Being a Wing Chun Sifu Sucks!!!!!

[Meklorien]

Teaching is not for everybody and not everybody can be taught. Feel fortunate if you can pass the WC art on to a few good people in your lifetime.

Respectfully yours,
John DiVirgilio
Hawaii Wing Chun Gung-Fu Assoc.

Hi John,

I got involved in Wing Chun (Eddie Chong lineage) back in '94. Since that time I have done some growing up in the art as is expected. Around '99 I looked back and recognized the many frustrations I put my own teacher through and figured I was a moderate or typical student.

I ran across your "Lore of Wing Chun" in those years and it was a great help to me. In fact, I still consider it the best straightforward Wing Chun advice anybody can get (for those of you reading this, you should seriously look into this).

Around 2000 I started teaching out of my garage. I've been through many faces and names that I can't remember anymore and over the last six years I half one (1) good student. He's older than me and so there is no adolescence to wade through to reach him. It is refreshing to interact with him and I leave our sessions feeling invigorated about Wing Chun because I learn as much or more than he does. And he is coming along very well. But this falls in line with your advice about teaching ages.

However, the current thread really hits home with me since I have had maaaaany promising students who just can't get their act together enough to simply handle their own learning (much less pay me) and it became so frustrating that I am now on a half year break.

I immediately turned to your book for advice and it has helped me "keep my fire going" so to speak. And I gotta say, you must be one hellava teacher in this.

Anyways, I just wanted to thank you for putting your advice out there. It has helped me over the years and continues to be the only source I have encountered that offers real advice on being a student as well as a teacher.

[Meklorien]

It's like these students make it possible to find the real student, not only by their mass (needing 1000 students to find 1 real student), but they pay the teacher for his search.


Armin.

An interesting observation. I will have to think on this one.... Thanks.

[Meklorien]

how about teaching just because it make your kung fu better? I still gets frustrating when no one stays long enough to improve you advanced skills.

Finally! SanHeChuan is right. The main point of teaching is to learn.

[Liddel]

Being a VT sifu does suck. This is why its no wonder people get frustrated with thier Sifu teaching them SLT and telling them to practice it for 2,3 or 4 months before moving on.....

Students get all pi$$ed off not learning anything new in that time.

People come and go so the old school masters just teach a little at a time not letting everything go because, who knows they may be gone the next day.

On the positive side, my sifu wanted a chinesse follower for him to impart all he knows in VT onto. But because they came and went he had no choice but to impart his knowledge onto someone like me, a Guilo whos given up getting ripped at parties every week with my mates or having girlfriends to spend most of my time with , instead to train hard 4 to 5 times a week for the last ten years and still going.

At the end of the day hes not worried about those that left just those that remain.

Yes it does suck, but when you find that certain few it can be really satisfying

[Meklorien]

And maybe you need to back off a little? Maybe read what is written before you start getting all condescending? I say "ving tsun in my country will pretty much die with (my sifu)", and you say "the art looks pretty healthy around the world with or without your Sifu. You're being way too romantic and full of self pity". What would that technique be? Non-sequitur sau?
This thread's called "Being a Wing Chun Sifu Sucks", so I offered one possible argument in favor of the thesis and used my sifu as an example. What I didn't do, however, is ask for your "advice" on how to handle my "problem", nor for your in-depth analysis of my personality and my behaviour.

And if my "whining" annoys you so much, please feel free to ignore it. I sure wouldn't want to waste any of your precious time.

The hard part about writing on these forums QM is that there will always be those who will be too busy knowing; will pick apart your words to find a place to attack you. People of this type do this kind of thing because they have a deep-seated need to feel superior.

I know it is quite irritating, but then again dogs'll bark.

[anerlich]

People of this type do this kind of thing because they have a deep-seated need to feel superior.

LOL, sort of like those who erroneously think they have some innate gift for psychoanalysis or unusual insight into the human condition, and then feel that their, er "epiphanies" are then worth posting on internet forums.

I know it is quite irritating, but then again dogs'll bark.

Woof woof.

[russellsherry]

hi all , anerlick , i am doing it again bloody argreing, with you. i hate it when your right, at my old school when it went bad it was because my sifu kept going overseas , not being their and taking interest in it. going into real esaste , which is fine except your club suffers and it did he was olny interesed in money at the time becuase untill then up till 85 he was teaching ok then jept not coming to class when he did he craped on about horse racing and everything else excpet bill gee and dummy this was the major reason i left it was after i left and spoke to wong shun leunrg though my friend i found the truth about him
but at least i have learnt ,good wing chun and arnis after leaving him russ

[Cobra Commander]

Hello guys/gals. I am not anywhere even near to being a Sifu.
But here are my thoughts:

Basically I train in Toronto with a really efficient Sifu. He is open minded and often quotes himself as "An expert at learning". A very nice, honest man.

