Questioning my Sifu's teaching a little.. Please respond =)

[Scott]

Hi =) Lately my Sifu has been kinda slouching off with his teaching. Today he took no part in the Wing Chun class at all. However, we were mainly working sets and we have several people in the class who are 2 - 3 year students and know Sil Lim Tao (what we were working) very well. Lately it seems that he has been slouching off more and more, though. However, he is in college and I take it some big tests are coming up. SHould I worry?

- Scott.

[sifu dan]

scott,as longas the class is not suffering,leave him alone. if your class is still being taught right,dont worry. sifus have lives,and problems also.he may have something in his mind. a fight with a girlfriend or wife,school work,etc. business.etc. if you are close with him,ask if he is ok,if not,give him some room.we all look up to our nteachers,and think they are no good when they show weakess. but we all have problems.jesus christ was te only perfect guy,and he had bad days too

[CLOUD 1]

Dear Scott,
If your teacher has taught you the moves of Sil Lum Tao then there is enough for you to be getting on with. How long do you think it takes for you to master this form? If you have faith in your teacher then keep practicing.
If he sees that you are a dedicated martial artist then he might have some inspiration to teach. If you don't bother, then why should he?
If you do not have faith in him then follow your instincts and search for someone else. In the end there are only two choices.
Good Luck whichever route you take.

[Sihing73]

Scott,

It is not uncommon for Sifu's not to teach directly but to allow some of the elder students to do much of the day to day teaching. You mention that your Sifu is in college and that could be affecting the amount of time he is able to devote to teaching. Also, he could have taught what he wants and be allowing some of the elders to gain teaching experience.

As long as you are not being taught anything which contradicts earlier training I think you will probably still gain from your Sihings. However, if you want to train directly under the Sifu you may be disappointed as sometimes that is something reserved for his closest students. Not saying there are not those who will teach directly but most, from my experience, will leave the day to day teaching to others. Even Yip Man was known to be notorious for doing this. Seems like most good Sifu build a core and then allow that core to handle most of the teaching.

Peace,

Dave

[wingchunner]

Unless he has an injury... leave him. How can he transmit the proper energy for sensitivity training to you unless he works with you.

Marty

Be true and loving.

[HuangKaiVun]

If I were that teacher, I would be wondering why you DIDN'T ask me what was going on.

I've taught kung fu before, and I've always left an open door for my students to question everything I say or do.

I've had bad days myself, and I've had students point it out to me. I've always tried to modify myself when they were right and I was wrong.

My philosophy is that students and teachers should keep each other honest.

[Eric]

Sihing73 is correct.

If your sihings have 2-3 years experience, then your sifu is giving them a little more experience by letting them run a class or two. But if they start teaching you differently, or things just don't jive with earlier instruction from your sifu, then talk to him. We had this same thing happen at my school. Three different sihings, each with different experience, each teaching differently. We were performing the same techniques for each of them, and for each of them we were not doing something right. Then when we talked to sifu about it he gave us another way to perform the technique. It can be frustrating at times, especially when you are better than a sihing and he is trying to change your form...


your sifu is not lazy, just trying to give your sihings some experience they will need in the future if they decide to teach. You will go through the same.

esr

[Martial Joe]

Shut up five star,dont go pulling a Rolls.

Hey scott,this was posted a wilr back i think,but if your still learning under him and he is still slacking off...
...confront him,ask him about it and see what he has to say.


Joe :cool:

[joedoe]

IMHO give your sifu a break. It is hard to maintain inspiration and enthusiasm all the time.

As long as you are enjoying your training and getting something out of it, what does it matter?

[Scott]

Things are better =) It was just a phase, or maybe he was letting his higher level students learn.

-Scott

"You have to consider the possibility that god does not like you; he never wanted you. In all probability, he hates you. It is not until we have lost everything that we can do anything."