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How is Taekwondo, or any other martial art, passed from one generation to the next? In the past, written words and diagrams were used somewhat to codify the art but Taekwondo was primarily passed from master to students, some of whom went on to become masters and passed it on to their students. This method of passing on the art led to claims of "secret" techniques that were known only to a chosen few. This method also meant that any Taekwondo information that was passed down was tainted by the memory, intelligence, and bias of each master in the chain. Nowadays, with television, movies, videos, and the Internet, there are no secret techniques.

Even though Taekwondo information may be easily found, it is still being tainted by the memory, intelligence, and bias of the persons passing the information. There are still claims of having been passed the "real" or "secret" Taekwondo knowledge. Often, when a great, acknowledged master dies, one of his or her top students will claim, or fights amongst others to claim, that he or she is the rightful successor to the master's art. Many of these claims are motivated by greed, petty rivalry, or shameless self-promotion. As many of the learned masters of the older generation are dying off, how do we know who are the legitimate successors the art of Taekwondo?

As with other martial arts, Taekwondo is passed by several means. Each one has its own way of "tainting" the art.

If you watch carefully, you often see that even the top students of the same master often perform a technique or pattern differently from the master, even when the master is still alive and teaching. This is the result of when each student began training with the master and how long the training lasted. Master's themselves often change their thoughts, ideas, and even their techniques over the years. Therefore, a student who studied with a master during his or her early years will receive”snapshot” of the master’s teachings at that time. A student who studied with the master during his or her later years will receive a snapshot of the master's teachings at that time, which may be totally different than the snapshot received by the student during the earlier years. Students who have been with the master continuously since the early years probably will have changed along with the master and be more in line with his or her current teachings.

These changes in a master's teachings are not necessarily purposeful, they just naturally occur as a master ages. A young, vibrant instructor has no problem performing deep stances, high kicks, and fast movements, therefore, the young instructor teaches students to use these techniques. As the instructor ages, even if he or she stays fit, his or her strength and flexibility decreases and techniques begin to slow. Students of the instructor at this later time will learn techniques that are less flashy and more efficient in movement. The theory of "primacy of learning," states that people tend to remember best those things that were learned first. Old habits are difficult to break. This means that newer students of the same instructor will probably be performing techniques that look somewhat different than those of the instructor's earlier students. Therefore, students who study with a master at different times in the master's career will get different "versions" of the master's style of teaching.

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