Teaching Women to Shoot

This is a follow up to yesterday Range Day Win.

There is much discussion about what is the right gun for a new woman shooter and suggestions that it should be suggestions for the new shooter period. I'll agree with that to some extent. Physical differences and limitations come in all sexes, sizes, shapes and colors. So, picking the right gun for Xxxxx or Yyyyyy is pretty much the same. Depends on the use and the person who wants it. Finding the right gun that FITS them and fills the purpose they intend is always a personalized trek.

As far as the snubby issue goes that started this whole thing, it happens more than I would care to admit. In the last 18 years or so of teaching we have more often than not had a couple show up for class with the husband/boyfriend/dad sporting anything from a Glock 19 to a high dollar customized race gun and the wife/girlfriend/daughter toting a snubby or a PPK or some other compact/subcompact and or mouse gun. We quickly break the happy couple apart (More later) and get the woman to try out one of the variety of rental/loaner guns that we have on hand. Even going so far as one of us pulling our PDW off our hip and having them try it and if they fit, they shoot that gun for class. More often than not, the woman is outshooting the guy by the end of class. It's not bragging if you really can do it and it happens often enough to not be a fluke.

Where I am departing this discussion and breaking off into a new one is in teaching the new woman shooter.

First to expand on the "We quickly break the happy couple apart" part. No matter how good your relationship is, there are dynamics there that make teaching and learning more difficult because of what is under the surface when you start into the roles of student and teacher. If you let the two of them shoot next to each other, invariably one ends up spending more time trying to watch and or help the other than concentrating on their own performance and skills. Very common with the "helping" is more of a dominant/submissive role set that happens. I covered this in a post about Better Faster Syndrome.

The other component about teaching women is that men and women are different. Sorry rabid feminists, you ARE wrong. There is a difference between them and that comes through in how they learn, discover and grow. There is a different way to teach so that they learn better. Many guys could take a lesson from them and learn how to learn as well.

My person philosophy of teaching is that of guide and explorers. My job as teacher is to help the student learn and develop new skills and ideas and to help them grow as a person. If the instructor just says here do this and shows something and expects the student to grasp and understand and accept just because the instructor said so, I don't care what kind of credentials the instructor has, THEY SUCK. On the other hand, by showing a skill or sharing an idea, explaining why that idea is important and then helping the student to perform that skill or idea until they KNOW they can do it themselves, the teacher has successfully taught the student a new skill and the student has become better for it. The number of students who have grown and improved from their teaching and not just the number of people who have attended their class is the measure of a teachers performance. Part of building skills is building confidence. I am not into the whole "you'll harm their self esteem" crap that permeates today's society. If you don't know, understand or perform a skill then no one should lie to you and tell you good job and send you on. You may need remedial attention and may not be able to perform that skill after all. That is dangerous as the person now thinks that they can adequately perform some skill or technique that they cannot. Working with them to get them to where they really can perform the skill and building their confidence in the ability to perform that skill when they really can is where it is at.

OK Rant off, What say you?