Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
First, one of the best ways I can come to understand words is to work them out by defining them then relating that to the subject matter of the articles I write. All this is to learn, a learning process, where words are later used to create or manufacture concepts, concepts both small and big. It is these words and concepts that help me teach, teaching is also defined in two ways as to terms, i.e., why this is partially about the terms: pedagogy and andragogy.
So, let the fun begin!
Pedagogy: the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept; the art, science, or profession of teaching. (Andragogy: [the method and practice of teaching adult learners; adult education; the art or science of teaching adults] is an adult focused teaching approach while Pedagogy is a child focused teaching approach. Both methods of teaching are problem centered.)
Simply put, teaching in the dojo can be about both terms, all dependent on whom is receiving the lessons be they adults or be they young adults or what some call children. I taught the andragogy methods, specifically to adults with the age of eighteen or older. I occasionally had young adults from the age of eight to eighteen but not often. Honestly, at that time I used the same teaching model for them and they were mixed in with adults. Anyway…
The source of inspiration for this lesson came from an article written at the God’s Bastard blog, here is her post on the subject to which I extracted what I felt were interesting tidbits that I will diverge from her subject and intent to go out on a limb toward something different.
My first thought is about the comparison of how ancients, military like, training looked at perspective personal as more of a commodity to be used like cannon fodder. In short, much like military training today that makes the training centered on intent and function of the military to engage in combat and destroy the enemy. This introduces the concept of “attrition.” Those with the potential and capability endure and reach the end goal of becoming military and basically trained. There are those who don’t have the potential and capability and are often culled from the herd.
In martial commercialized training and practice culling students away with training that reaches the essence of the martial disciplines, i.e., protection, defense, and military combatives, would not be profitable and the attrition rate would be, for civilians, astronomical. In short, except in few cases, it won’t work commercially. It won’t work in most cases in regard to civil defense and protection either. This can be exacerbated by today’s culture and drive for certain types of gratification without suffering the spears and arrows of a true martial discipline, i.e., injuries, grave harm and even possibly death. Hmmmm…
The social reality of modern times looks down on the facts of aggression and violence and more so about its citizens causing grave harm and possibly even death. It is our social reality that it is the job of professionals like the police and military, etc.
God’s Bastard wrote, “didn’t particularly matter if a small proportion of individuals quit or broke during training. As long as a sufficient number of people made it through, getting rid of those less apt was a good strategy,” which is so true in the military but so not true for today’s commercial oriented martial disciplines. This is why, her article, is informative because she provides one person of many who actually has successfully translated their experiences, one as socially driven and the other not so socially driven of a nature, to experiences that speak to not just other professionals such as police, corrections, etc., but to the martial arts communities who focus on self-protection/defense methodologies.
I am always trying to drive home the importance of intent in training attempting to drive home that there are glaring differences in the models within the martial disciplines and that making the differences of a glaring and obvious nature through words and concepts is absolutely critical to achieve success not just in training and practice but most importantly in the application be it sport, self-protection/defense, combatives of the military or those civil professions like corrections, policing and others like security, etc.
Learning the atomistic, atomism’s, does NOT hinder or cause freezes in applications because done properly those details are handled by the mind, brain, such that only those critical pieces of memory are used by the brain to create and manufacture concepts that are applied appropriately while other details are either already discarded when new appropriate concepts are created or simply ignored because of relevance. It is how humans work, breaking things down into the smallest and simplest forms, learning them by word, others and actions of experiences then creating/manufacturing concepts to be used to trigger principled-based methodologies to achieve specific objectives and results will work because those professionals have demonstrated through experiences that they WILL WORK.
You probably already know that this is how our species passes forward those insights, experiences and understandings in conceptual form that allows those yet to gain experience(s) to do so with a modicum of survival capabilities.
You see; you feel; you can experience how all this works, a person is able to create new relevant concepts by the words, word patterns and perceptions/beliefs they convey by blogging, video’s and other media with emphasis on the highest form of passing along things, in person, to achieve the creative process. I read this post by God’s Bastard, then I was inspired to take it in a different direction and thus achieved concepts that help me learn and by osmosis, kinda, pass it forward in both its original state, see link above, and this slightly new or different perspective…sooner or later the concept is accepted and the users learn, grow, evolve and prosper. It is how life has endured all the trials and tribulations of nature. Ain’t life great?
Bibliography (Click the link)
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