Am I in a mcdojo?

[Ryukyu_lover]

- Registration fee + monthly installments & contract, even though they teach in village and school halls.

- Emphasis on forms and patterns.

I don't think these arguments really qualify a place for a "Mcdojo". My dojo teaches in a school hall as it is quite a young school, and rental for businesses is too darn high where I live.

Forms and patterns aka kata. That is where we get bunkai from. There is so much to be gained from studying kata. If you study the kata in depth, and think outside the box as to where you can apply these different techniques. It's not a dance.

There may be a few more points, but these ones were glaring out at me.

[pdbnb]

I took all my 'against' points from articles I read, where they were singled out as 'sure-fire' ways to spot a McDojo. I don't necessarily subscribe to them, as I am a complete newb to this concept (when I did martial arts as a kid, I never even considered the possibility that mine was a bad school - and it, in fact, wasn't, according to the standards of the aforementioned articles.)

[SA Karate]

Different dodos o different things for varied reasons. The gloves are for safety purposes and often times allows the attacker to be more deliberate without fear of injury. Some dojos use mouth pieces to help aid in tooth safety. I would not be too concerned. The time to worry or look back is when your jaw is sore or you lost a tooth, then you would go back and wish the opponent had gloves on, which soften the blow. Go with the flow, put the gloves on a just persevere.

[sensei8]

If I was a McDojo, and I'm not, and I was accused of being one, I'd just laugh and continue doing what I've been doing because perception is reality to that person.

They're here to stay, so, I'll just worry about my house.

[Kusotare]

The whole McDojo thing is a tad tiresome.

This guy notes the main red flags here, but, you should read the footnote, as many "traits" of the so called McDojo are found in even the oldest Koryu of Japan.

http://www.karatebyjesse.com/93-signs-of-a-mcdojo/

K.

[JusticeZero]

People want to overextend the concept of "McDojo". If they do so, the term will become completely pointless, and so I take issue with that tendency.

A dojo that charges a lot is not per se a "McDojo". A McDojo is a specific constellation of behaviors used to entrap people in financial support to a bad school; the "bad school" is core, the methods are not.

There are also some "Doujeaux" out there. That is, a fundamentally quite good school which is boutique and costs a lot. You get what you pay for at these schools, and they have a good product, but the training will strain most peoples' budgets.

[sensei8]

The whole McDojo thing is a tad tiresome.

This guy notes the main red flags here, but, you should read the footnote, as many "traits" of the so called McDojo are found in even the oldest Koryu of Japan.

http://www.karatebyjesse.com/93-signs-of-a-mcdojo/

K.

Thanks for the link; very right to the point.

[ps1]

Neither of the examples set forth in this thread seem to be a mcdojo. Every school, run as a good business, will have some traits. But the biggest trait of a mcdojo is POOR QUALITY. If you feel the quality of your training is worth the price, you're probably doing just fine.

[Chunmonchek]

I thought I was in a McDojo, but I was assured by one of my Sempai that all senior ranking Sensei in our organization wear Geta (big red shoes), practice the secrets of Kabuki (which requires them to cover their faces with white makeup), and have trained so long and hard their hair turned red.

I can now sleep with no worries...

[Kusotare]

I thought I was in a McDojo, but I was assured by one of my Sempai that all senior ranking Sensei in our organization wear Geta (big red shoes), practice the secrets of Kabuki (which requires them to cover their faces with white makeup), and have trained so long and hard their hair turned red.

I can now sleep with no worries...

Brilliant!

Did the instructor also have a stripy Gi?

K.