Objective Measures
True understanding of a subject can only be determined if a person is able to pass on that understanding to others so that they can in turn pass it on to yet others. It is insufficient for your students merely to be able to do what you have taught them as this can be just a high level ability to mimic action without any underlying comprehension of what is being taught.
The demonstration of true understanding by the student can only be determined if the student is able to solve problems ( in this case perform techniques) in situations that they have not been shown by the teacher using the theories and practices of the system under study.
Physically gifted individuals who are natural fighters can easily learn the techniques and can adapt them to any situation without having to think about it a great deal. People like this will only ever examine how they are actually performing an action when they lose a fight. Most often they limit this consideration to the particular technique that did not work and so do not look at the their total approach just this particular symptom of failure.
It is for this reason the Taichi masters of old insisted that a student must invest in loss. Only by understanding why a technique does not work in specific situations but works in others can one attempt to get to a comprehension of the underlying problem. In Taijiquan this is even more important than in an art that relies on speed and strength alone because the method of application of the technique is invisible to the external observer.
This most often occurs when a student is much better than his fellows and so he can win with inferior application of techniques. It is only when he meets a superior technician that his his inferior application is exposed. If the student is bigger and stronger than his fellows he can also hide inferior technique using a larger degree of force or physical advantages such as extra reach. However these advantages will eventually be outmatched by other opponents.
Freestyle Fixed Step | |
Control of the elbows is an early goal for beginners but to reach the next stage one must learn that this control is illusory and leads to predictability and inflexibility. |
It is sometimes the case that the teacher is unwilling to pass on their knowledge fearing that the student may surpass them in ability and understanding. In this way arts become diminished and those arts will be superceded by those whose teachers did not do this.
To ensure that true understanding has been attained the teacher must ensure that this student passes on what he has learned and then test the student’s student to determine if the understanding has been transmitted correctly. In this way he can determine if any failure in communication was his or that of his student and can then take the necessary steps to correct the misunderstandings and by doing so enhance his own understanding.
February 13, 2010 at 1:27 pm | Training | No comment
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