My initial thoughts on this come from my training as a photographer. I learned it almost as an apprentice fresh out of college with little prior training and a BA degree. On the first day my boss told me that while I was working for him if I paid attention I would get much more out of this than he would. He would get labor and I would get (a really small) paycheck. If I applied myself I would learn photography and he would teach it to me. He would get a better employee as I used the knowlege, but in the long run it would be much more valuable to me than to him. He was right and it has become my career and he got good service from me in exchange, but I got the better deal. I think the student always gets the better deal in a real teaching situation (meaning something of value is taught in exchange for compensation).
I really think that there is not much to the claim of “intellectual property” and it’s really impossible to enforce so a teacher must make peace with that in their own heart because it really is not theirs either. If they wish to keep it for themselves then there is no real need to be a teacher at all. A teacher who holds back information is a teacher with students who are not performing to their fullest potential and reflect poorly on that same teacher.
One part of me thinks that the “professional” martial teacher is the cause of many problems because then you need an organization and must keep it in line. There will always be the case where someone is going to spin out of that and you have a situation we have seen so many times. On one hand I think it is right that people who tow the line have authorization to teach and use the name of the art, but if someone leaves and has no authorization then as long as the are open and don’t use the names or claim things that are not theirs then it is up to the student to figure out what the teacher has to teach and proceed accordingly.
To return to the initial example I could have opened a studio next door to my boss and he really couldn’t do anything, but I couldn’t call it My Boss Photography, it would be Me Photography and let the market decide. As a student of MA I am going to want to take advantage of whatever I can find and would rather a “disgraced” sensei who has the technique and character than no sensei at all.
[Edited by Walker on 08-31-2000 at 07:51 PM]
Doug Walker
Completely cut off both heads,
Let a single sword stand against the cold sky!