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YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR
Author: Perry Gamsby
Why do martial arts schools exist? Do you think it is for the ego gratification of the instructor? Sometimes. Is it to make lots of money? Hardly. Could it be for the dissemination of information which the instructor feels is important and valuable to society? Yes!
Contrary to many people's beliefs, the school is there for the benefit of the students, first and foremost. Whatever the instructor gets out of it is a secondary consideraton. As for making a comfortable living from teaching, there are few full-time instructors in this country, and even fewer who make anything like a basic wage from it. It might seem to be a great life, being paid for doing something you love, but if you do it long enough, I'm sure it could become as dreary as any job.
Speaking of being paid, how much are you charged for your instruction? Between $2 and $12 per class, according to my research, with the average being $5. How many students do you need in every class to make the "average" wage, after tax, of say $450 per week? If you run three classes per week, you would need 30 students per class just to hit the after-tax amount of $450. How many students does your school have?
From this princely sum, let us remove hall hiring charges, say $45 for a church hall going at $15 per class. Then consider work-related phone calls, electrici ty, stationery and postage, petrol to and from the classes, buying and laundering of uniforms, etc. How much do you think is left for the instructor to pay his own rent or mortgage, feed his family and cover his bills? Maybe $300, providing his students pay their fees and come to class regularly. On top of this, he has to advertise to keep up the student enrolments because students, recent surveys in the US have shown, train for three to 12 months before taking up some other hobby; try at least two styles and as few as one in 100 get to any level where what they are studying becomes street useful.
Let's jump across the Pacific for a moment and look at how things are done in the USA. There, if you want a high standard of instruction, you train with a professional full-time instructor. You select your school by looking at its facilities, class timings to suit your personal schedule and maybe its payment plan. That's right, sports fans, a payment plan.
Martial arts students in the states are run as businesses. The average student understands this concept and knows that his instructor needs to be able to focus on teaching, not balancing books, paying creditors or worrying about money. Therefore, when you join a school, you actually sign up for a set period, just like in a gym or fitness centre here. As crass as it may sound, you might sign up for the Green Belt package, or go the whole nine yards and sign up for the Black Belt package. What you have signed is a legally binding agreement. Once you begin, it's up to you whether you continue training, but come or go you will pay for the whole course! Many schools also have a credit collection company which bills the students each month and chases non-payment on behalf of the instructor. He's already been paid by the collection agency, so he can concentrate on doing what he does best, teaching.
This may sound very alien and commercial to us Australians, but it makes good business sense. It is also of more benefit to the student, too. One thing it ensures is only serious contenders need apply. By signing up for a package, you make a commitment. If you really want to achieve the goals we all confess to when starting a course, such as getting that coveted Black Belt, then this way the instructor knows you mean business. Consequently, he is not wasting his time training you. He gives of his time, expertise and care; you give of your money. A fair exchange, wouldn't you agree?
Can you imagine how frustrating it must be for your instructor to always be teaching lesson one to a constant and ever-changing stream of beginners, few of whom will be there next week, let alone next month? Of course, it is not all one-sided. Instructors must strive to arouse and maintain every individual student's interest. The syllabus must be informative, the standards high but achievable and each student made to feel that his or her best interests are at heart. Nevertheless, martial arts have always been a 'pay for progress' affair. The instructor was paid in money, food, gifts, or the student returned the instruction by serving his teacher as a soldier or servant.
US students display a high standard of skill on the whole, a reflection on the quality of their instruction. In this country we are lucky that our instructors are dedicated to train in their own time and pass this on to us, virtually for free. Can you imagine how much better your instructor would be if he could afford to train full-time? Can you imagine how much more you would benefit from this increase in competence and attention?
Unfortunately, unless we, the martial arts community, realise and accept that to improve we need full-time facilities and instructors, we will keep muddling through as we have for donkeys' years. This situation is not limited to martial arts, either. Look at any sport that is featured in the Olympics and ask yourself how many teachers of these sports earn their living from teaching?
Let's look at another area of this topic, fees. How much do you think you would spend on your martial arts in a year? Add it all up and you might be surprised at the total. A student of mine told me he figured he had spent $3500 in two years to reach his Black Belt in Ninjutsu, and that was at a reputable school that didn't try to fleece its students. If you want to learn to play tennis, you need to buy shoes, shorts, shirts, a racquet, balls, court hire, lessons, etc. If you want to snow ski, the bill goes through the roof. Even playing football means you buy boots, a ball, guernsey, etc. If you look at aerobics, even without the fancy leotards and purpose-built shoes, your gym fees can pass $1000 a year very quickly.
So why do people baulk at paying for martial arts training? More than any other sport, hobby or pastime, martial arts can be used in everyday life; they can even save your life! So why the hesitation at paying a fair price for quality instruction? How come we think nothing of looking for professional instructors in other sports and subjects, yet feel dirty when we say the word commercial in connection with martial arts? Commercial simply means paying a fee in return for a product or service. What is so wrong with that?
To improve the quality of martial arts in this country, we need to have more full-time instructors. How many of you would like to think there is a career path waiting for you when you finish your initial training? All those hours you put in whilst still trying to get through school wouldn't be wasted if there was a job at the end of the road. As society changes, and more and more jobs are taken over by machines, we need to create more employment opportunities. Martial arts could be a tremendous growth area. People will need more activities to fill their increased leisure time. Violence will continue to grow along with the size of the population. As the traditional nuclear family becomes more and more a thing of the past, new places where personal skills and moral values can be passed on will have to be found. Why not through martial arts?
To achieve this new era we have to change. We must change the way the public perceives martial arts and martial artists. We have to raise the profile of the arts and the people involved. But before we change other people's ideas, perhaps we should look at ourselves and re-evaluate how we think about our arts. Why do we train? For self-defence? For fitness? For the art? For companionship? There are as many reasons as there are participants.
Whatever the reason, everyone would agree there is no point in doing anything by half. If you are going to train, why not train to be the best you can be? If this means investing time as well as money, then make the commitment. You don't have to aspire to Olympic standards, just do your best.
Speaking of money, keep in mind how much it costs to train to instructor standard, start up a school and keep it running. Twenty, even 10 years ago, if you wanted to study martial arts, you had a very limited choice: judo, karate, kung fu and tae kwon do were the main offerings. Today we have arnis, aikido, jujitsu, hap ki do, tai chi, pentjak silat, kickboxing, shootfighting, the list goes on. To keep the variety and quality happening, it requires commitment from the martial arts fraternity. This means you, the students. Think about it.
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