Hitchhikers To The Alternative Galaxy

My tap teacher, Mr Baakari Wilder is a current generation tap dance master.  At eighteen, he was already on the cast of the legendary Broadway musical "Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk".  Despite his young age, he was also the dance captain for the production.

Baakari is younger than me.  He started dancing when he was four.  He has been dancing for over forty years.  Since he started teaching dance as a teenager, he has given numerous master classes across the country and the world.  In Aikido terms, he has to be a senior shihan already.  Had we had a system that designates people as "human national treasures" like they do in Japan, I think he deserves to become one.  

Even though I am very friendly with my dear teacher outside of class, I almost never address him just by his first name.  To show my respect, I always call him Mr Baakari.  I cannot see how to do it otherwise.

One day, Mr Baakari made a post on his Facebook page regarding his communications with his college students.

"It’s funny. I end my emails to my college students with “Respectfully, Professor Wilder". They start their emails with “Hi”, “Hey”, or “Baakari”. They are all adults. This is college. That’s not how I was raised. SMH"

My response?  "Don’t know if they are plain rude or that they don’t understand you are not equals. I am very perplexed as a teacher myself.  That’s why I always address my teachers as “Sensei”, and I always call you Mr Baakari, Mr Baakari. "

In Aikido, I notice a similar phenomenon: students, particularly the younger generation, talk to their instructors as if they were equals.  Being friends off the mat is one thing, but, on the mat, teachers and students are definitely not equals.  It is almost NEVER.

To me, unless the teacher has stopped learning altogether, and thus has ceased to improve and evolve, it is pretty much impossible for students to catch up with their teacher and become equals.  It is definitely true in my experience because I am very lucky to have teachers who continue to seek to improve to this day.  They are my role models and I spend my life chasing after them everyday.

As a result, I find it shocking to see people argue with their teachers, or demand an explanation before they are even willing to try things that their teachers show them.  When instructed to do one thing, they would do something else.  When asked, they say things like, "But I thought I was doing XXXX".  As an instructor, I am really not interested in a debate or argument with a student on the mat.  Even less so do I appreciate someone tearing the class apart because he chooses to improvise on the fly.  

By default, as I was taught, the instructor is the authority on the mat.  Most teachers have a class plan or idea in mind that may not always be obvious to students.  The role of the students is to follow the teacher's directions and imitate the movements as closely as they can.  Is not everybody taught this basic etiquette from the start?

I am not even sure what to say to those argumentative people.  "If I explain what I know to you, do you really think you can understand?", I often thought.  But, I bite my tongue because it would be brusque and I do not want to put people down.  I would feel really embarrassed if I had to be so direct and explicit with them on something so basic and fundamental.  

Is it because of this new trend of "everybody's opinion is just as valid"?  Or the mindset of "I have my right of free speech"?  As Douglas Adams says, "All opinions are not equal.  Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.” 

I think I am beginning to understand that distinct smile on Takeguchi Sensei's face when big talkers are around . . .