Responsibility

I'm declaring it official. Our Blue Belt class has gotten tiny. At Tuesday's class there were 3 of us, Wednesday just one, and Thursday there were 2.

That is an average of 2 per night.

In any learning endeavour it is important to take responsibility for your own progress.

I attend every class. My peers are averaging about 50%. I attend most open-mat sessions. They rarely come to that at all.

They trust the instructor to present the material to them in the best way possible. I do, too, but understand that I have to do extra to solidify his teaching. If you are studying algebra, you can't just work in class time but also need to do some homework.

Since September we've worked on the first chapter of the curriculum. There have been 9 items, all with about 3 or 4 variations. That adds up to over 27 separate techniques. Each of these has probably half a dozen separate points to remember. Let's call it 150 things to learn.

I know I can't learn all this in the time allotted. I can't afford to miss classes, and need to do extra study.

I want each chapter solidly in my data bank before we move on to the next. I want to be ready to test in a year and a half when I get done with chapter seven.

Would you decide to learn a musical instrument, and then only attend half of your lessons, and not practise at home? I doubt it.