I have been studying Kung Fu for over 3 years. Before that, I studied Tae Kwon Do, Goju Ryu, and Wado Ryu. It seems that Kung Fu schools have a very difficult time attracting and keeping students. I'm in Tennessee and I understand that Wado Ryu is the most popular art here and TKD is on every corner it seems next to Starbuck's and McD's. The previous Kung Fu school I studied at closed down due to the Sifu's family situation, but the organization he was part of seems to not be successful as it once was. Also, it seems many Kung Fu schools in the area are moving to gyms in the community and churches and losing their actual kwoons. I know that the economy is rough, but other MA schools are not having this issue.

I have a few theories on this and wanted to know what others out there thought. One is that many Kung Fu schools do not have a ranking system and it is hard for many people to grasp their progress, especially young ones. This sort of turns people off because they see it in many other systems and people do have egos. Unfortunately, that's just human nature. In relation to that, many Kung Fu schools do not allow children under age 13 to train like TKD and karate, therefore, the interest is not developed young. One of the reasons that baseball is still America's past time is due to tee ball, minor league, little league, etc. Also, MA is not something found in US schools and is a cost outside the school system which can be an issue. I have a few more, but I will leave it at that for now. So, what does everyone else think?