2024-06-24

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

An adult student texted me a few hours before class yesterday and asked, “Sensei, how late can I be to class before it’s unacceptable.” My response (which I don’t think he expected) was:

Some might argue that being late is unacceptable, and it’s a matter of respect, but here’s the thing: A student who lacked respect wouldn’t have bothered asking in the first place. He’d have just showed up late, or not at all. This student had enough respect to ask the question out of a desire to attend class, but an understanding that a late arrival might be disruptive.

You see, I would always prefer a student in class to a student at home … always.

Obviously, attending the whole class is better than attending half of it, but by the same logic attending half of class is better than attending none of it. Likewise, I’m not going to judge, or turn away, a student who can only come once a week, or a student who has to be late every night because of their work schedule. As long as they understand that less practice means slower progression, I’m happy to have them in class.

To be clear, I’m not talking about the student who wants to leave early because they hate sparring. I’m talking about the student who has other responsibilities. Whether it’s an adult who has to work late, or a child who has to leave early to get tutoring for school, everyone has priorites and sometimes karate isn’t (and shouldn’t be) at the top of that list. When it comes to priorities, it’s not my place to judge.

However, it is my place to set expectations, and “the talk” generally goes like this:

I understand that things will come up that are more important than class, but you must understand that missing class for any reason will slow your improvement. It’s not my place to judge your reasons for missing class, but it is my job to judge the consequences.