To Question or not: That is the question.

[BDPulver]

I'm with sensei8 on this. I need to ask questions to be a little smarter and wiser. I always tell my students to ask questions if they dont understand and that the dumb question is the one never asked.

[username13768]

My point is ... how are you supposed to question a technique from an art that you are still not familiar with? Will you know enough to know whether the response you receive is correct or is someone just trying to blow smoke up your tail pipe? Just as an aside, what would you (any of you) do if you asked your instructor a question about a technique or form and he told you that you weren't ready for the answer yet?

[bushido_man96]

My point is ... how are you supposed to question a technique from an art that you are still not familiar with? Will you know enough to know whether the response you receive is correct or is someone just trying to blow smoke up your tail pipe? Just as an aside, what would you (any of you) do if you asked your instructor a question about a technique or form and he told you that you weren't ready for the answer yet?

Um this last question you pose...if I am learning the form, then I should be ready to understand the answer. If he thinks I am not, then something has gone seriously wrong with the training.

Like most of the others, I tend to agree with Tomcat on this one. Questions are good, and neccessary, and should not be shunned by any instructor. A good instructor should be able to answer them, anyways. And if he can't, he should be able to find someone who can.

[username13768]

Umm .... If you're learning the form that means that you are learning the absolute beginner interpretation of that form. Which also means that the turn left and downward block that you are doing now might be a take-down later or an arm-bar. A beginner has no business asking about advanced information when they are initially learning the form. They should be focused on first learning the form. The same goes for any other technique. If you are just learning the technique you should be focused on that instead of on ways to possibly tweak the technique. I'm not saying that students shouldn't ask questions. I'm saying that students should ask appropriate questions so as not to waste precious class time on answers that may or may not have to do with that specific lesson in general.

I didn't say in my last question that the instructor couldn't answer the question. I simply asked what you would do if he chose not to because he didn't think you needed to know the answer at that point. See my above explanation for the why's of this.

I definitely think any question asked should be directly related to exactly what was just covered. Not ...Couldn't that technique also do this or that. Or, if I moved my hand a little here couldn't I make this happen? If you don't have the patience to learn the technique or form properly before questioning it then you are probably wasting your time anyway.

It's my belief that this questioning mentality that I'm speaking of is a chief reason for the many mcdojos teaching their new mcstyles to the masses. Anyway ... I'll stop now before I go off on a mcrant.

[bushido_man96]

I don't think that takedowns or armbars are such complex maneuvers that a white belt could not learn them. But, this is one of the drawbacks of the "basics and forms" or "kihon and kata" training style. One has to get locked into the technique before it can be "applied." I don't think that this necessarily has to be the case, though. I'm not saying that it can't be an appropriate way to learn. I do think that there are better ways to learn some things, though.

As for the tweak this way and that aspect of the thread, I really wasn't referring to that. But, those kinds of questions could be annoying. But, they should all have ready answers, too, and it is always an option to allocate time after class for more focused discussion.

[Toptomcat]

In my opinion there are simpler, more direct, more effective training methods than 'do this rote physical activity for thousands of repetitions and in a month or two I'll tell you what it's for.' That kind of thing makes for great cinema- I liked The Karate Kid too- but if my sensei taught like that with any regularity I would find another school.

'What is the specific purpose of this training activity?' is always a question that should be answered.

[username13768]

At this point I have to say to each his own. I teach the way I was taught in order to show respect to my teachers. The styles that I've trained in are off the beaten path for the typical martial artist today. I train in a koryu jujutsu style, a traditional Okinawan karate style is my base and an Indonesian fighting style for the knife work. I have gone out of my way to find teachers that teach a certain way. Granted most people do not like to train the way that I teach and train and certainly my teaching style and the arts I train in don't lend themselves to commercial martial arts schools. There is very strict etiquette in each and they all require adherence to the rules of their respective organizations in order to keep the lineage in tact. I prefer this and have to realize from time to time that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

[Martialart]

Some people are great martial artists. They are great technicians, and they might even have a deep level of understanding into the human psyche and spiritual aspects of their style. That doesn't mean they are necessarily great communicators or teachers.

If a teacher can't answer the simple stupid questions that come from beginners such as myself, then they have no business being in the role of an instructor.

Q: We would never do a downward block in a front stance in a fight, so why are we doing it here?

