Guest Posted August 27, 2003 Posted August 27, 2003 Shihan Fumio Demura is my idea of the perfect "commercial" school owner. He is extremely successful but he keeps the art first and foremost the most important thing.They are usually excellent technicians This is the kind of school that capitalism should create, as I explained before. People should be unwilling to pay for a poor product or service.Unfortunately, schools like his aren't the norm that I've experienced. Blind loyalty, pride, and peer pressure prevent the standard model of capitalism to work for karate schools.
Goju1 Posted August 27, 2003 Posted August 27, 2003 Shihan Fumio Demura is my idea of the perfect "commercial" school owner. He is extremely successful but he keeps the art first and foremost the most important thing.They are usually excellent technicians This is the kind of school that capitalism should create, as I explained before. People should be unwilling to pay for a poor product or service.Unfortunately, schools like his aren't the norm that I've experienced. Blind loyalty, pride, and peer pressure prevent the standard model of capitalism to work for karate schools. Unless one is fortunate enough to find a devoted Karate person to lead a school, but they are few and far between
Sauzin Posted August 27, 2003 Posted August 27, 2003 My personal opinion is that you can’t go into karate thinking you are going to make a lot of money. It should really be set up with the same standards as a non-profit organization. The instructor should determine a specific salary that he needs to live on and anything else that he makes beyond that should be put back into the dojo and it’s students. In my view, it’s a matter of keeping your eye on the proverbial ball. The ball should be the practice and refinement of the art and its students. If money becomes another focus or worse the whole thing turns into a business then people have a tendency to loose track of the ball and it can get dropped. The art and the students should come first. Money should be an afterthought and only used to keep the art going. My instructor does not charge a fee. He is privileged to be a retired marine and has no need for supplemental income. He has always said, “I want students not customers.” As a result we practice in driveways, as guests in other people’s dojos, and largely in one student’s garage. This does not bother me. I have always preferred a small friendly environment and a one on one relationship with the instructor. -Paul Holsinger The only two things that stand between an effective art and one that isn't are a tradition to draw knowledge from and the mind to practice it.
Guest Posted August 27, 2003 Posted August 27, 2003 Those types of schools are good too. However, there is nothing wrong with making a living teaching karate if you provide quality instruction. A school that charges a fee can also provide good facilities, good equipment and possibly even liability insurance in the event of injury. Personally, I would prefer to pay someone if I am getting my money's worth.
Sasori_Te Posted August 27, 2003 Author Posted August 27, 2003 I opened up a school in a small town in Arizona. The kids there had nothing to do and I thought that it would be good for them. I only charged $20.00 per month with fees lessening for additional family members. The only reason that I charged anything was to provide liability insurance as well as buying the equipment needed for the school. However, over a period of 2 years small town politics claimed my adult class. A student I had, one of Sensei Demura's former students, happened to be not well liked by most members of the community because of a business that he ran in town. Anyway, he was an excellent student and they wanted me to ask him to leave class because of their disagreements with him. I wouldn't, so they left. So it was he and I and my kids class. The kids weren't putting in any effort to learn and the parents in town were indifferent. As far as I could tell I was just a babysitter for 3 nights a week for an hour. So, I shut it down. It opened my eyes to a lot of considerations that go into opening a school. I'll certainly be more careful before I do it again. This is just a small representation of what some people expect for paying money for a service. My ethics were worth more to me than their money. A block is a strike is a lock is a throw.
GrrrArg Posted August 29, 2003 Posted August 29, 2003 ^ Thats a pity when things like that for ce a school to be closed down. Sauzin, you say an instructor should only get paid what he/she needs to live off, why? There are very few people in the world who accept subsistence wages because they want to, what you are suggesting would make their lives harder to live than if they paid themselves enough to live comfortably and funneled the rest into the school?
imoñ Posted August 31, 2003 Posted August 31, 2003 i started off at a club where the #1 priority was money, it was pathetic i was over charged and forced to grade (which costs money) and they tried to bully us to go on pricey courses on the other side of the country. anyway i moved clubs and the one im at now is much better, my sensei's are enthusiastic and highley skilled and i have no doubt the training im getting is good. they have "real jobs" as they put it lol and make no money off teaching us. the fee that were charged pays for hireing out the gym to train in. Shotokan Karate - brown belt 2nd kyuJudo - Yellow beltJujustu - recently started, white belt
Recommended Posts