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Old 11-09-2008, 05:10 PM   #3
Jonathan
Dojo: North Winnipeg Aikikai
Location: Winnipeg, Canada
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 265
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Re: Everybody Is An Instructor….

Not every "Master" ought to be teaching. This thought occurred to me as I read your spiel. In a couple of local instances I can think of this is definitely true. One fellow has the all the people skills of a rabid dog and the other is so megalomaniacal you get the feeling he's surprised that he hasn't yet floated up to heaven in a hazy beam of light. In both cases, transmission of Aikido skills from teacher to student is extremely poor.

I think it would be worthwhile warning students before anything else to evaluate carefully who they choose as their "Master." Being skillful in performance of Aikido doesn't necessarily translate into an ability to pass on that skill.

I would be especially wary of the teacher outside of Japan who strictly imposes the Japanese way of learning on non-Japanese. Forcing non-Japanese to operate within a learning paradigm that plays to the strengths of Japanese is foolish and inefficient. The idea of "stealing techniques" from the teacher, in particular, I think is nonsense and will, ultimately, diminish the art.

Anyway, just a few thoughts that passed through my mind as I read your post.

Take 'er easy!

Jon.

"Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."
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