Anonymous wrote:What am I missing in terms of the cost -- you need to rent space, usually not very big, need to put mats down and need a white suit, generally white? There are certainly some very good places out there but there are also many where it is just a place for kids to come for awhile and get a new belt (at a fee) every few months. When you are just starting out it is very difficult to tell the good from the fake places.

Anonymous wrote:I did TKD for about 17 years (up until about 3 years ago, when I became pregnant with DD). Never paid more than $60/month at a small club run from a community center. And rather than being all about the belts, this school was legit and it took 5-7 years for an adult to become a black belt (and no black belts under age 16).

For PP suggesting martial arts schools need to make a huge profit -- sure they do, IF THEY ARE A BUSINESS and not an art form pursued by like-minded individuals and guided by an experienced practitioner who's in it for the love of the art instead of $$$. I would never join a for-profit martial arts school.

Anonymous wrote:Just because an activity is both expensive and not right for your kid does not make it a "rip off." TKD has been tremendously beneficial for my kids, who both started at age 4. They are now 8 and 11 and love it. The confidence they have gained, the self-discipline, to ability to persevere, and the physical conditioning they have received from TKD have been worth every penny.

Also I will note that you may have observed lots of uncoordinated kids in class because TKD is a refuge for those kids who don't have natural athletic talent and struggle in team sports. That was my kid. He got hated on in both soccer and basketball. But now he can do 60 full pushups in a minute and can do the splits, and can jump and spin 360 degrees and land on his feet without breaking a sweat. And suddenly this year he has taken off in basketball because he has the work ethic and physical condition that others on his team lack.

Do you have any idea what the operating costs of a well-run martial arts studio are? Can you name one other activity with comparable overhead? Many athletic programs in our area are highly subsidized by taxpayer dolllars (baseball and soccer fields, community center gyms, school pools etc.) Any privately run business has operating costs. In this case, retail space, burdened pay (not just hourly salary but all the taxes, FICA, etc.), insurance (very expensive), equipment (dojo mats don't come cheap), cleaning crew (who wants to be in a grungy studio), and utilities (what do you think it costs to air condition a studio full of sweaty bodies?) And oh yeah, the owners are entitled to some kind of profit margin too, don't you think?

BS. ANY business costs money to run, but nobody rips off parents with contracts and high fees like TKD people. Simple as that.

Anonymous wrote:Just because an activity is both expensive and not right for your kid does not make it a "rip off." TKD has been tremendously beneficial for my kids, who both started at age 4. They are now 8 and 11 and love it. The confidence they have gained, the self-discipline, to ability to persevere, and the physical conditioning they have received from TKD have been worth every penny.

Also I will note that you may have observed lots of uncoordinated kids in class because TKD is a refuge for those kids who don't have natural athletic talent and struggle in team sports. That was my kid. He got hated on in both soccer and basketball. But now he can do 60 full pushups in a minute and can do the splits, and can jump and spin 360 degrees and land on his feet without breaking a sweat. And suddenly this year he has taken off in basketball because he has the work ethic and physical condition that others on his team lack.

Do you have any idea what the operating costs of a well-run martial arts studio are? Can you name one other activity with comparable overhead? Many athletic programs in our area are highly subsidized by taxpayer dolllars (baseball and soccer fields, community center gyms, school pools etc.) Any privately run business has operating costs. In this case, retail space, burdened pay (not just hourly salary but all the taxes, FICA, etc.), insurance (very expensive), equipment (dojo mats don't come cheap), cleaning crew (who wants to be in a grungy studio), and utilities (what do you think it costs to air condition a studio full of sweaty bodies?) And oh yeah, the owners are entitled to some kind of profit margin too, don't you think?