I was told by a very reliable source just the other day of a martial arts instructor in my city who was boasting about how he could and would make his female students breakdown as he put them through their training drills in preparation for their black belt test. While the exact definition of 'breakdown' was not given, the fact that this instructor was boasting to his office colleague about how he seemed to enjoy exercising the power, the authority, to engage in this type of behaviour, was very concerning to me.
Make no mistake, there is a clear demarcation line between instructors who push students hard to extend personal boundaries and grow versus doing this to gain some kind of personal satisfaction. Crossing that line reflects poorly on the instructor, the organisation and ultimately the wider martial arts community.
Fortunately, from what I have seen, this type of behaviour is the exception rather than the rule.
Martial arts have been allowed to develop openly in New Zealand for many decades now because society accepts the positive benefits that engaging in this activity bring to society.
Underlying this concept is the key consideration that martial arts, indeed martial artists, exist because the public allow them to exist. Because there is general support for their place in society, good students can find good teachers and hopefully, after years of study and guidance, the tradition advances. Poor quality instruction, resulting in students becoming poor instructors, which can only undermine the trust and responsibility that the public place in the martial arts.
We as martial artists should remember the duty we have to teach openly, professionally and responsibly and that the publics trust in us is why we can continue to exist.