Originally Posted by
Facepalm
If EMD and EMS step down and let the school be run by the upper lvl masters I would consider going back. The only problem is that I think that the way the school has been run over the past years has rubbed off on them.
I wouldnt expect that standards for knowledge of the material would improve. I think it would go further downhill.
That being said I think that some of the younger blacks that are frequent instructors at the boulder and denver schools really take their training seriously and could be the ones to start implementing a more rigorous program.
I would go back if I saw the following things:
1. No more elder masters, as far as im concerned they are disgraced, and going to class for me is unconscionable. It would be as if Im pretending nothing happened.
2. Actual standards for lower belt testing. There are absolutely no standards right now. No one fails tests and people pass by just being able to make motions that even slightly resemble the forms they're taught.
3. Chin Na live training. The way Chin Na is taught there is laughable. No one resists at all and you dont get anything out of it. One day one of the first degree blacks encouraged us to actually resist. I learned more about the Chin Na applications that day than I ever had before.
4. The end of the kool aid. No more 1500 years old this fukien shaolin temple that. Let the merits of the art stand on its own for students without the fantastical portrayals of SD being some lost art that we are only so lucky to be apart of.
5. More of an emphasis on really learning the forms, and a structured set of partner drills to teach people applications. Instead of learning one form a month in brown belt levels, we should expand that to three months, 1 for drilling the applications, 1 for learning the form, and 1 month sparring with emphasis on the form. I think that would really get people learning it the way its intended.
This would be cool. But I dont know whether there is anyone who could implement this other than the elder masters. I really dont think many people know and understand what they are doing anywhere near enough to teach the class in this way. I could be wrong I guess. The future might be interesting for the CSCs in boulder and denver.