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Old 11-01-2010, 10:50 AM   #35
jonreading
 
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Dojo: Aikido South
Location: Johnson City, TN
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,209
United_States
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Re: Aikido drop out rate?

I was gonna post a couple days ago but got side-tracked...

I think some of what I witness I contribute to the "commodity effect". Students buy 6 months of aikido, or a year, or whatever; they come to the dojo, they get their aikido and they leave. They try out aikido as an experience, much as they do joining a gym, taking a yoga class, etc. This is fine - I always tell new students to think about what they want before we talk money. I don't want some one in class who doesn't want to be there.

Personally, I do not think aikido is for everyone. I think we should try to expose as many people to the art, but at the end of the day attrition helps to preserve the integrity of the art.

I think a larger problem here in the US is that this consumption-oriented mindset breaks down within the dojo. We need senior students to fill the sempai role and help sensei disseminate her instruction. We are now seeing students of sempai rank who possess this consumptive mindset; these students are not undertaking some of the active [sempai] student roles because they believe that is not what they pay for...

I am not as concerned about the drop out rate of aikido as much as I am the participation rate of the students who stay in aikido. I believe that a key component of the transmission of aikido is fulfilled by the 2, 3 and 4 dan grades - to digest what the shihan say and reformat it for the clods like me who don't speak shihan. These individuals represent the future of aikido and it will be their responsibility to consume, analyze, reformat and disseminate what our shihan are saying today. I think I remember a post from Ledyard sensei that spoke to this issue. To that extent, we need enough of these students to undertake that responsibility, and they need to be committed to fulfilling that responsibility.
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