Why Teach?

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.

– Mark Van Doren

In traditional Thai culture, teachers are held in particular esteem and afforded significant levels of respect throughout all levels of society. Teachers pass down the knowledge and skills that younger people will require to make it in the world, knowledge and skills earned by one’s ancestors, and therefore their role is seen as incredibly important in maintaining civilisation. At the end of every school year, the students perform a wai kru (similar to that performed by fighters in the ring) to show their gratitude to their teachers.

Sadly, teachers here in the UK often do not appear to be afforded the same level of respect. However, I’m not going to go into the education system here as it is not what this article is about.

There are more ways to be a teacher than sitting in a classroom marking test papers. In Thailand, the respect shown to teachers extends beyond formal schooling, with your parents held up as your first and most important teachers. Older siblings and other family members can also pass on vital knowledge. Indeed, anyone who passes on some form of knowledge or skill becomes, at least for a moment, kru (teacher). A young nak muay’s first kru is often an older family member, suc h as father, brother or uncle.

In order to properly teach something, one must first understand it. Depending on the particular field, this understanding may be gained more or less through experience (you wouldn’t want to learn car mechanics from someone who has never worked on a vehicle; on the other hand, it’s not easy to get life experience as a sub-atomic particle in order to teach quantum physics!). If you have gained some degree of skill and experience in a field, you may be able to pass that on to others. But why should you even bother doing so?

I’ll talk from my own experience in (of course) Muay Thai.

My first experiences of teaching Muay Thai came at Shor Chana gym, when I started helping Master Chana with the children’s classes. Later on, I was left in charge of the gym whilst Master Chana was away, taking both kids and adults classes for a few months straight. I soon realised just how rewarding an experience this could be. Looking back, those nights were some of the most enjoyable and fulfilling I have had in the many, many nights I have spent at Shor Chana gym.

From a personal point of view, teaching will level up your game. Breaking down techniques for beginners will really force you to understand the techniques from the ground up, perhaps highlighting details you now simply do unconsciously or perhaps never even had to be taught. Finding different ways to explain the same technique or concept so that everyone can understand it will deepen your own understanding immensely. It is something of a cliché for a teacher to say that they learned as much from their students as they had taught them, but there is some real truth to it.

You will deepen your understanding not only of the field in which you are teaching, but your understanding of people and life itself. Communication skills and the ability to understand others are vital life skills that teaching will hone. Teaching will also make you a better student, as you begin to understand the challenges, reasoning and methods of your own teachers better.

Furthermore, teaching is an incredibly rewarding experience. No matter what frustrations and obstacles faced along the way, when you see someone grow and develop and you know that you played a fundamental role within it, you will feel a sense of accomplishment that might even outstrip what you would feel if you had achieved it yourself. I have long said and believed that if I could help even just one person derive a fraction of the benefits from Muay Thai that I have enjoyed, it would be a worthwhile thing to do.

Teaching is a selfless act, no matter how rewarding you find it (or if you’re getting paid for it), and it is within such selfless acts of service that meaning and purpose can best be found. It is all well and good, and necessary, to have your own personal goals to achieve. Yet the importance of those goals is swiftly overshadowed by the desire to help your students attain their own goals.

Does this mean that everyone should teach?

No, but also in some way, yes.

Why not?

Well, not everyone is suited to teaching. Not everyone has the requisite personality traits to make a good teacher and may find the experience frustrating and disheartening, and also fail to bring any real value to their students.

It is a common misconception that the most talented people are best placed to teach what they know. Natural talents, whilst no doubt still having to work hard to achieve real success, tend to just get things without much explanation required. Without ever having to break things down to the simple details, they might become frustrated when other students are unable to just get it like they did.   

One should always take care, when teaching, not to step outside of the boundaries of one’s current competence. I have seen relative beginners trying to “teach” things to other beginners that are just plain wrong. Bad habits instilled early on take a lot of work to address. Sometimes, this happens with the best intentions. Sometimes, it happens in order to stroke the ego and assert a level of superiority that is utterly unfitting. You will do no favours to yourself or to anyone else by trying to teach something that is outside of your area of competence. Even if you have some level of competence in something, that doesn’t mean you are competent to teach. I can drive a car, that doesn’t mean I would feel comfortable teaching someone else to drive.

If another student is struggling with something and you are not absolutely sure what is correct, ask a coach to help. That’s what we are here for, and you will save hours of working to undo bad habits once they have been ingrained.

So, what makes a good teacher? I will list a few thoughts below, but this is not an exhaustive list:

• Patience
• Competence in the field being taught
• Understanding of people – the better you understand your students as individuals, the better you will be able to teach them
• A genuine desire to see others succeed
• Control over one’s ego – if the student surpasses the teacher, would you be happy for them? Or secretly resentful?

Why, in some way at least, yes?

We all have our own unique set of skills, competencies, and life experiences. I am a firm believer in the idea that you can learn something from almost anyone. It may not be what you think you want or need to learn. It may not be exactly what that person wishes (or thinks they wish) to teach. It may be something so small and seemingly insignificant that you have to actively look to see it. But assuming that there might be something worth learning from every single person that you encounter is a decent rule of thumb.

Not everyone is built to be a teacher, but we can all learn something from almost anyone. Maybe you’re not in a position to impart a particular skill or knowledge base. You can still teach a thing or two to those around by the way you live your life, the manner in which you comport yourself, how you treat others. Be the example to others around you.

Most of all, stay humble and willing to learn from whatever sources might open to you.