What exactly is a McDojo?

[ninjanurse]

Absolutely! I think some instructors don't give kids enough credit. They are perfectly capable of performing to the same physical standards as every one else!

[Enviroman]

Well, children can do a lot of what the adults can do...some things they can do better (tumbling and assimilation of new patterns) but some stuff they can't be expected to do (board/brick breaking, ground grappling and other potentially damaging techniques, and other stuff). Kids are still growing (someone mentioned ossification in another thread, I think) and they can suffer real lasting damage if they attempt to do things that are too rough on their bodies. But they can do most everything.

[tkdBill]

Enviroman, I think you are being overly cautious. My young students do board breaking and grappling. These same kids and their friends are jumping over things on their bikes, wiping out at skateboard parks, and playing roller hockey in the street. What we do in a very controlled and safe environment is probably one of the least risky parts of their day.

My own son who is 11 years old is in an arm cast right now. This is the third time he's broken an arm or elbow. None of those injuries occurred during his 4 years of martial arts training. He fell off his bike while trying jump a curb. Another time he fell out of a tree, and another was a skateboard wipeout.

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[MasterH]

I'm siding with TKDbill on this one. I was a TKD kiddie, I'm now MasterH to my TKD kiddies. Some of them are tougher than my meanest adults, they just learn differently. As for the games, kids want to have fun, that's how they learn. Adults learn by having fun as well, but an adults idea of fun is different than a childs. The games fool the child into learning good manners, the tennents, or whatever is the focus of the month. So, a strong kids program is a sign of a McDojo? I don't think so.

[Patrick]

Hello,

We removed a post in error. It is below. I apologize for the confusion. Thanks.

I agree that a strong kids' program is not a sign of anything, other than that they offer courses to kids and that what they are doing seems to be popular.

Just a note: A school that offers a poor learning environment may not necessarily be a mcdojo (whatever the frick that is). Indeed, i've bumped into a few garage instructors that would have been better off going back to being students full-time. So, really, what we're talking about are either people who know how to teach but decide to make money instead, and thus offer a watered-down version of their art, due to the high student volume or overall lack of interest the instructor maintains, or we're talking about persons who don't have the skills and nonetheless decide to open up a school as a means to obtain an income, or we have people who know their stuff, but simply can't teach... and yet they can market, or we have people who know their stuff, can teach, and do teach, and can market their stuff.

All of the 4 above can 'look' like a mcdojo merely because they know how to market and are managing large classes, multiple classes, and/or multiple schools.

This is the confusion i've noted most of all when presented with the 'mcdojo' argument. A tendency to associate marketing and business skills with substandard provision of education in the arts. Entirely unfair and such generalizations reek of envy more than they do disgust.

[tkdBill]

Well said White Warlock. It's like any other product or service. Some are good, some are not, but either can be marketed well. You must delve beyond the image and investigate the instuctor and his class.

Also, never judge a school's adult program by looking at their kids program (and visa-versa). The two are often totally different.

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[MasterH]

Thanks guy's, now I'm craving McDonalds...........

[ovine king]

I really don't like the term. In my opinion, a bad school is a bad school, no matter the reason why it is bad. Sure a school might sell it's product well but if it is actually a quality school, so what?

I much prefer a school that over-charges and teaches properly than a place that doesn't over-charge and teaches badly.

Which one would be the McDojo?

Which would you choose to go to?

Aren't straw men great?

[Menjo]

lol good point, but it would be the one which doesnt follow usually tradition and the one which teaches poorly and only for self gain. Really what the post prior to this one is really asking what is a mcdojo if you think about it.....

So i agree with your post beacuase its all realitive really, what to you is a mcdojo?

[MasterH]

You don't get what you paid for. Some people want to go thru the ranks quickly, they get what they pay for. But when promised a good solid MA education and you achieve that quick BB, you're in the "McDojo" and I hate that term.