I'm a white belt in TaeKwonDo.
I just did my first class today actually haha.
I love it so far.
That's great! Yeah, one of my friends from school also just signed up, and he really seems to like it so far.
Personally, I despise "Americanized Tae Kwon Do" and Shuto Kan karate.
Why? You may ask.
For Tae Kwon Do, if you were to look at the "Amaercanized" and traditional types side by side, they would be EXTREMELY different.
For Shuto Kan, lets see............They don't teach "useful nowadays" stuff, such as how to apply Bunkai(Parts of Kata practised with a partner) to protect yourself in the year 2009(or at least they didn't when I went to Shuto Kan). They advance through belts too quikly(an example of this is when my dad saw somebody who started at the karate school that I went to right before I left there, a couple 2-3 years later, he saw the same guy at a tournament as a black belt)
But, enough of my complaining, personally, I go to Goju-Ryu Karate. Both my dad and I love doing it, and it is literally spread out all over Washington State(where I used to live), but it is still a small style.
P.S. Sorry for ranting like that, I was just saying my personal opinion, I am truly sorry if I offended anybody here
Yeah, I'd personally hate an Amaricanized MA, too, but that's why I, as long as many others, I'm sure, don't take it. My instructor always tells us how "watered-down" TKD is no good... and how we all need to keep the "toughness" of the traditional sport.
But, yeah. Both you and Archer I agree with; it focuses on the physical benefits only, half of the time. And they don't push you to improve, they tell you, "Oh, that's good enough." When nothing is "good enough," ever.