The 3 Unholy Truths

[Draven]

We are all martial artists and some of here are instructors. As much as we all blast McDojos and Belt Factories we must face three realistic but unfair truths to martial arts.

1- That Martial Arts is a business...
All comercial dojos and even lone private instructors; are running a business. The purpose of a business is to make money and the dojo, gym or kwon that you are attending exists to make money. Thats said, there are a great many instructors who run schools with the goal of "spreading the art" or "influencing others to make a better world."

But when a business begins to lose money it naturally requires that the business draw repeat business and satisfy its customers. At that point we risk seeing a respectable school become a belt factory or mcdojo.

2- That Business uses a gimic to attract customs...
All businesses use marketing slogans, marketing campaigns & various other ploys to draw customers and some such marketing concepts are simply unethical at best. Much of the politics in martial arts is based on the idea of progressing the business.

When martial artists are exposed to this "slogan" repeatedly they are often trapped into believing this slogan with near religious zeal. Such common market ploys include but are not limited to;

1- The older a martial art the more effective...
2- You can learn to master your Chi/Ki and gain superhuman powers...
3- Some wildly exagerated statistic proves some ideology of how a fight should/will go...
4- Some ancient master found enlightenment and thus can lead you enlightenment, secret martial arts knowledge/skill or indocturination into some mystical knowledge...
5- That if it is proven in a tournament, contest, or match it is proven in all aspects of combat...
6- That the school can teach you some advanced cutting edge combat system, that will make you a killing machine or able to defend yourself in a short amount of time.

There are several more claims, slogans and preached docturine which is used to target a specific crowd and draw them into learning from one's business. While some concepts are true within a ceratin context, they are likewise extremely limited to a specific context and used to market to a specific group. In business lingo this is refered to as the "target group" or "target audience." And a business must have a specific target group within a society to draw its customer base.


3- That all Instructors are business men & women...
They be exceptional fighters, honored masters or combat veterans. But even as their business is teaching you a martial art, they are still running a business. Within a certain context this is a given, but it requires that one's target audience stick with the martial arts instruction long enough to make a profit.

That is not to say that all instructors are out for money, it is to say that all martial art school are a business and like any business the product is exagerated to draw in customers and many students and instructors simply don't know the difference between a business slogan and viable technical principle.

There are numerous schools which exist for the pure value of teaching, I simply do not spend time talking about them indepth because the focus of this is the business side of martial arts and how that is a poison. You can be poisoned and be only ill or you can be poisoned and die. Just like buying a used car, you should examine the product and the reasons for selling it.

[WC_Lun]

I do think most schools fall under this category of business and do these things. However, your statement, "...it is to say that all martial art school are a business and like any business the product is exagerated to draw in customers and many students ..." is a generalization and does not apply to all martial arts schools or even businesses. If a product is supurior and the goal of the "business" is the desimenation of information instead of the growth of the business, then its not necessary and even detrimental to exzagerate what it is..

[Draven]

Originally Posted by WC_Lun

I do think most schools fall under this category of business and do these things. However, your statement, "...it is to say that all martial art school are a business and like any business the product is exagerated to draw in customers and many students ..." is a generalization and does not apply to all martial arts schools or even businesses. If a product is supurior and the goal of the "business" is the desimenation of information instead of the growth of the business, then its not necessary and even detrimental to exzagerate what it is..

And yet most times things get exagerated, hence my statement "There are numerous schools which exist for the pure value of teaching, I simply do not spend time talking about them indepth... "

[Magister]

It is good to see you promoting martial arts theory here Draven!

You have hit the nail on the head with this thread; Commercialism forms the basis of the Law of Institutionalisation, but there are are other pressures/effects which can be found. Commercialism is but one of the effects of transmission of knowledge. Some predicate commercialisation.

I understand WC_Lun's opinion, but unfortunately a contributing factor is the problem of ignorance of those who are to be taught. Many enter the school with an "impression" of what they are to learn based upon social-conditioning. "none can judge of the craft but the craftsman" is an old proverb here in England. It was actually used in 1598 by Sir George Silver in a book entitled; Paradoxes of Defence (I recommend it to any one wanting to learn more about fighting). He stated that a novice being unwise, and ignorant of the art of fighting would not be able to judge whether the product was of use, and in this case "a lie bears as much truth as the truth itself".

Not all businesses are based upon building or growing their business. All are interested in the dissemination of information, but anyone untaught or outside the system is effectively an "ignorant" and therefore the old proverb still applies.

[Draven]

In a perfect word, a martial arts school (any school) that focuses on the art will often fail as a business and likewise those that focus on the business don't. Its a sad truth; that the most successful schools are often the most business like.

[quoeri]

Some truth

[nykaratelvr23]

I'm not sure I agree with the underlying fact that all schools want your dollar at the end of all of it. While they must charge people so they can pay the electricity, rent, or to keep with it's parent organization I believe that most schools are run to give people an education into the martial arts they wouldn't be able to learn on their own. We live in a materialistic world but for some the dollar is not the controlling factor in martial arts. The lessons are.

[Draven]

But that still leaves the simplist of issues...

1) Martial arts schools are a commercial (profit gathering) business, there are notable exceptions to the few non-profit organizations out there.

2) That many school owners do in fact make a profit from teaching/running the business and that they get greater profits when the business draws more students/costumers to that business or maintains a high number of repeat costumers.

3) That many full time instructors are dependant on their schools for making a living and thus need to increase the numbers of repeat customers and attracting new customers.

[Magister]

Furthermore, by being defined as a school, they require students. No such school has ever existed with only one person. The teaching implies attracting ignorants to learn and hence the motives of exaggeration and playing on myths. There is much more to this consideration than simply the issue of money.

Why would someone study here and not there? If Master Lee teaches the same as Master Yang, why should we choose Yang over Lee?

[SocalMark]

I do agree that the schools are business' and have a right to act as such. I appreciate schools that do what is necessary to continue to exist and provide a service. I even appreciate instructors that look to make a good living for themselves.

We all want that.

What turns me off though, is not the marketing claims, or the fact they do it for money...but when a school pushes extremeley hard to make money via alternate methods outside of tuition.

For example: A school that requires you to purchase their gym equipment laden with logos and what not. Many times, this equipment is seriously overpriced.

Or schools that promote internal seminars and charge outrageous attendance fees. Or outrageous fees for belt testing.

In particular, I am thinking of a chain of schools that are very guilty of this proliferation of extending prices past reasonable and labeling their purchases as required.

This, in my opinion, is un-ethical for a business.