im curious about my TKD school?

Question

i want to know if my TKD school is a mcdojang theres 12 belt ranks and 11 if your 18 and over and its $45 dollars to grade to the next belt and thats also including your new belt and its $10 dollars per lesson so its using a pay as you go system and if you want you can pay $58 dollars and train all you want for 1 month i paid $65 dollars for my dobok includes pants,jacket,shirt,belt so is it a mcdojang?

Answer 1

Well people will have varying opinions on this question. Many people will say it is a McDojo just because its TKD. The best way to find out is simply to go there for a while. It is hard to decide if this is your first marital art. The questions I would ask myself are these: Do you feel like you are learning anything of value? When you test do you feel like you earned the next rank or are they just moving you along to collect money? Also I would ask what you were studying the art for, fitness, competition or self defense? If you are going strictly for self defense I would look for other options besides TKD. If you are wanting primarily fitness and sport with a tad of self defense thrown in TKD may be for you. The best idea (especially if you are a novice at Martial arts) is to do a lot of research in to different arts (books and SOME websites) find out all you can. It will save you time and money in the long term. In martial arts plenty of people just bad mouth any art besides their own so be careful what you read on the web.

Answer 2

It doesn't matter whether or not others consider it a "McDojang". I learned and then instructed at a dojang that over the (12) years developed into such. It basically means that the master running the show is also a business man. The more money poured into the facility means he can pay better instructors and maintain a nice facility.

Make your decision based on how much you like the environment and the instructors' styles of teaching. If it is fun, you found a good spot; especially considering that it really is not that expensive compared to other schools I've checked in Atlanta and SF. If the spot is a dump and the instructors don't seem helpful go elsewhere.

Once you get to the black belt level or join the team (hence proving commitment) you will get even more attention and personal instruction.

Oh and if you ever help as instructor, test days may end up turning into 500$ cash under the table paydays!!!! Sweet!!!

Answer 3

First, the price for your Dobok depends of Brand/Weight and Quality, but if you bought it through your Dojang and it comes with patches and other flashy decorations....You also paid for these.
The 12 ranks seems high, but 2 levels or stripes for White, yellow, green, blue, red and possibly another colour add up to 12 ranks. I would believe that above 18 there is only one white belt rank.
$58 a month is a fair price for 2-3 times a week, now the $45 for testing is high, especially when some schools makes the testing mandatory. It depends how often are the testing, I believe that every other month testing is too much, but students want to get promoted quickly or they will go somewhere else.
You need to look if the instructors really insist on correct forms and repeat of basic techniques, do the higher rank have good skills or does it seems they get promoted just because they attend the class regularly?

Answer 4

In depends on what you are learning during your sessions.

Having 12 kyu belt rankings does not necessarily suggest that your school is trying to make money. Some schools contain many rankings to motivate their students.

A couple of thoughts about the cost. I tested for a belt over 20 years ago and it cost me $30, so $45 isn't expensive and as someone else suggested, is fairly standard. Offering a per session option suggests that the instructor is not just their to try to make money off of students... they'd make more money by having unusually long "minimum time in grade" periods and require monthly/annually memberships.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I don't think or associate price or style with a McDojo/McDojang. Also many schools have packaged their student's equipment needs into packages so they can better manage the paperwork, billing, inventorying, and tracking of it all and its not unusual for them to offer a package like the first month and a uniform for one price. The real question is what quality are the students and the classes and the student that a school produces? That is really what determines if it is a McDojo or McDojang-not all TKD schools are.

Answer 6

Hard to say .There are 2 approaches to this mcdojo way of doing things.1ST and most common is easy belt promotions and short intervals between belts and unnecessary gradings.There are 6 belt levels yellow orange green blue brown black there are 10 kyu or kup levels 10th to 1st how your club came up with 12 is a bit of a mystery .
Some clubs grade by belt level some by kyu level .
2ND approach .Long intervals between colored belt gradings but with "stripe gradings " in between .Ever seen a green belt with 2 or 3 red stripes on his belt same idea as the 1st method .
It's all about money .They know that most people only train to get a black belt then they quit or go on to something else .Also a lot of people are "faddists" they will jump to the newest "fad style"usually drawn by bullshit ideas like "the deadliest""most effective" .They are there one day gone the next and probably bad mouthing the style they left.
So the idea has become to get as much money out of you while you are there as they can.
This is another reason some have went to the contract method.Whether you train or not the collection angency for the debt you incurred will get the money out of you.
There are heads of associations out there making a million dollars a year out of dojo chains and even instructional DVDs to teach you how to do it.
And the "new" systems MMA //BJJ//RBSD are quickly catching on and doing the same thing.

Answer 7

It honestly sounds about the "standard" for most TKD schools. I used to train with an international Tae Kwon Do Federation and they use about the same numbers you've given me but they were far from being a McDojang. In fact when the higher grade belts tested someone from Korea flew in (once a year) to evaluate them. He didn't know us from Adam and was there only to test the student AS WELL as the quality of what the teachers were teaching.

In short you need to find out more about the background of a school. In my current Dojo (Karate) I not only know about MY Sr. Instructor I know who HIS Sensie is - I also know who HIS Sensie is and I know who HIS sensie trained with in Japan and what school. If this is just "cookie cutter" TKD then asking some of the questions above can help you but looking at the source of what you're learning can also go a long way in understanding who you're training with.

When I learned Kung Fu I basicly asked who the Sr. Instructor had trained with and he said "The Shaolin Monk's in China" - and he had home movies to prove it.

Answer 8

Not always a rule, but for the most part, if you have to PAY to be tested to advance to the next belt, it's a McDojo. Keep in mind though, if you are doing this for the sport of it or for fitness, then there's nothing wrong with that. Just don't put false hopes in it as being used for self-defense.

Answer 9

not necessarily, it is KIND of a mcdojang, however it isn't that much of one because the monthly fee is not very high compared to most. however, the testing fee makes it much closer to normal costs. all in all, it depends on how long it takes to get black belt on average. if you tell me that i'll come back to it later and finish this answer. as it is, it probably isnt if it was it would have a normal monthly fee and a testing fee on top of it. although if you get black in a year then yes it most definitely is. if more then it's closer then some but not THAT much of one. if it takes 4 - 6 or more years to get black, no it most definitely isnt.

Answer 10

58 bucks a month is not a high price... frankly its about right.... price is not what makes a school good or bad... it is the level of instruction... is it 58 bucks + 45 to test every six weeks... this seems obsurd.. but anyway..... 65 bucks may be high for your Dobak, depending on the quality and weight... or it may be a good deal...they range from 20 bucks to 200.... there are way too many variables to determine from the information you gave us to make a quick assumption of your school, on whether it is good or bad... good luck