I am 30, and my teacher scolded me
by Shang Lee
I stood up my teacher, with a last minute notice. No wonder he scolded me. It wasn’t intentional, but I was torn between family and learning Tai Ji. Sometimes Tai Ji wins, sometimes family wins.
There are good students who will turn up for class without fail, and then there are those students who will fail to turn up regularly, without fail as well. Of course, the rest of the world will fall somewhere in between, ignoring those who sign up and not turn up at all (that’s just silly).
A teacher has to turn up whether or not he’s sick, because he can’t choose not to. Without the teacher, there won’t be a class. Without a student, the class goes on, assuming there are other students in the class.
I once told my own students that if they did not want to turn up, please let me know so that I can rearrange my schedule. I make it a point to let my own teacher know as well. As it turns out, sometimes there are things that turn up that I cannot say no to, mostly due to the battle between family and doing something I like. I’m always the optimist, thinking that I can make it in time, with all the activities planned, and possibly more. It works sometimes, and at other times, I just piss people off.
So, the next time you want to bunk class, think of the teacher who made it a point to always arrive. Otherwise, rearrange your schedule to minimise the possibility of bunking.
My teacher’s reasons for why we should always turn up?
1. Last time, when I was younger, I stuck with my teacher, morning and night. I only “rested” during the day because I was at work.
2. I get paid by who turns up, and this is my only income. It makes economic sense for you to turn up, and if not, let me know in advance so that I can arrange for someone else.
3. The regular discontinuity for weekly class, even for one class, allows an almost half a month break between classes, which impedes the progress you’ve made as a student, which requires you to start all over, wasting progress gained 2 weeks ago.
The discipline he showed during his younger days puts me to shame. The economics of being a teacher does not stack up, unless you commercialise yourself, and that sometimes distracts the teacher from the best of his teachings. For the 3rd point, both the teacher and the student will feel the frustration because of the rework, wasting both teacher and students’ time alike.
I now know that although being a student is hard, being a teacher is harder. So here’s a public apology to my teacher.
I’m sorry.
I hope that this will inspire you to take charge of your time that you’ve set aside to learn something. You’ve chosen to learn it, so learn it with all the responsibility of a student, just as the teacher would have taught with all his responsibility as a teacher.
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I read a good comment by Sam Masich over at his website. He was talking about how some people complain about his prices for private instruction, etc. He made the comment that people should try walking into a bank and filling out a loan application and putting “taiji teacher” on the line for employment. He said that experience should wake a few people up to how hard it is to teach taijiquan.
[...] Now, when being a student, it seems only reasonable for us to arrive early as well, to avoid unforeseen delays that could mean that you miss part of the class. You have made a promise to yourself to attend the class for 1 hour for the next 10 weeks. Might as well make the most of it. If you do need to miss a class, please call the teacher to let him know so that you don’t end up like me. [...]