The Child of Ichabod

Francis Fong Academy, 1990

I'm still struggling over the question of re-opening my school. I love teaching, but I love training even more, and I'm sick to death of martial arts debutantes, time-wasters and the idly curious. If I do decide to teach again, the filter/vetting policy will be much more stringent. And I was difficult before my back went out.

In the 13 years I have been a teacher, there is one constant that I've discovered to be true, beyond all others: Not everyone is worth teaching. Not everyone deserves knowledge. A popular Martial Arts myth is that "One in one hundred students will actual achieve black belt".

That is NOT an encouraging thought.

I never wanted to be a teacher. Not once. I started training Martial Arts to be good at fighting, and then as I progressed, to impress girls. I wanted to be the best in any school I went to, and my natural drive coupled with youth and ability largely accomplished this for me. But to teach it...no, never.

As I look into my own past and see various methods of teaching in the many schools I have attended, I can grasp now why some teachers made attaining the knowledge more difficult than it had to be. When I was younger, I thought they were being petty, or arrogant. Something like "Let me see how many hoops I can make you jump through until you get it". Now I see it as more like; "How badly do you want the knowledge? How hard are you willing to work for it?"

Not many of these teachers are still around (several have died since I began teaching) and I wish I could go back in time and tell them I get it now. I see why they made it so hard, and forced me to work my ass off for every answer I got...they wanted me to appreciate, and value the information - and what it cost them to find it, as well.



There are teachers, and there are teachers. Many people are teaching the martial arts these days, and at least half of these people should be doing something else. In my own experience, I've always striven to be as honest and sincere as possible with my students, and I've never denied any one of them due shrift. I've been accused of being "hard" on students - to this, I offer no regret, or remorse. I don't believe in shortcuts. Either put in the work, or get the fuck out of my way. None of my students have ever heard me say "That's enough, you don't need to do anymore. You can stop there. You have all you need."

Doing a thing with minimal effort often produces substandard results, and I see evidence of this everywhere; Cooking, education, I.T., and especially martial arts. I don't believe you can streamline your training to avoid "time in grade" work on the floor, and even if it were possible, I would reject such training out of hand. I don't honestly believe anyone really "masters" a thing at all, but you have to take various levels of competence to new heights. You must ask yourself; "What level of incompetence am I willing to settle for"?

The only way to learn how to fight - is to fight. Anything less, and you are wasting your time. Added to that, the competency with which you teach anything is directly related to how well you understand that thing, and the understanding is braced with experience and practical application.

Teaching unto itself is also a critical part of the equation. Some people are naturally gifted at getting their point across, and others can do so because what they are speaking of usually speaks for itself. In other cases, a person who is particularly skilled at something but not very good at verbalizing it can utilize a kind of “monkey see-monkey do” approach, repeating the action time and time again until the student gets close enough to what the teacher is doing to figure the rest out himself.

In the martial arts, being a teacher is much more nebulous than teaching math, or reading. A math teacher can add 2 + 2 and arrive at 4 every time, no matter what kind of pen he uses, or if he does it on a chalkboard or paper. He is in no danger of 2 + 2 ever equaling 5, 3, or anything other than 4. Ergo, the math teacher has only to apply his skill in a one-dimensional teaching model. Since the result will be identical every time when correctly figured, much less effort is needed to teach something as linear as mathematics in contrast to martial arts.


(It should be mentioned here that the math teacher is also in no danger of the equation jumping off the page and beating the hell out of him, should he somehow get the answer wrong.)

So, to come back around full circle to my point - EMAA. The Edmonds Martial Arts Academy. Do I really need to pass on what I've learned? Equally important question - does the general populace really deserve it? Gaining this knowledge was almost the death of me, why should I hand it out like candy?

I just re-upped my website for another three years (Hah! There is no website, just that stupid placemarker!) I have a list of people wanting to train with me as long as my arm. I've turned down the THIRD seminar offer this month just yesterday.

I just don't know. We'll see, I suppose.

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I want to dedicate this editorial to Shihan Ridgely Abele, Pendekar Herman Suwanda and Sifu Lan Tse. Teachers who made me work for what I have, and are gone now.

I didn't understand it then.

I get it now.

Thank you.