McDojo

[shuri style]

What is a Mcdojo? I have never heard this before, what are the main characteristics?

[G95champ]

Belts for Money and not teaching a lot. Making money and giving rank for dollars.

[TJS]

basically anyone can go thru the ranks..regardless of skill, improvment, fitness, etc...when you see high ranking students that would really stand no chance at all in a real fight..then you have found one.

[AndrewGreen]

basically anyone can go thru the ranks..regardless of skill, improvment, fitness, etc...when you see high ranking students that would really stand no chance at all in a real fight..then you have found one.

 

*sits on hands*

 

I can't resist.

 

BULL!!

 

That would group a whole lot of schools as McDojo's that I don't think you want to.

 

Rank - Rank is nonsense, ignore it.

 

I have a hard time seeing it, I think the whole idea is silly. Different schools do different things. A McDojo is a school which doesn't meet the criteria of the person calling it that.

 

There are things that I think are wrong like long term contracts, belt testing fees and saying you provide something you don't (ex functional martial arts)

[ninjanurse]

Andrew, I think you put it very well!!!!! Thanks !

 

[Withers M.A.A.]

Basically a school that the instructor is either not skilled or just wants to make a fast buck and doesn't care much about his students progression.

[monkeygirl]

A lot of people tend to be paranoid to McDojos. They see a dojo that uses contracts or testing fees and automatically leap to a conclusion.

 

I think that the actual number of McDojos is a bit smaller than what people first think.

 

I've never had to deal with a McDojo, so I'm just going on speculation and logic here:

 

IMO, a McDojo is a scam started by a con artist. This con artist might have a little bit of training...possibly even a legitimate black belt, but the fact that s/he is a con artist and is scamming people remains the same.

 

However, it's very difficult to diagnose a McDojo.

 

There are several factors that would seem incriminating:

 

Contracts

 

High prices

 

Testing fees

 

Ineffective Self-Defense training

 

None of these can really make you say "oh yes, that's a McDojo for sure." It's only when these factors are in their extremes and combined that we start to see a McDojo.

 

Making false claims is a strong sign of a McDojo. Say that they claim you will become an excellent fighter in 3 months!! If, after 3 months you're still a lame-o fighter, it could mean two things:

 

a. You're at a McDojo.

 

b. The instructor is terrible.

 

It's only if the instructor is deliberately deceiving you that it becomes a McDojo.

 

Basically, a McDojo involves: deliberately misleading people for the business owner's personal gain. Therefore, you'd have to be a mind reader to distinguish McDojo from Crappy Dojo. A Crappy Dojo could have all of the popular "signs" of a McDojo.... 4-year contracts, $300 for a yellow belt, black belt in 6 months, crappy training...it's still possible that the sensei is just a bad instructor who made some very unwise choices when running his/her business.

 

In other words, there's really no way to tell for sure, 100%, unless you overhear the sensei saying "Oh yeah, I'm totally scamming these kids...they come in twice a week expecting to become ninjas or something. It's hilarious! *EMLOL*"

 

But does it matter? If you're unhappy with a dojo, it shouldn't have to be a McDojo for you to leave.

 

Again, this all just my opinion. Feel free to prove me wrong.

[karatekid1975]

Good post, Monkeygirl

[aznkarateboi]

G95 , so you're saying that if they charge money for testing their a MCdojo?

[SaiFightsMS]

How about if they charge money guaranteeing a certain rank? I thnk that is what most posters mean. Pay x amount of money come to x number of classes and you will be a black belt. Notice the lack of passing the test and meeting the propper standards of performance?