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Alleged Myth 4

You must teach a lot of information at once or your students will get bored.

Debunker Says

This myth is only true if you are teaching a crop of students who measure their progress by the accumulation of techniques.

Rebuttal

In case you have not noticed, due to the influence of television, we are constantly bombarded with information. To cope with this, children, and perceptive adults, have learned to assimilate information quickly. If you have ever driven at a hundred mile an hour speed for an extended period of time and then had to slow to 70 miles per hour, you know how boring the slower, but still high, speed seems. Today’s students are used to information coming at them hot and heavy. If it does not, they get bored. If you do not keep students stimulated, they will leave. This is another reason debunkers usually do not have commercially successful schools.

Alleged Myth 5

You must not associate with your students in an informal way or they will lose their respect for you.

Debunker Says

The kind of students who would lose interest in training because they realize that their instructor is a mortal human being, is not the kind of students we want at our school.

Rebuttal

Most professors are encouraged to not become socially involved with individual students. In the military, leaders may sometimes be punished for becoming socially involved with individual subordinates. Group events, such as a student picnic are not a problem and are encouraged. This myth relates to the previously discussed respect myth. As a teacher, you are friendly and sociable to all students, but you are a professional teacher, not the friend. As an instructor, you must make decisions and take actions that are in the best interests of the school and other students, including reprimanding and expelling students. If the student is a "friend" then the decision may be difficult and even delayed until it becomes a bigger problem. Students are customers, not friends. How many friendships have been ruined over business decisions?

Alleged Myth 6

You should refer to people differently depending on whether they are "senior" or "junior" in your art.

Debunker Says

This myth is wrong, that it demonstrates the difference between a beggar and a warrior. The beggar bows for any man he deems to be greater than he is, while also demanding that any man he deems to be lesser to bow before him. The warrior bows down before no man, and allows no man to bow down before him. We should emulate the warrior.

Rebuttal

Ever have to deal with a worker's union. They may negotiate over pay and benefits but they will fight to the death over seniority. The apprentice welder is not the same as the master welder; the apprentice carries the tools for the master welder. Samurai warriors had levels of seniority, as do military warriors. The same people who have had difficulty in accepting any type of authority in their lives also have no concept of respecting the achievements of senior people.

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