Over the course of 20 years of teaching TKD, I have seen many students come and go. I am always happy to have had the opportunity to interact with them for a little bit of time. Mainly, I do understand that not everyone is going to continue with an activity for 20 years. Many marriages do not even last 20 years!
But the "reasons" for quitting usually me shake my head ...
The most popular one we hear in one of the schools where I teach is "he/she needs more time to focus on grades, standardized testing preparation, etc".
Just for me personally, I'm not buying it. With one son graduated from the Air Force Academy, another at a major university, and with hundreds of TKD students who have gone on to college, here's the one recurring theme that I hear.
"These kids have to come into the school with some balance. Too many of them show up with nothing but academics behind them, without any athletic experience, with no sports, no community involvement, and no "escape" from academics. When something goes wrong for these kids - and college is hard, regardless of your test scores - they can just fall to pieces".
This came from an admissions provost at one of our 4 year Universities here in the area.
I had 3 TKD students in the HS class of 2010 who were awarded full scholarships at area universities. All trained at and were instructors for the Highland Village school until going off to college. Two were highly, highly ranked within their high school class, but their blackbelts and dedication to training set them apart. There are hundreds of kids with high gpa's and test scores every year, but not too many who can also do a flying sidekick through 3 boards and defend themselves against attackers. Where else do they get the experience of leading 20-30 people in a classroom before college if they do not have the opportunity to instruct.
Personally, my eldest applied to the top 2 aeronautical engineering schools in the country. His academic standing was good, but he was barely in the top 10%. He was not a National Merit Scholar. He got in to both Georgia Tech and accepted his appointment at the Air Foce Academy. Without his martial arts background, and particularly the fact that he stuck it out with all of his other activities, that simply would not have happened.
With his Aeronautical Engineering degree in his pocket, Cameron finishes flight training this month. Every time he is in town - he makes it a point to come do some kicking and punching and forms. Success grows best on a strong foundation, and it is dangerous to build on a narrow one.
Mr. V
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