Why refuse or quit teaching?

[Spartacus Maximus]

What reasons would likely be cause for refusing to instruct anyone or quit teaching despite being qualified to do it?

Martial arts history includes several accounts of reknowned experts who, for a variety of reasons quit teaching or refused to take students for a time. The founder of Uechi-ryu, for example, quit teaching for many years after one of his students killed a neighbour.

[Montana]

After 30+ years in the arts, 27 of it teaching, I quit cold turkey.

I have arthritis in both knees and a screwed up back that likes to make a loud "popping" sound when I kick hard with my right leg, causing my legs to go weak and falling to the floor in pain.

It became a choice between teaching karate, or possibly not walking. Hmmmm..tough choice! lol

[Spartacus Maximus]

Serious injury, chronic pain or advanced age are all good and legitimate reasons to stop any kind of activity which might cause worse harm. However the question assumes that the person has no health problems. So, besides health or age issues, for what sort of reasons would someone refuse to teach or decide to quit teaching?

[Montana]

I know of a couple of instructors that quit teaching because they became disillusioned with their system. It failed them when they were faced with a real life self-defense situation, or even after multiple black belts they felt that the system hadn't prepared them for the real life world of survivng a fight.

[IcemanSK]

I closed my school after nearly 10 years last summer because I went back to school & no longer had the time to devote to teaching well. My original master now teaches golf in a different part of the country. The founder of Chung Do Kwan stopped teaching & handed the system over to his students at some point. There are lots of reasons people stop teaching. One reason for many is that it's hard to make a living teaching. No matter how much we love it, it doesn't always pay the bills.

In the case of the instructor who's student killed someone, it sounds like felt as if he bore some responsibility for the death of the other man.

[Lupin1]

Not everyone's cut out to be a teacher or has the temperament for it.

There are a lot of teaching skills that can be learned, but many that cannot. Some people will never be good teachers.

Others just don't want to. Teaching takes a lot of patience and you have to take the focus off of yourself. Some people just want to learn and study Martial Arts for themselves. They are not interested in passing on the art. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just a different focus.

For some people, they don't have the time to both teach and work on their own skills. Their skills would suffer if they used up all their free time teaching. Or maybe their free time isn't regular hours, so students would suffer.

Lots of different reasons.

[Nidan Melbourne]

Usually due to poor health is why they stop or because of extenuating circumstances force the closure.

I know of 1 goju-ryu club folded because of a lack of students, because they were averaging only 4 people in each class which was not enough to cover the costs of running a club.

For me i'd quit if i physically could not demonstrate or even stand for long enough time to teach and correct. I'd hate not being able to teach because i have a strong love and respect for all my students that i teach.

[sensei8]

Whenever I stop, it'll be my choice, and my choice alone to make. Therefore, I don't need to give anyone an explanation as to the details in my decision. What about my students? What about them? Don't they deserve an explanation?

NO!!

My decision would be both personal and private, and I would seek for their understanding as well as in their respect for my privacy. It will be the most difficult decision, but necessary, to make of my entire MA journey.

[IcemanSK]

Whenever I stop, it'll be my choice, and my choice alone to make. Therefore, I don't need to give anyone an explanation as to the details in my decision. What about my students? What about them? Don't they deserve an explanation?

NO!!

My decision would be both personal and private, and I would seek for their understanding as well as in their respect for my privacy. It will be the most difficult decision, but necessary, to make of my entire MA journey.

At the end of the day. Yes.

[JR 137]

There's lots of reasons people would stop teaching. Besides age, injuries/illness, financial, people's interests change.

Some people get into it thinking that teaching is the next logical step in their journey. Makes sense on paper. But when they realize not everyone has the same passion for it as they do, they get tired of teaching people who are there as a way to kill time. They get tired of the people who are just going through the motions.

Then there's the business end of it (not finances). People thinking they or their kids should promote when they're not ready. Putting out fires due to assistants or other students. People thinking they could do a better job that you. People telling you how to run the dojo. People trying to change the schedule to fit their needs better. People who are behind on their dues.

At the end of the day, for every die-hard student, there's 30 casual students. Those moments that make you love being a teacher are pretty few and far between at times.

Then there's the schedule. Would you rather eat dinner with your family every night, help your kids with their homework, basically be a family person, or be at the dojo from 4-9 pm?

Running a dojo, even part time isn't all happiness and great times as it seems.