULD be in MA class and people who cant handle it shouldnt be there.
DISCIPLINE IS GOOD!
It is true that many (if not most) people who take martial arts classes do not and can not give them the first priority in their lives. Inevitably, the pressures of a life outside the kwoon will cause them to be late at some point. This doesn’t demonstrate a lack of discipline, in my view.
That said, it will invariably disrupt the class to some degree when someone arrives late, so it must be discouraged with some token punishment. 50 pushups seems reasonable to me and if someone is rude and disruptive, as Justa Man described, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be made tougher still.
It occurs to me that perhaps walking between instructor and students, taking space in the front of the class, etc. is a way of getting attention. Therefore, perhaps the best way to deal with it is to give this student extra attention when he is conducting himself properly, and ignoring him when he is misbehaving. Also, a lecture on the perils of ego (given to the entire class, not one on one) might be appropriate.
Justaman
Your not crazy, I beleive this is rude and he/she should take a spot at the back.
This might be crazy, but I agree with the 50 push ups and another way to look at it is “because Im late I get to do some strength training which is 50 pushups, this can only make me stronger/better”.
Even though someone has a very good reason for being late, they know the rules and the respect levels of a kwoon and therefore should not be able to come in late without consequences, this will set precedents for future or brand new students.
OK, maybe I am crazy.
Amitoufu,
AOF
At our school, some have schedules that make it difficult to be at class the minute it starts. I’m included. It takes thirty minutes to get through rush hour traffic from work, and I’ve only got 20 minutes to be at class. I let my teacher know this, and he is fine with it. When I get there, I get to work, and catch up with the class.
However, people who disrupt do need to understand that they should not do so. We save it for later: we don’t do anything until after warm up. Then, let the torture begin. And we let 'em know its coming, but we are not hostile. They eventually learn.
Yeah. that’s disrespectful.
This is how it’s done in our school. If someone comes in late, he has to come to the instructor, bow to him and then the instructor tells him to warm up on his own in the back or join rest of if he’s not terribly late. A bit over a year ago we had everyone coming in late do 50 push ups, 50 sit ups and 50 back extensions. And people coming really late were told to think twice before coming to the class. I mean.. What’s the point if you’ve missed the warmup and can’t do it on your own?
I see that kind of stuff as not only being ruse but as a challenge. When I used to lead classes while my sifu was away I would somtimes have to literally kick peoples @$$. I say make your authority felt, otherwise they won’t respect you.
I had a guy come try out the class last week. He was a “self taught” guy and was pretty rude when I was showing him movements. When i showed this particular inside block he said “You mean outside block” I said no inside and demonstraited again. He mumbles “That’s outside” and rolled his eyes while I started to walk away. So I told him firmly why it was an inside block and looked him directly in the eye while doing so, showing him I was no pushover. He was very respectful for the rest of the class and never came back, I don’t miss him one bit.
I guess the point is allot of things can be said using only body language. If you are teaching the class there will be allot of people trying to test you. You need to be able to back up your methods if need be. When I used to run the class for my sifu when he couldn’t make it some classmates of mine used to test me, which at the time I couldn’t understand cause we always had so much fun before. I still don’t know if it was jealousy or what but I learned a lesson from it.
As a martial arts teacher you have to be firm and willing to kick some @$$ every once in a while, never back down or let students get away with things even if it’s only somthing him and you know about.
My kwoon is pretty straightforward about this kind of stuff. If you were to come in late, the instructor would ask (in front of everyone) “why are you late?” and everything stops while you stammer out whatever lame excuse and people snicker at you. Likewise, if you cut across instead of going around, everything stops and everyone stares while the instructor says “hey! Go around. Cutting through is disruptive and very disrespectful. I know you don’t want to be disrespectful to everyone here”. That one works incredibly well, I’ve never seen anyone do it more than once.
Amazing what that kind of simple spotlighting and peer pressure can accomplish 
What your talking about here is common courtesy. Take it out of the kwoon context and it’s still the same. If you were late for a date or appointment, wouldn’t you appologize. If you come into a theater after the movie has started, wouldn’t you try not to be disruptive. If you know you can’t make it to class on time because of work, let the instructor know ahead and that should be the end of it. We have one student that is 10 to 15 minutes late for every class because of work. It’s expected and it’s not a problem. What I hear everyone talking about is a general lack of respect and courtesy that is becoming more and more common in our society. This student’s conduct is not only disrespectful of the instructor, but also of the other students. If you researched it a little I’m sure you would find this is the persons general pattern outside the school also.
Enough venting about that. So here is another one. People that don’t show up and don’t call. If you have to miss a class, do you call and let you instructor know. This might not be such a problem in a big school where the classes are always full, but in schools that only have 4 to 6 students in a class it is nice to know if anyone is going to be there.