A martial arts environment is a little bit different to 'real life' I did martial arts for years and if I insulted any of the senior guys or instructors I was giving a smack to put me back in line. The instructor is hardly going to hit a kid full force, just hard enough for the kid to learn his lesson. Martial arts is built on respect so if a junior disrespects a senior they are going to be put back in line. If they can't handle it than maybe they should either keep their mouth shut or choose another sport.
Sometimes to teach discipline you have to use force.
Ok I agree that he shouldn't have been showing kids photos of his girlfriend, but he did tell them to stop. They showed a complete lack of respect by continuing. Over the years I have seen this again and again, and the easiest way to solve it is by hitting someone. If he did hit full force that was slightly overboard, but if it really was that bad I'm sure the head instructor would have got involved and not just have laughed about it. I think involving the police was a bit of an overkill. If it was everyday life ok, I might agree but again, its a martial arts environment and it has a whole different set of rules.
An instructor can't teach if the students don't respect him. To be honest I've done the same when in my club when people showed me disrespect and believe me, it never happened a second time.
Well Tae kwon do is actually what I did, and being a black belt and an instructor in the club should automatically grant respect from any junior. Its like the military, you can't insult a superior and expect not to be reprimanded. Plus I wouldn't exactly consider it bullying unless it was an ongoing occurrence. I know you obviously will be upset because its your son that was hit but I bet the other kinds stopped the teasing straight away and thought twice before saying something again. So it might be a fine line between fear and respect in that case but either way if the end result is them not insulting him and him not hitting them its a win win situation. Unfortunately its the only way some people learn their lesson.
Well I suppose everyone has their own approach to discipline and every kid is different. Did the instructor hit the other kids as well or was it just your son? And if that's the case what made him single out your son?