I myself have a lot to develop. Not just in the Wing Chun/fighting stuff but also how to treat others, how to respect myself, how to carry myself in certain situations, relaxation honing, mind and emotion mastery, etc etc. Sifu pointed all this out to me and, ultimately it is my responsability to make sure I continue going the distance in improving these aspects of my life. He simply opened the door, I must decide to walk through it or not.

I figure my Sifu cares about his students and wants to teach those he can trust and respect. I don't think he has time for bad apples. IF it was all about the money, he could have simply opened up a "commercialized" school with all the nice trimmings (major major advertisements, pretty sashes, over decorated space, pretty uniforms). He could have accepted hundreds of students regardless if they are bad apples or good apples.

But my Sifu made a lot of sacrifices in regards to keeping his school and art for the most part clean. He works in 1 or 2 other day jobs just to support himself. He does not try to over charge his students. I think these small details has made his school stand out among most of the other schools in regards to authenticity.

Ultimately, I think often it comes down to how the Sifu presents himself to the community. If he is humble and seeks only to pass on his art and improve his own knowledge through teaching; he will attract more dedicated students willing to stick with it for many more years. However if the Sifu chooses to go the commercial route, there will be many who drop out because there are hundreds of more students (many of them can be bad apples?).

Regardless though, I think there will be a number of students dropping out of any Study regardless of how the Sifu presents his art. And some will be inconsiderate and not even say a goodbye or thank you. Thats just the way the world works sometimes.
I find it really disrespectful though to not say thank you and bye to your Sifu when you DO have to depart though. Say one day that student feels the need to return to Sifu and become enlightened, how would that make the Sifu feel? Knowing this same very student vanished for 5 years without a word and now he wants to be back in the class?

[Meklorien]

LOL, sort of like those who erroneously think they have some innate gift for psychoanalysis or unusual insight into the human condition, and then feel that their, er "epiphanies" are then worth posting on internet forums.

Are referring to your post to Quiet Man? Very self aware of you. I can't help but be impressed.

[anerlich]

Are referring to your post to Quiet Man? Very self aware of you. I can't help but be impressed.

No, I was referring to your post to him, which I quoted (twice). I would have thought that was obvious to anyone without reading difficulties.

You may be impressed with your own posts, but I imagine you would be in a very small minority.

Look, you basically suggested to Quiet Man (and implicitly to the forum) that I was a d!ck, and I called you on it. Sticks and stones, and all that.

How about we drop it there rather than trading silly insults?

[Meklorien]

No, I was referring to your post to him, which I quoted (twice). I would have thought that was obvious to anyone without reading difficulties.

You may be impressed with your own posts, but I imagine you would be in a very small minority.

Look, you basically suggested to Quiet Man (and implicitly to the forum) that I was a d!ck, and I called you on it. Sticks and stones, and all that.

How about we drop it there rather than trading silly insults?

Touchy. The point is, you should put more effort into making your responses in this forum more respectful as opposed to launching character attacks.

From reading your posts, I can tell you are an intelligent person. But it is hard for me to respect your posts when you attack rather than discuss.

[anerlich]

The point is, you should put more effort into making your responses in this forum more respectful as opposed to launching character attacks.

The forum already has a moderator. If I want advice, I'll ask. Otherwise, mind your own business and get out of my face.

[Meklorien]

The forum already has a moderator. If I want advice, I'll ask. Otherwise, mind your own business and get out of my face.

Temper, temper. But your reaction does not surprise me much, Anerlich. Your posts show that you have a high tendency to react condescending and acidic in your responses, rather than display much in the way of dispassionate and productive discussion.

It's ironic that you, yet again, show your hubris by telling me to mind my own business -- on a public forum. The implication here would seem to be that this thread is your matter to deal with and not mine, or anyone elses on this forum for that matter.

If you desire to post your advice to the world without having to deal with that irritation of actually discussing it respectfully with others, then I would encourage you to consider another venue.

In reviewing other posts of yours in this forum I found that in some cases (perhaps accidentally) you were capable of rendering your opinion without getting peevish. So I do not doubt that you could offer good advice to any forum -- if only you could reign in that little 'tude of yours.

You might find a college class on the finer elements of debate helpful to you. Perhaps then you could get your point across without killing your message so effectively, and stave off or even engage and control responses from people like me.

I don't imagine you're enjoying this discussion anymore than I am, and, in truth, I think this tangent takes away from the original thread. So I won't be responding any further along these lines. But I am still curious to see if you can refrain from getting the last word in. Or if you do, whether it will be something sage or jejune.