Why Teach
The easiest answer to the question of why we should teach others is - to give back. The karate community exists because one person learns something and passes on his/her knowledge to someone else. It is through this sharing of information that we grow as martial artists and as people. If no one ever taught what they had learned to someone else then we would all have to figure things out for ourselves, and everyone’s knowledge would be incomplete. By pooling our knowledge we can have a more comprehensive understanding of the martial arts and then build on what we know so that future generations of students can continue to expand on what they were taught. I was always told that someone took the time to teach me, and it was my responsibility to teach others. I was able to learn from the training and experience of my instructors, and it was my duty to use what I had learned to make my students better.
On a more personal level, teaching forces us to think about the movements that we have practiced so much that we no longer need to think about them. Often we practice a movement so much that we forget all of the little movements that make up the big movement. We may take for granted that anyone who tries to move the way we do can learn it easily. Many times I have seen people new to teaching say “just do this”. If you cannot explain a movement then you do not fully understand it. By teaching others we think about the things that we do in a way that helps understand them better. We therefore learn more about ourselves by teaching others.
I have often found myself teaching someone a kata or a combination, and realized in the process that I was doing it wrong myself. It is natural to take short cuts when you have been practicing a move for a long while - you turn on the “auto–pilot” and let muscle memory take over. The problem with training this way is that a small mistake in practice can quickly become a bad habit. We must constantly re-examine our own movement to ensure that every detail is as it should be. Teaching forces us to examine ourselves and correct our own flaws.
When I first began teaching I made the same mistakes as everyone else. I assumed that if I demonstrated a technique my students would be able to copy me exactly and learn the move. I soon realized that I was not explaining the techniques well enough because I did not understand them well enough. As I continued teaching and continued to find better ways to explain things I found that I was able to perform them better myself. When I told a student to use more hip or to move their knee differently I would take notice of how I was doing it. If my movement could be improved, I improved it; if I was already doing it well, I made sure I did it as best I could. Once I started putting extra thought into my movement I was surprised at how much better my technique became. It is not exaggerating to say that had I not taught karate when I was a younger martial artist, I would not have advanced as far as I have.
Teaching has helped me outside of the dojo as well. Throughout high school and college we are required to present reports in front of large groups of people. It starts with book reports in high school, moves on to speeches in front of multiple classes, and possibly even ends up with presenting a research project in front of an entire department in college. Many people have trouble speaking to groups at first; thanks to karate I did not. I had been teaching since I was 10 years old, first to individuals that needed help with kata or one step and later to entire classes of students. By the time I was 14 years old I was teaching classes containing students much older than me, all of whom were looking to me for information. Presenting a book report to a room full of high school sophomores is easy when you are used to teaching a room full of adult professionals.
Even into college I was usually the presenter in group projects because of my comfort and confidence when delivering a speech. No matter the subject, I was able to speak about it with ease. In one occasion I was called on by my classmates to present research in both an Organic Chemistry class, and a Microeconomics class in the same week. Both groups decided that they trusted my abilities enough that they allowed me to control their grades. Without having taught karate I would never have been able to give research reports in two such different subjects without having a lot more time to prepare.
It is safe to say that teaching karate has been one of the major developmental activities in my life. All of the strength and confidence I developed by training in the martial arts were enhanced by teaching them. I learned how to think analytically, how to notice small details in movement, how to put my thoughts into words, and most importantly how to confidently convey my ideas. By teaching others, I taught myself more than I could have ever imagined.
