With all the talk I see about what's traditional taekwondo and what isn't, I'm going to ask what some may feel is a heretical question.  Does it really matter if its traditional or not?  Back when what we call, 'traditional' was the only thing in existence, there were genuinely good schools and lousy schools.  The lousy ones we don't hear about; they didn't last.  The good ones became the original kwans and survived.  An over simplification, but you get the drift.

Well what is the difference now?  Now, we don't live in the era in which the martial arts we know were established.  Taekwondo, and indeed most other Asian martial arts, are practiced in countries with completely different cultural environs than the martial art's country of origin.  As non Korean (or non Japanese, non Chinese, or whatever) practitioners began teaching and spreading the art, the cultural norms of their homeland made their ways into the martial arts. 

As a consequence, here in the good ol' US of A, most of taekwondo schools have more of an American flavor with Korean trappings.  Methods of discipline have changed with the times, the severety of the training has been adjusted to a civilian consumer market and children, and in order to be profitable and stay in business, the sport aspect of the martial arts has been emphasized, along with the byproducts of self confidence and discipline. 

None of this is necesarilly bad.  The average American has a hard time wrapping their head around Korean culture and the martial arts in general, but sports?  That they get.  Help their kid have confidence, fitness, and discipline?  That they get.  Defend themselves from a mugger they also get, but oddly, not quite as much.  Not unless they live in a high crime area or have been on the receiving end of an attacker.  Most people haven't, so they have a hard time relating to the self defense aspect, even though intellectually, they understand it.  In fact, the American people have been trained to be victims. 

So what does that mean for taekwondo?  In order for it to be taught correctly, some argue that you must get away from the commercial dojang and find only traditional teachers.  Otherwise, they argue, you're just learning a sport with no SD applications.

But if you look on everyone's website or in their literature, every taekwondo school claims to be teaching an 'ancient' art with its roots in the Silla dynasty.  About a third to half of all taekwondo schools style themselves in their literature as being 'traditional' as well.  So who's traditional and who isn't?  What's an aspiring white belt to do?

Remember my first paragraph about not all schools back in the era of tradition being good?  Well that still holds true today.  Not all schools are good and not all traditional schools are good, nor are all 'traditional' schools really even traditional.  A poor traditional teacher is still just a poor teacher, traditional or not.  Poor instruction, no matter how steeped in tradition, is still just poor instruction.  There are many very good schools that do not have that 'traditional' feel that offer excellent instruction.  Some are with the big orgs, such as WTF, ITF, or ATA, some are small, non affiliated schools.  Some have all the afterschool, karate camp programs and leadership, blackbelt clubs that a purist will disdain and will decorate their student's doboks with patches like a Christmas tree.  But the thing in common will be that they offer quality instruction. 

So here's my radical idea.  Rather than being concerned with how traditional a school is, how about focusing on how genuine the school is?  How genuine is the class?  Is the class teaching genuine taekwondo, or just some knockoff system that a self appointed twelfth dan master made up?  Do the students reflect quality teaching, with crisp forms and correct kicks or do they look sloppy and unable to throw a decent punch or kick? 

Genuine taekwondo.  Genuine martial arts.  Thats what I want.  I don't care about the packaging, and while I do have my preferences in that area, it really isn't important.  It is the instruction, the quality of the teaching, and the quality of the ciriculum that concerns me.

Isn't the training the end all/be all of a school?  If the training is good, then who cares about the packaging?  I don't care if the uniforms are neon pink or General Lee orange, so long as the training is genuine.

Daniel

Tags: Quality Training Dojang School