Poll: Should the instructor be responsible for everything that happens on the mat during aikido training?

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[AikiWeb System]

AikiWeb Poll for the week of December 12, 2004:

Should the instructor be responsible for everything that happens on the mat during aikido training?

I don't do aikido
Yes
No


Here are the current results (http://www.aikiweb.com/polls/results.html?poll_id=251).

[ruthmc]

Ultimately, the instructor IS responsible. But as Aikido students I think we are all responsible for encouraging each other, watching out for each other, and helping each other along the path. There's nothing more contrary to the spirit of Aikido than a student who is only interested in his own training, and won't bother about his partner, or the other students.

So I don't think the instructor *should* be responsible - it's a shared responsibility.

Ruth

[mj]

He is liable for everything.

He can't be everyplace at once on the mat, though.

[DaveO]

Of course the instructor should be responsible - that's what being an instructor is all about. Or rather; what is at the core of instructorship - the acceptance of responsibility toward your students.
That does not, of course, absolve other members from their own responsibility; but as the 'captain of the ship' as it were; yes, the Sensei must hold ultimate responsibility. :)
Cheers!

[SeiserL]

IMHO, to blame, no. But to ultimately be responsible and accountable, yes.

[Atomicpenguin]

I think that the answer to this one sort of depends on your perspective. When I act as an instructor, I say yes, absolutely. When I function as a student, I say no, definitely not. At some point we have to take an active role in our own training. It shouldn't be just a matter of passively embracing what someone else says. Obviously, at the low levels this has to be the case because new people don't know what's going on. Somewhere you have to make the art your own and take some responsibility for your own progress. At the same time, the instructor needs be and feel responsible for what happens inside the school. I voted no, but I think that the answer could be either.

[Aikilove]

Re: Safety - Responsible for everything that happens on the mat? I feel that the instructor is responsible to show a safe way of training, and as long as the student do what the instructor tells them there should never be any injuries. It is therefor the students responsebility to do so. Unless the student do what the instuctor shows, the students are responsible if anything happens.

Re: Development - I think the student has a responsebility towards him/herself to take his/her aikido training to higher levels. It is the instructors responsebility to provide the platform to do so. The instructor can not make someone great. He/She can only pave the way for the student to make hem/herself great.

[Mark Uttech]

Although the instructor is responsible for whatever happens in his/her class, it doesn't let anyone else off the hook. In gassho, tamonmark

[Michael Neal]

I don't see how it is possible for an instructor to be responsible for everything that happens on the mat.

[Rocky Izumi]

Absolutely.

Rock

[Jill N]

yup.
e ya later
Jill.