Chapter 33: The Young and the Restless

People reading this next sentence will recognize that I wrote not too long ago about teaching and teaching credentials so this is a play on that effort. In the martial arts business folks will find often that the majority of those taking lessons are, "Young Adults." 

I would venture to guess the average age is from about 8 years to 15 years. Maybe younger, but what’s important to know is they are impressionable and susceptible to the influences of teachers be they martial art or schools.  

What I suspect, as many people do, is that the credentials, both professional as to teaching criteria, and personal, as to cultural beliefs, etc., are absolutely critical - my personal opinion. Here is where my past articles on teaching traits of sensei comes in, if they cannot achieve those traits or at minimum the traits you expect from school teachers and university professors are you not doing those young adults a disservice. 

I don't mean having the ability to play with them with games to convey what you need them to learn in the martial arts and karate but the very personal attitude and personality traits that I allude to in that article, which can be read in the previous writings herein. 

Adults, say over 18 years or even 21 years, have reached a certain level of maturity built by education, experiences and a consensus of understanding who are understood by the system as able and capable of determining things right and things wrong. This is just not about ages as dictated by society and also by the legal requirements, but by how science and research has found by the growth and maturing, etc., of young brains or minds. That in and of itself is worth taking time as sensei to research, study and understand those mental brain like process of growth and maturity along with the ability to do things expected of adults of mature age. 

If people know the psychological and physical obstacles of adults and how difficult that is to work with to achieve objectives in martial arts and karate, especially for defense-protection efforts, then you can rest assured that for young adults it is compounded from those very maturity and growth cycles and levels. This is important for parents to understand as well so they better make choices as to whom they allow to, not teach but, INFLUENCE their young persons. 

This helps people in the know convey to others the importance of martial arts and karate teachings in that the actual teacher, and his or her assistants, need to do just exactly what we expect of our school and university system teachers and professors; learn, educate, study, understand and apply those academic skills along with character and personality traits that are highly beneficial to teaching as a whole regardless of the teachers venue of teaching.