Students who don't Listen

Today I had a bonding experience with a fellow archery instructor during which the topic of "students who don't listen" came up. For me this experience of commiserating with a fellow archery instructor was cathartic.

What is the point of getting archery lessons (or any other kind of lesson) if you're not going to listen to the instructor?

There is nothing more annoying to an instructor than trying to teach someone who refuses to listen. I have, historically, refunded lessons to people who didn't listen and I didn't want to bother teaching them.

Especially if I considered them to be a danger to themselves and others. It would be irresponsible, in my opinion, to teach someone I consider to be dangerously ignorant and refuses to correct their mistakes or listen to the instructor.

This is one of the reasons why I rarely teach children any more. There is a measure of responsibility and maturity on the part of the student that needs to be there before I even agree to teach archery to a child... And if they later turn out to be the type of person who doesn't listen then guess who is getting the remainder of their lessons canceled and refunded*...?

* Partly because of liability issues in which I don't want to be legally responsible for a child (or adult) who is a danger to themselves and others. So this isn't really a choice for me. It is basically a legal requirement on my part to be responsible about who I choose to teach.

As noted by my colleague and myself, this problem of students who don't listen is mostly an issue of children who lack maturity. It is rare to meet an adult with this particular problem, although not unheard of. I sometimes come across an adult or even a senior who has become set in their ways and doesn't want to listen, even when they know it is in their best interest to do so.

The problem I find often stems from students thinking that they know more than the instructor because they have been watching too much television/movies, did archery at summer camp with someone who didn't know how to teach archery, or they've bought into misinformation about the sport they learned from other sources (fictional books, YouTube, Facebook, etc). This is why, in my opinion, it is often better to teach a student who is a blank slate. The less misinformation they have previously received the better.

Just because you saw a cartoon character doing archery a certain way doesn't mean that you know more than the archery instructor. You don't. Get over it.

 

Trying to teach someone like that also makes me want to pull my hair out in frustration. I don't need the added stress. My knee jerk reaction to meeting a student who doesn't want to listen is to cancel the lessons and refund the money. The liability and the stress just isn't worth it.

Plus why take lessons in something that you don't want to learn???

I get it when parents sign up their kids for ice skating lessons or swimming lessons... And the child would rather be looking at their cellphone than paying attention to the lesson. But if the parent knows that their child isn't actually interested then you should just find them a different activity that does interest them. Not every child wants to swim, do ice skating or archery. Find them something else they actually want to do. Tae kwon do lessons perhaps. Rock climbing. Krav maga. Golf. Violin. Ballet. Parkour.

Don't force them to do a sport they're clearly not interested in.