I learned on day one, when I attended my very first martial arts class, that swearing in front of the class teachers is a no go thing to do. I never even felt the need to swear during a training session but on that first day, I was among a new class of around 40 brand new students, one new beginner thought it was more than fine to do so.
Disregarding that person's attitude, he was given one warning on the spot for saying just one swear word. He did not learn his lesson however. The second time he did it, just a few minutes later, he was expelled from the class on the spot. That very first lesson taught me the value of conduct within a true martial art class. For sure I can swear better than the next man when in public, or in a suitable environment, but from that day onwards I would never swear in front of my own students or allow students to break that code of conduct at any time. Some instructors will use swear words that teach practical self defense based on being realistic regarding how in most cases they would face a street thug who would use such terms so they need to be somewhat emotionally conditioned when faced with such a situation. However, call me old fashioned if you must, but I never found the need to do that with my own student, only teaching combat effectiveness in the main, as actions count not verbal abuse within a training session. For a martial art teacher to use swearing within a class in front of students, or via other media formats such as video or online teaching, does lower standards. You can easily compare this to going into a bank and the woman bank assistant, standing behind the counter in her smart business suit, greets you with swearing and asks you what the hell you want and so on. Not a good image or a professional way of doing things is it? The main thing to remember about all of this is that if the instructor swears then for sure it will not take long before most, if not all the students in the room, start swearing also throughout the class training session. If someone is a brand new beginner to the martial arts and sees and hears such things and they are a serious minded person who wants to learn real combat skills then for sure I would imagine they will not come back after their first lesson. It is more than bad enough when you see both students and teachers alike not being bothered to wear formal attire and end up wearing street clothes such as a t-shirt and shorts, but swearing really does take things too far. Imagine waking up in a hospital bed after an accident, for example, and seeing all the doctors and nurses dressed in shabby street clothes? Same thing when you think about it. Set the standards - no swearing in my class. For a related article on the subject of swearing click >HERE< Comments are closed.
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