Black Belt Essay

[tigycho]

I have seen dozens of people mention, in passing, that they had to write some sort of essay as partial fulfillment of their black belt requirements.

This makes me curious about these essays. I think it would be interesting to hear from y'all about yours.

If you have ever had to write one:

1 - Did you get to choose the topic, or was it assigned?
2 - Was there a length requirement?
3 - What was the nature of the essay? Personal reflection? Research paper? Something else?
4 - Would you share it for others to ponder?

 

[MJS]

I have seen dozens of people mention, in passing, that they had to write some sort of essay as partial fulfillment of their black belt requirements.This makes me curious about these essays. I think it would be interesting to hear from y'all about yours.If you have ever had to write one:1 - Did you get to choose the topic, or was it assigned? 2 - Was there a length requirement?3 - What was the nature of the essay? Personal reflection? Research paper? Something else?4 - Would you share it for others to ponder?

1) Yes, I got to choose the topic, as long as it was related to the martial arts. I did mine on Kenpo.2) Yes, and I dont recall the exact length. It had to be a set number of pages.3) I researched Ed Parker4) Sure.

 

[Blindside]

Our group never had that requirement, but I prepared for my "interview" stage of my test by writing a five page document outlining all the things that I thought the system needed to focus on or improve, and I handed it out when the question came up on the test. Lets just say that me doing that made my test significantly longer....

 

[Dirty Dog]

I have seen dozens of people mention, in passing, that they had to write some sort of essay as partial fulfillment of their black belt requirements.

This makes me curious about these essays. I think it would be interesting to hear from y'all about yours.

If you have ever had to write one:

1 - Did you get to choose the topic, or was it assigned?
2 - Was there a length requirement?
3 - What was the nature of the essay? Personal reflection? Research paper? Something else?
4 - Would you share it for others to ponder?

I was given two tasks. One was to write a short reflective essay and the other was to develop a tool to help students learning new forms. This was originally envisioned as a simple instruction set, i.e. "Turn left 90 degrees to a left front stance and do a left low block" but turned into a 268 page textbook, with information about TKD in general, our program in particular, and photo-instructions for the 3 Kicho forms, 8 Palgwe, 8 Taegeuk, Koryo, Keumgang and Taebaek. I stopped there because the book was getting too big. Next project is a DVD to go with it...

 

[oftheherd1]

Our group never had that requirement, but I prepared for my "interview" stage of my test by writing a five page document outlining all the things that I thought the system needed to focus on or improve, and I handed it out when the question came up on the test. Lets just say that me doing that made my test significantly longer....

LOL

I never had to do any such thing in Hapkido. I think that was reserved for the Master and Grand Master ranks.

 

[puunui]

I was given two tasks. One was to write a short reflective essay and the other was to develop a tool to help students learning new forms. This was originally envisioned as a simple instruction set, i.e. "Turn left 90 degrees to a left front stance and do a left low block" but turned into a 268 page textbook, with information about TKD in general, our program in particular, and photo-instructions for the 3 Kicho forms, 8 Palgwe, 8 Taegeuk, Koryo, Keumgang and Taebaek. I stopped there because the book was getting too big. Next project is a DVD to go with it...

How can I purchase a copy of your book?

 

[puunui]

If you have ever had to write one:

1 - Did you get to choose the topic, or was it assigned?
2 - Was there a length requirement?
3 - What was the nature of the essay? Personal reflection? Research paper? Something else?
4 - Would you share it for others to ponder?

One of the Kukkiwon requirements for 6th Dan and above candidates is a ten page paper on any subject dealing with taekwondo. I've shared one of my essays on here, which involves alternate explanations for the Kukkiwon yudanja poomsae.

 

[K-man]

I can't remember the topic of my essay for Shodan but it was about 2 pages. For Nidan the topic was "Girl" and again about 2 pages. Now that I've changed to a marginally different style and mentality, I haven't required it for my guys.

 

[Dirty Dog]

How can I purchase a copy of your book?

PM me your address and I'll send you a copy. You and I may disagree on some issues (primarily things that are, I think, as much a matter of opinion or viewpoint at anything) but I would value your feedback.

 

[Jason Striker II]

Way back in 1977 when I tested for Shodan (Shotokan), we didn’t have to write an essay; today, however, the Dojo I head does require it (I “merely” had to submit to an oral exam by my Sensei- took about 30 min.s and was pretty rough.)

About the essay we require now, 1) the topic is chosen by the candidate, but must be approved by the instructor, 2) length is 500 words minimum. There is also a written exam consisting of 10 short-answer questions based on a reading list (the reading list started when the student was a green belt). [FONT=&amp]As a long-time Sensei and English teacher, I am generally not too impressed with the quality of these essays (i.e. in content or grammar), but most candidates manage to scrape by with the required 75%[/FONT]