This is sort of an interesting question. Nobody has ever come up with a good answer for it, and yet people have tried virtually everything in the world to keep those errant students. I mean, they were doing good, they were blown out and excited, and then they disappeared.

The answer for this problem, and a way to keep enrollment high, and to even better it, is possible through something called Matrix Martial Arts. Matrixing is a technology that was designed for the martial arts. The fact of discovering why students drop out became known almost by accident.

To understand this problem of student drop out we must understand that there is a problem with the martial arts themselves. I don’t care what you are teaching, be it karate or kung fu or wudan or that rare form of Kenpo, the fact of the matter is that you are teaching by having students memorize random strings of data. With respect, I offer that this is the most inefficient method of learning that there is.

Memorizing random strings of data is an oral tradition that worked in feudal times, when people couldn’t read nor write. Now, how ever, the written word has come into its own, and people can avail themselves of such things as computers, mind mapping, and good, solid logic. This thing of logic becomes recognizable when one uses Matrix Martial Arts.

Matrixing is the analysis and handling of flow and force. It is a method for laying out a gridwork of martial arts techniques, and being able to quickly and efficiently sort through the techniques until you have the exact and only answer. It is so efficient that people who learn matrixing achieve intuition with their art within months, not years, as is common with the traditional arts.

When matrixing methods are established, when students are enabled to view all the martial arts in logical fashion, one thing becomes plain, there are a lot of blank spots in the martial arts. No matter how many random strings of data one memorizes, it can’t compare with being able to see all the data. And, obviously, students who could see all the data were able to progress much faster.

And, students who left early in their training were found to be confused by the blank spots they had encountered in their studies. Learning the martial arts were like learning languages with half the consonants gone. The data ceased to make sense, so they departed.

The truth of the matter is that students aren’t going to stick with what doesn’t make sense. No matter how much incredible fun they are having, the brain rejects the data, the hardware loses the software, the student refuses the martial arts, simply because the subject has become confusing, and has not been made logical and simple. In a word, no matter whether you teach karate or kung fu or that rare and esoteric style of Tai Chi, you will not be able to keep students unless you matrix your art, and matrix your students, and, the fact of the matter is…you , too, may someday feel like hanging up your gi.

Al has 40 plus years  experience in a variety of arts, and is a writer for the magazines. You can find out about matrixing, ow to keep your students, and lots of other things by getting his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.