The hardest requirement...

[Zorbasan]

Have to say though - nice to see a guy doing some housework for a change lol!!!

come now, thats a bit harsh

[jaymac]

You know, I love my training and my dojo so much. I have great respect for my instructor and the time he puts into training us. I offer to do whatever I can to assist in dojo clean ups, maintainance etc... We are not required to do this for advancement, but I want to do it out of loyalty to my instructor, the dojo, and the others training there.

[Jiffy]

Geez, I wish some of my students were that committed!!

[AngelaG]

Heh! We currently train in a school so my students only have to make sure that they respect their surrounding area, but the cleaners do the cleaning.

Anyway, personally I don't agree with making the students clean the floor etc. if they are paying a fee. The most I would expect is help clearing away pads if we have brought some along, or similar kind of things.

[Jiffy]

I guess it depends on the situation. See, where we are now, it's kept clean, but a previous dojo we had, the floor was always covered in staples, dust and various other bits and pieces, so it was the students responsibility to make sure it was safe to train. It showed them respect and empowered them with responsibility too.

[scottnshelly]

If one of the requirements is to clean, that might be factored into the tuition fee. Who's to say that if he abolished the cleaning requirement that the tuition wouldn't go up to make up the difference. If he suddenly loses all of that help, he'll probably have to start paying someone to clean it. That's going to come out of the pocket of the students.

I've never minded cleaning a dojang. Someone has to do it, and if it's not a public place (school gym, YMCA, church, etc.) the burden is going to either be on the Instructor or the students. Either the Instructor will have to pay a janitor or the students will sacrifice half an hour a week.

I think this practice is more common these days as an alternative to paying tuition, but it's not hard for me to imagine a dojang where cleaning is factored into the tuition.

[Shotokan-kez]

When i was training years ago before at my current dojo. The first two students to arrive at the dojo had to sweep it first in a certain fashion. It didnt bother me at all doing this, i suppose it shows a little respect for the dojo.

[lordtariel]

Don't get me wrong... I don't actually mind the cleaning. Tuition would probably go up if he had to hire cleaners to come in. I feel that it's a show of respect to the place where you train to help clean and really, things like sweeping the floors and cleaning mirrors really aren't that difficult.

[Isshinryu_heart]

You know, I love my training and my dojo so much. I have great respect for my instructor and the time he puts into training us. I offer to do whatever I can to assist in dojo clean ups, maintainance etc... We are not required to do this for advancement, but I want to do it out of loyalty to my instructor, the dojo, and the others training there.

I totally agree. In my dojo everyone participates in dojo cleanup with the exception of the white belts, who are excused. This is mainly to not freak them out, but the main reason behind it is that they have not yet earned the privilige to clean the dojo. It's always been that way in my school. By the time you reach yellow belt, you want to participate in cleanup to do what you can to support the dojo.

[Jiffy]

Sounds like a great idea to me. I've been thinking about the respect thing a whole lot lately. Mainly because I'm disapointed about the lack of it in our school. I'd like to see it go back a little more to the way we used to train years ago, where Sensei was very important and you would do anything to help him, in fact it was an honour to help him, regardless of how much you were paying for the honour of his knowledge.