What irritates me is this bit. I do some teaching at the dojo now and have been toying with the idea of setting up a small class where I live. I've been practising for 10 years, some years more intensively than others, and I'm far from an 'expert' – the experts in my martial art have been training much longer and harder than I have. That wouldn't stop me setting up a class, which would necessarily be for beginners, and to which I would invite my sensei periodically to check that I was teaching them correctly. I've got a lot to give, but I would be encouraging any of my students to attend seminars and would be very honest about my abilities (although to a beginner, I look pretty good). You sometimes have to 'show off' a tiny bit as a teacher to inspire the students and give them faith that you know what you're doing, but in the main, you have to teach them what is appropriate for their level. When I hear, for instance, of teachers hurting their students, I get very angry.
