In the original article that brought up working the unfun, ToddG, a handgun instructor, was talking to other instructors about what their duty is as instructors:

It’s a simple truism in teaching adults: they want to have fun. Being a good instructor is partially about being able to shoot, partially about being able to impart knowledge, and partially about entertainment. Keeping students engaged, excited, and motivated is a key responsibility of any instructor. The more fun a shooter is having, the harder he’ll work and the more he’ll just plain enjoy shooting.

So from a student’s perspective, remember that working on the things you’re not good at is the only way you’ll get better at them. And from the instructor’s perspective, think about how you can make your lessons more interesting, more challenging, and more fun. Trust me, the result will be not just happier students, but better shooters.

It got me thinking.

I’m able to self-motivate, but I know that I do a better job when I’ve got an instructor there pushing me. They’re able to watch me and pick up things I need to work on. They’re able to push me to go a little bit harder, a little bit more. I know this from my martial arts training that when I’m in boxing class, the way my coach pushes me? I can’t get that when I’m just working out at home. I get so much more from the coach/instructor being there.

I know there’s debate on if gun skills are a martial art. I would argue they are, but that’s a topic for another day. The point is, martial arts tend to be taught on a regular basis. You sign up, and it’s something that you regularly undergo. Maybe you attend 3-5x a week, every week of every month of every year. There might be one-off seminars now and again, but for the most part the training is constant. Some classes are instructional classes, some are just practice/work sessions where you aren’t taught anything per se but you learn because you’re practicing earlier teachings under the watchful eye of the instructor/coach. But with gun skills, every school I look at tends to do things on a one-off basis; more akin to the seminar format. Sure there might be various classes you can attend, the classes may escalate in knowledge and skill, but still the classes are just a few hours or a weekend dump of information, then off you go to fend for yourself. All of your practice is done independently, and there’s no watchful instructor eyes to help you.

Why aren’t there any gun schools that work on a more perpetual training approach? Apart from the military, of course. That is, maybe yes you go to class once a week and learn some skill, but then you come back to the school/range and work on those skills under the watchful eye of the instructor. This allows them to see if you really picked up on the skills, make corrections, improvements, and really ingrain the skills. Why isn’t that done? I could see much advantage to it.

My guess, it’s a market thing. Is there a market? Can you justify the cost? Of course, it’ll be expensive to deal with all the ammo. So I do figure that cost is one big factor here. Nevertheless, I think there could be a clever way to deal with that. Maybe the skills are something that can be exercised in dry fire or with things like cheap Airsoft guns. Or it doesn’t have to be a weekly matter; perhaps you just come once a month. For instance, you have class this week and learn some skills then go home and work on them. You come back next week for a practice session and work things out. After that, who knows… maybe you make practices a weekly thing, or wait until class next month (I’m talking about sessions with a coach/instructor, not your own independent practice).

I guess I just have experienced a lot of direct martial arts instruction and see the benefits of having an instructor there to watch over you, even if it’s just a practice session (not a teaching session). So I wonder why that cannot or is not done for firearms instruction (outside of the military). And if it was done, I guess I predict we could have a lot of awesome gun handlers.

Just wondering aloud….