Throwing Karate a Bone

[john55]

Originally Posted by Chapel

Eh, his red flags aren't 100% accurate. McDojos need to revolve around money. That is the major qualifier.

Just because someone is teaching a sport version of the martial art, that doesn't make them a McDojo (especially if they are really good at the sport). Also, many of the things are based on claims by the school. For example, "instructor is a master but is under 40" or "advertise that a grandmaster regularly teaches." These are only really red flags if they are lies. There are legit masters under 40. There are grandmasters that teach.

That being said, I especially agree with the collection agency bit and the black belt in 3 years bit.

I think you were looking at the warning signs. The red flags dont mention money. I think the red flags are dead on - maybe except for the grand master thing, I dont have enough experience to judge that one.

[Chapel]

Originally Posted by john55

I think you were looking at the warning signs. The red flags dont mention money. I think the red flags are dead on - maybe except for the grand master thing, I dont have enough experience to judge that one.

Several warning signs I disagree with, but they are only warning signs. The major red flag I disagree with is this one,

"Point sparring: If the ONLY sparring that is done is "point" or "tournament" sparring, or is watered down with numerous rules such as no contact or light contact, no punching to the head, no catching, trips, throws, take downs, joint locks, grappling, hits to the back, legs, below the belt, etc… and the techniques encouraged are kicks, jump kicks, and spins."

Some schools teach sport martial arts. This is not a bad thing (unless they are saying that this is how SD goes) much in the same way that it is not a bad thing that High School wrestling teaches sport wrestling.

Also, I would definitely put sending people to collections down as a McDojo thing to do. If someone hasn't paid for lessons, don't let them attend.

Basically most of his things can be summed up in two bullet points:
1. McDojos lie or mislead to get students.
2. McDojos put business before education.