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Hello. I live in a small town, and my options are very limited. There are only five or six martial arts schools in my area (the only other arts on offer, aside from karate, which I am currently doing, are jujitsu, judo, and a cardio kickboxing class at the YMCA) at least three are blatant mcdojos ("family friendly" and "get in shape while learning the art of self-defense" type slogans tipped me off to this). Right now I am studying at a Goshin-Jutsu Karate school, and have been for about eight months now. I am unsure of whether it is a mcdojo or not, since it seems to have some characteristics that do match and some that don't. (my primary motivation is self-defense). On one hand:
1. It costs money to get new belt rankings, do various seminars, etc.
2. We spend a lot of time doing kata, and need to learn a kata to get a promotion
3. We have many children who are up to purple belt (our ranking goes white, yellow, green, purple, brown, 1st dan) but none higher than this. Several of these children are definitely not qualified.
However, on the other hand:
1. One of the students there fought in the world competition for Goshin Jutsu karate in Russia, and won second place (he beat the guy who played Darth Maul in star wars)
2. Our sensei has been doing this for over thirty years, so he isn't one of those 1st/2nd degree blackbelt teachers
3. Our school always does well in tournaments, for what that's worth (small benefit maybe, but not much)
4. Our blackbelts seem to be generally pretty qualified (the test includes getting hit full-force in the stomach, for instance, and they have been doing it for at least 5-15 years before 1st dan)
5. Promotion is generally slow. I am a whitebelt after eight months (w/ the little yellow stripes on it) and I have progressed much faster than most other people who entered at the same time. The sensei's own son is only green thus far.
6. Our sensei also has taught several other people in other towns with their own Goshin-Jutsu schools
7. He also privately teaches some of the harder-core stuff (like ripping out cheeks, eye gouges, etc.) and things like hand conditioning
From these it seems that the school has turned to the mcdojo aspects to make money, but that there is some promise for those who actually do want to learn rather than just get a pretty-looking belt. Am I correct in this assumption?
Thanks for your help.
1. It costs money to get new belt rankings, do various seminars, etc.
2. We spend a lot of time doing kata, and need to learn a kata to get a promotion
3. We have many children who are up to purple belt (our ranking goes white, yellow, green, purple, brown, 1st dan) but none higher than this. Several of these children are definitely not qualified.
However, on the other hand:
1. One of the students there fought in the world competition for Goshin Jutsu karate in Russia, and won second place (he beat the guy who played Darth Maul in star wars)
2. Our sensei has been doing this for over thirty years, so he isn't one of those 1st/2nd degree blackbelt teachers
3. Our school always does well in tournaments, for what that's worth (small benefit maybe, but not much)
4. Our blackbelts seem to be generally pretty qualified (the test includes getting hit full-force in the stomach, for instance, and they have been doing it for at least 5-15 years before 1st dan)
5. Promotion is generally slow. I am a whitebelt after eight months (w/ the little yellow stripes on it) and I have progressed much faster than most other people who entered at the same time. The sensei's own son is only green thus far.
6. Our sensei also has taught several other people in other towns with their own Goshin-Jutsu schools
7. He also privately teaches some of the harder-core stuff (like ripping out cheeks, eye gouges, etc.) and things like hand conditioning
From these it seems that the school has turned to the mcdojo aspects to make money, but that there is some promise for those who actually do want to learn rather than just get a pretty-looking belt. Am I correct in this assumption?
Thanks for your help.
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