Apparently, almost anyone.
This is probably a shocking statement, but nevertheless true. Let's focus on a few of the negatives.
It is not unusual to read about some martial arts instructor or other who takes advantage of a student or even of his whole student body. Charlatans abound. Even in the sacred homelands of the martial arts such as Japan fake teachers have been around for a long time. For this reason even today the numbers 1, 2 and 3 used on diplomas in Japanese are often special characters that prevent someone from changing a lower rank into a higher rank just by adding one stroke.
In the larger world there are and have been for some time people who claim rank that they have not earned and mislead many. Other times, the person may have actually studied a martial art but, for whatever reason, decided to strike out on his own. I even had one man tell me that he held a very high rank in a martial art and that his son held a rank (one rank below the father) that was incredible for a young man of his age.
I asked the father, "Who did you study under?" I viewed it as a valid question. His answer? "We are self-taught; we learned from videos and books." He said this with a straight face. Me, I had to excuse myself and go outside. You see, it's not cool to laugh right in someone's face.
Sometimes these pretenders do a fair to good job of training their students. Their love for the art motivates them and they really try to do a good job. It's true, I've seen it.
However, many are just doing it for the money. Or for the prestige. That's not to say that there is always that much money in it. But, we are going to deal with that aspect in a future article. A well-run martial arts school can be a satisfying and ample source of income.
Now, to strike out on your own as an instructor is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. However your motives must be pure. If you have the knowledge, experience and backup to form your own organization or even a small, independent school, that can be an option. But, if you simply don't want to be told what to do, you may have an attitude problem - or not. A step of this magnitude requires a tremendous amount of self-reflection. However, we will cover this in another article, so stay tuned.
So in view of the above, who can be a martial arts instructor? Well, you can. And you don't have to make up credentials and certificates or try to learn your art from DVDs or from YouTube. You can do it the right way.
In the next installment we will review some of the requirements for becoming a martial arts instructor and some of the attitudes that must be a part of the make-up of a "real" sensei.
For more information about career opportunities in the martial arts, download my free e-book "9 Tips On How To Open Your Own Martial Arts School By A Teacher Who Has Been There, Done That" http://www.mashihan.com/acma_sq.htm. David Parks-Kennedy is a career martial artist (for more than 30 years with teacher ranking in Aikido) now living his dream in Mexico.
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