 

A: It's the way this style uses to train your legs and arms to work together in synchronization, which is necessary in free-form fighting. And to build the muscles in your arms and legs in such a way that blocks and stances become easy and quick for you to do. It also builds a disciplined mind which will allow you to endure in hardship and increase your sense of indominability. And it looks good and looks powerful and if you do it right, over and over, you will feel good about yourself and feel more powerful, and you will fight better as a result.

That's it. A student is entitled to that explanation. After all, they have to work to earn the money to pay the tuition that pays the instructor. They deserve to be instructed for their hard-earned money, right?

This antiquated notion of blind obedience, servility to the sensei over self, discipline to the point of dronish mindlessness doesn't work in the Western World. And make no mistake; the martial arts now belong to the Western World. They have ever since the Japanese started training U.S. Servicemen for money after WWII.

Just my humble opinion.

[tonydee]

In my own studies and teaching, students tend not to ask many questions. As a beginner, my main instructor wouldn't entertain unsought questions during class, gave minimal explanation but exemplary, inspiring demonstrations. People had to really hang on each word, train their eye to perceive the subtleties of the demonstrations, think hard to understand what made sense, and get good at assessing their own movements (as direct correction from the instructor was limited). Some people were better at that than others, so some never reached a very practical level in their abilities due to being unable to pass those barriers, but for those that acquired these skills they engender an ability to soak up martial knowledge very easily, and critique others in a perceptive way that's equally invaluable as an instructor and in a fight.

Despite that, as a teacher I tend to provide information much more freely and in depth, and have introduced specific exercises to target some of the "hidden" mechanics that we - as students - had to struggle to discern and develop. I watch my students carefully and tailor feedback to address what they need to improve, and will talk around a subject and offer different demonstrations and exercises until it "soaks in" and I see the changes I'm looking for. There's little need for them to ask questions - I'm the instructor because I tend to know what they need to know better than they do. Still, as they're refining their conceptual undertanding of techniques questions will come naturally, and I'm very open to being questioned - albeit more so when teaching a smaller class. I see questions as a useful feedback mechanism for honing my own instruction, and reinforcing the knowledge transfer.

Another aspect of this is the students' confidence that their instructor is leading them in the right direction. When the instructor's skill is obvious and desirable, and they see the other students forming a steady "ladder" towards that level such that they know the curriculum engenders that skill, they'll have the confidence to fit in to the established teaching style.

Cheers,

Tony

[algernon]

Question anything and everything, its the only way you can learn at anything. Why just sit there and blindly accept everything you are told. You must know the why the when and the how. Then you are able to work out if sed technique or principle is sound.

Seeking assurance in the effectiveness of your training is important, but near-Cartesian depths of questioning would interfere with your own learning. Trust is an integral part of the student-teacher relationship, regardless of whether the subject being taught is a foreign language, a musical instrument, or a martial art. If you genuinely doubt your teacher's competence, then you should find another teacher; at some point, you are going to have to trust your own reason and your instructor's knowledge as proof enough.

what would you (any of you) do if you asked your instructor a question about a technique or form and he told you that you weren't ready for the answer yet?

When my instructor told me this, I simply waited, and my patience paid off.

A student is entitled to that explanation. After all, they have to work to earn the money to pay the tuition that pays the instructor. They deserve to be instructed for their hard-earned money, right?

This antiquated notion of blind obedience, servility to the sensei over self, discipline to the point of dronish mindlessness doesn't work in the Western World. And make no mistake; the martial arts now belong to the Western World.

Yes, I paid him to teach me, but I did so because I had confidence in his skills as a teacher. He believed that I would be better served by learning the material in a particular order, and I trusted his judgment as an experienced educator, just as I have with my favorite professors' curricula.

When I took my first course in ethics, a classmate asked the professor for his preferred moral theory. The professor responded that we weren't ready to hear it. He answered the question in the last lecture of the course, and he was right to have waited; not only would his answer have fostered bias, we simply lacked the relevant background in ethics to understand it.

I agree that martial arts belong to the culture in which they are taught. When Asian martial arts came to the American continents, they became saturated with our culture and ideals. They had to in order for us to accept them. But discipline and obedience to instructors is not exclusive to East Asia; it can be found from high school sports, to universities, to the military. This is because, applied with reservation, it is effective. Most people work harder when they have someone to tell them to do those pushups, and to encourage them continue. We are not obedient to our instructors out of some blind tradition, but because we go to them to provide the coaching that we are looking for.