absurd requirements from masters

My old instructor made the students bring in report cards. If the BB's grades slipped a bit he would not let them test or teach. I dont' think he had an actual 'level' he required them to maintain, but he was pretty strict.

 

101 in english language. successful language is understandable language. different dialects and pronounciation hold no ground in determining "correct" language. but grammar to a high degree is important. wait, what am i on about? you know what, ignore me. peace.

 

Just to let you know:
To my knowledge there is no accredited educational institution that gives out doctorates in acupuncture. His degree is most likely from a degree mill.

Having said that, there are places that rquire things like that and it is not unreasonable. It's their place, their rules.

Tomas

 

Absolutely. I do find it strange that the master requires a certain academic performance level from his students, but it's his school, so it's his call. It's also good to have a balanced life in general, and academic performance is part and parcel of that.

Certainly proper grammar is important, since spoken and written language are society's medium of information exchange. Certianly there are others (body language, music, art, etc), but the simple fact is that people will judge you by the way you express yourself, no matter how smart/dumb/nice/outgoing you are. For example, my older sister took great pains to make sure that I could speak without using the rather disctinctive accent that was used where I grew up, and my success is in part related to that. I was taught how to express myself adequately, and it has paid dividends. Thus when your master requires a certain degree of academic achievement, take that as an indication that he cares about his students outside of the dojo or salle. That's a good thing. It's your choice to do it or not, but if the Art is being taught well, then what the heck. Maintaining the highest GPA that you can is good thing in and of itself. It will teach you the discipline you'll need in pursuing the Art and the discipline required just to get through life. It isn't a bad deal, IMO. It can't help but benefit you!

Best regards,

-Mark

 

come on, hes doing the best for you, and being smarter AND a better fighter is certainly no bad thing, and definatly not a bad combination to have...

 

Strange but not absurd

While it may be an alien concept for some to mix academics with martial arts it is not a new concept.

What kind if student would you be if you cannot show your discipline. Maintaining an average shows discipline. If you can't balance your studies (or responsibilites) with your martial arts, which parts of your training are you also neglecting.

Some masters are not interested in making fighters that just whoopass, they're interested in developing people. People that won't whine when they are being told to do something that's good for them.

An absurd requirement would be something like, "Take a hit from everybody before you learn your first lesson, that cultivates humility." Like heck it does. It develops ego for one thing.

Or initiation rituals that do not have a good reason. Running a gauntlet may test prowess and endurance but getting whacked just because everyone else has gone through it is absurd.

 

I happen to be a friggin genius.

 

It's more likely that he has a certificate from a recognized school of accupuncture, and the OP just doesn't know what he's talking about. We have TAI-Sophia right here in our backyard, Tomas.

 

From Takuan to Musashi to Yamamoto, I could quote countless "classic" martial arts masters who placed a high degree of emphasis on education.

 

Three weeks ago, a mid-level color belt in our school who is 16, and VERY good was supended from coming to class for two weeks because he was failing some of his classes...

He came back this week, and was told by our instructor that even though he kept in practice while he was gone, he was going to be unable to attend the World Tournament this coming weekend. because he was on probation.

Our instructor did this knowing that this young man is easily good enough to winn all gold medals in his age group; so I would say your instructor is not alone in his stand on education.

If you're in school, and in MA, you have to be able to do both FULLY.
Balance doesn't just apply to standing and moving on your feet, balance in life is important, too.

 

Perhaps, but when you come onto a forum and post about the absurdity of needing to manitain a 3.8 GPA to train in martial arts and your post is littered with grammatical errors, it makes your argument against said requirements much less compelling!

 

Musashi? I thought he was more or less a wandering bum.

 

He did receive at least a basic education from Buddhist monks, and is obviously possessed of a certain level of native intelligence as he did write the Book of the Five Rings. Also:

It may not have formal in the sense of grades and GPAs, etc, but it was formal in that great warriors were also great at totally unrelated things such as calligraphy, origami, poetry, arts, etc.

 

The same was common in Europe as well. Depending on the time period, knights were expected to be able to dance, and compose poetry, in addition to being skilled warriors.

-Mark

 

I say buck up and do your freaking school work. Why complain about things like that? you joined the school. If you really want a black belt that bad go to another master.

most, if not everyone on here needs to uphold a job (probably full time) and potentially a family at home, they dont complain that they have to go to work, or have to feed their children, or see their wife (ok sometimes we do.) but you learn about the important things as you get older.
MMAWARRIOR's info:
"Biography:
I plan to be the greatest martiall art fighter of all time
Location:
CA
Interests:
watching martial art movies and anything that's has to do with hand to hand combat
Occupation:
martial artist "

About being the greatest martiall... art... fighter.... of all time.... good luck.
about the occupation: do you make money doing this? (aside from kicking kids butts for their lunch money)

Im just telling you that youre complaining too much... maybe you are just a "Can of condensed soup"

 

I'll go along with that comment. Our instructor gets reports from parents and teachers regarding the behaviour and classroom achievment of the junior club members. No specific marks required (AFAIK), but he (a) doesn't want training to be detracting from studying, and (b) doesn't want to be giving skills to children [or adults for that matter] who don't respect those abilities.

 

you sound like a enlish teacher. Or should I say an English teacher.hahahhaha

 

Wahh...my teacher wants me to do my homework...wahh...I'd rather play Halo...wah...school has nothing to do with martial arts...wah...

 

Wow, yaknow, slipthejab has laid into me before... but dude, mmawarrior20, (not even worth the capital letters) Slipthejab has a good point.

(The most ironic thing about this entire post... mmawarrior is complaining about GPA and then we point out he cant spell. Maybe your master is just picking on you.)

 

This is the internet bad grammar is common. Why do some people take it so seriously?