SaMantis
What do you guys train?
Do you just do forms? Or are you guys actually fighting. (freestyle). If not, then it was best for them to find their own way.
Wah Lum doesn’t teach any fighting straight off – for the first 3-4 months or so. Students can take continuous sparring as a separate class (no extra charge) after their first test.
I agree, if all someone wants to do is fight, they’re better off moving on and finding a style that meets their needs.
SaM
We see them come and go, only the strong survive. I understand your story of training and fighting. Some folks come in with this “all I want to do is learn how to kick ass” but do not want to learn “traditional” ya know, pain and suffering…long term.
Why worry about getting to the inside? And loyalty is a two-way street…maybe the hierarchy is in the wrong. Ever thought about that?
“Being in the door is all about respect, loyalty, and friendship. It’s not about Master/Disciple, Yes Sir, No Sir, or any of that.”
I like that.
Yu Shan said:
Why worry about getting to the inside? And loyalty is a two-way street…maybe the hierarchy is in the wrong. Ever thought about that?
I agree that often times this is the case. A lot of times certain hierarchy systems seem to be in place for no other reason than to boost the “teacher’s” ego. Talk of indoor students learning secret techniques, and “the real stuff” while the rest are taught incompletely, drives me nutz. There shouldn’t be any “secrets” just a clear order of progression. In order to get any more “advanced” techniques to work you have to master the basics anyway with hard work and repetition, which will naturally weed out those who don’t have what it takes. Like KC said:
The bad students don’t have to have knowledge kept back from them, they just don’t practice as much.
Yu shan is right. Not everyone is willing to put up with all the hard work and training but it pays off at the end. It’s good to build up a solid foundation from the start. The people who yu shan and SaM talked about are usually the ones claiming that kung fu doesn’t work. It’s their fault that they didn’t stick with it but there are exeptions with teachers to teach improperly. However in the end I love it that few remain since those are the ones on the right path.
Oh and about herarchy. China has always had some type of hierarchy in one form another. It can be seen in the their families and social class and political. It’s just adifferent culture I guess.