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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Enter Anti SPAM Code: Click here to refresh this page Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message Icon:                             Message: * HTML is OFF * Forum Code is ON Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by elitecagefighting[/i] [br]Why Students Quit Part One, In the Classroom Author : Dave & Tim Kovar Category : Student Motivation There are only two ways to make a school grow. The one way that most school managers pay attention to is adding new students. The second is equally and maybe even more important. It is retention. To keep the students you already have. Keep in mind that every day our students are closer to only one of two things; either getting their black belt or quitting. While it's true that some students move, most quit for reasons that are quite disturbing. To keep students focused, excited and active, we must first discover why students become unfocused, unexcited and quit, then take corrective steps. Over the years of digging into it, we have discovered that most of the time it is not just one thing that turns students off or causes them to quit. Generally, it is a lot of little things that slowly drain their enthusiasm and energy, diluting their desire until they simply drift away. In the next several columns, we will cover the eight reasons why students quit. These are excerpts from our Pro-MACR (Professional Martial Arts College R ) curriculum focusing on key issues that affect retention. Reason One: Good Enough Service. It was once said that the enemy of excellence is good or good enough. This is especially true in today's multi tasking society. Students and, equally importantly, student's families face an overwhelming number of external demands and pressures, each vying for time and money. Therefore, martial arts must be more than good enough, it must be a vital and valuable part of their lives or they will be lured away. In other words, we don't want our students to be satisfied customers; we want them to be raving fans! Giving just adequate service does not create raving fans. So just how do we shape raving fans? The fastest way is to, first, find out exactly what values and benefits each individual student is looking for, then do our best to provide them. This often requires self discipline and humility on the part of the instructors and staff members. The discipline necessary to get to know the needs and desires of each student and his or her families, and the humility necessary to serve our students. Imagine two instructors. The first is standing off a ways from the students with his arms folded across his chest, exhibiting the body language of being stern or aloof. Now imagine the instructor who, kneeling down to level eye contact with a child, straightening the child's belt and asking if he is cooperating with his sister, or with his parents or what ever that student is struggling with (it could be school, the job, a project, etc.). Which of these two imaginary instructors has the highest level of job satisfaction, the strongest rapport with the student, the biggest impact on the student's life? Which one is having the most fun? Which one are your instructors most like? Reason Two: Failure to Follow Through. It's extremely important that when we say that we are going to do something, we actually follow through with it. Often, we say we will get right on something and then we become sidetracked and forget to do so. We appear less than trustworthy if this happens regularly. We must live by the principle that our word is our bond. We have found that, above all else, it is the little things that make a big difference in keeping students active. The first two of the eight reasons students quit are that we, as their instructors and coaches, become complacent and slip into good enough service. Maybe this is because it was the way we were treated, or we have become too busy, too lazy or too successful to go above and beyond that which is expected. Or, conversely, maybe we try to do too much, or become overwhelmed or simply forget, and don't live up to our own promises. When this happens, we lose credibility and become a source of disappointment. To sum up why students quit, they are no longer having fun and, or they are no longer learning and, or they have lost sight of their goals (the benefits of training) or lost respect for us because of our actions or inactions. In essence, they no longer find training with us or you valuable. The brutal truth is that baseball, soccer, television or whatever else they are spending their money and time on, has become more valuable than their relationship with us or you. [/quote]   Check here to include your profile signature.