In the comments section of the recent “Lamentations and Hope” post, my friend nyeti said something that really resonated with me: Up until recently we were taking more classes than we taught, and still consider ourselves lifetime students, so we see both sides.
I’m always interested to see the difference between instructors who take classes and those who don’t. The personality types are pretty distinct and, at the end of the day, so are the teaching methodologies. The more “my way or the highway” an instructor is, the more likely he either never trains with anyone else or he only trains among his own core of clone instructors.
I try to take at least one class every year. Sometimes I take something basic, like a level 1 tactical pistol class or something else that’s just a step past “get your CCW here.” Why? Because it’s good to hear how other instructors present material. Great example was July 2012, I took Tom Givens’s Combat Pistol course. Tom had a way of adding a little stress to some drills that I stole immediately because it was bloody brilliant. And Tom is an outstanding instructor who could watch me and find mistakes I was making and make me better. I walked away a better instructor and a better shooter. It didn’t matter that it was a level 1 class. I got the benefit of Tom, not the benefit of a class name.
Then there are times when I’ll go to something more advanced, like Rogers Shooting School. I try to go down there every few years because there’s a level of pressure and performance demand that you don’t see anywhere else in the training world. And every time I go, I get access to a cadre of excellent instructors. I walk away a better instructor and a better shooter.
Probably the best example I can think of, though, is Greg Hamilton of InSights Training based out of Washington State. Greg once took a GOPLAT assault/rescue class. Don’t feel bad if you have to Google that, I had no idea what it was. Greg didn’t take the class because he thought he might get called in to assault an oceanic platform some day. He took the class because he thought there might be one small tidbit they’d figured out operating in complicated spaces that would apply to the broader body of work he cares about… because then he could bring that small tidbit back to his students who’d never, ever, get a chance to take a GOPLAT assault/rescue class. Or probably even want to.
I always ask instructors where they’ve gone to school themselves, and when. Someone who hasn’t stepped out of his own square range in twenty years might not be as cutting edge high speed as he thinks.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
One thing I’ve always appreciated is when instructors point out where they learned a particular drill or special technique. I think it’s important to give credit where it’s due.
The best teachers are also the best students
JV, great observation. Not much is new, and even if somebody’s name is on a technique, they might not be the “inventor”. Early on I was schooled that it is imperative that “sources” are given. This shows where the instructor’s learning foundation came from, as well as a source for the student to further track information and sources. It is also critical that the instructor is teaching a technique correctly and if they have modified it, it needs to be noted. I always like to see an instructor who can give a “why” rather than “well that is how so and so does it”.
Years ago, when I was still in grade school, I asked my dad why he was going to yet another training class when he was an instructor himself. To my decade-old brain, school was something with a finite end point.
He just shrugged and said, “No one can teach you everything, but everyone can teach you something.”
Agreed. Far too often I see an instructor/school take a well known drill and simply re-name it to, ‘make it their own’. One should give credit where credit is due instead of re-branding.
I first ran into this phenomenon when discussing the merits of a particular drill and someone chimed in, ‘oh, you mean XYZ’s [whatever name] drill.
LHS — yeah, but your dad is one of the most humble guys in the training world and one of the most serious about training. He’s an outlier from the outliers.
I like to think that one is either learning and evolving, or stagnant. One should be a perpetual student of the art.
Todd. Do you by any chance have any British relatives in your family?
Third para “…because it was bloody brilliant”
Don’t often hear/see your country-men use this term!
Love the site and regularly visit for your advice and point of view.