Student to Instructor to Student

There are similar differences between a student and an instructor. A student is concerned with how he or she is performing a technique and how he or she may improve the technique. An instructor is concerned with how well all the students are performing a technique and how he or she may help the students improve their techniques. A student performs a technique as he or she thinks it should be performed, and usually thinks it was done well. An instructor must know the intricacies of a technique, be able to spot them in each student’s performance of a technique, and be able to tell each student how to improve the performance of the technique.

It is difficult for a student to become an instructor and it is difficult for an instructor to be a student. Students tend to have a micro outlook in a class; they are only concerned with their own performance. Instructors must have a macro outlook in a class; they must pay attention to the performance of all students in a class. When an instructor is a student in a class, he or she will be constantly evaluating the performance of fellow students and will have a difficult time concentrating on his or her own performance.

When sparring another student, a student is only concerned with being better at sparring than the opponent. When an instructor spars a student, the instructor also want to look good at sparring, but not to the detriment of the student. The instructor's job is show the student how to be better than the instructor. Instructors who show up or embarrass their students will soon have no students.

Therefore, it is difficult for a student to become an instructor, and it is even more difficult for an instructor to be a student again.