:minimalist

Thursday, November 27, 2003

 

On my brother's advice, I am posting my personal statement here. This is only one, of course... more will come later. Some of you may have already read this one... I used it for UC apps... but I'm also using it for CalTech app, so I would appreciate any feedback.

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I wanted to stare him down. I wanted to physically wipe that smirk off his face. I wanted to let him know that I knew he was just trying to challenge my authority because he was thirty and I was only seventeen. Instead, I took a calming breath, smiled, and said, "That's a great question," then explained the answer carefully in detail. Thankfully, he didn't press the issue further. One potentially nasty case of age discrimination down, many more to go.

When I was first asked to join the instructor certification program at Richard Lee's East-West Kung-fu, I wasn't particularly eager to teach, especially considering I was only fourteen at the time. However, the instructor trainee class was fairly well known around the school as a good opportunity to advance your belt rank quickly. I accepted, figuring I would focus on advancing to my next rank and ignore the teaching stuff. Of course, it didn't work out that way. I soon realized that being asked to teach was an honor - it meant that the people at the head of the school had recognized potential in me and were asking me to help advance their art. It wasn't something to be taken casually. Almost four years later, I look back on the time and energy that I invested into becoming and being an instructor, and I don't regret a moment of the sacrifice.

An instructor at East-West must have not only a thorough grasp of martial arts, but also a clear understanding of how the school runs and the ability to present the material to the students in a way that is clear, concise, and engaging. The time I spend volunteering to teach others has been instrumental in my learning to deal with and teach people, to recognize that each person learns in a different way and that each has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes I have to explain and demonstrate a movement five or six times before the student can understand it. When I first became an instructor, I found repeating and re-teaching the material to be tedious, annoying, and frustrating. Gradually, though, I learned to enjoy teaching for the sake of teaching. I stopped focusing on myself and realized that I wasn't the only frustrated one - the student was just as frustrated at not being able to learn. When my attention shifted to making sure that the students had a solid understanding of what they were doing, explaining things for the fifth time became a step toward the goal rather than an obstacle in the way. The trick to genuine teaching is to take responsibility not for my teaching, but for the student's learning. This is the nature of leadership - to place someone's goals above your own and to help them achieve those goals.

I still face many challenges in teaching martial arts. One that is particular to me and only a few others is that I'm young. This means that older people don't quite believe that I know what I'm talking about and people my age and younger aren't quite willing to accept my authority. But as a teacher, I need to have authority, and if my age is a hindrance, then I must be that much more responsible, understanding, patient, and knowledgeable to compensate. Teaching hasn't just forced me to learn martial arts better; it hasn't just improved my people skills; it's taught me about what it means to be responsible for someone else. Perhaps it's taught me what some people would call "maturity" - patience, responsibility, good judgement, and the ability to earn respect when none is given to me by default.

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bananna 5:59 PM  |