Did you write a Black Belt thesis?

[Marginal]

When I think of community service the first thing that comes to mind is seeing those guys in orange vests along the side of the freeway picking up trash.

Could you give examples of the types of community service the hopefuls at your dojo have done?

Some actually do pick up trash along the highway. Other options include donating time to an animal shelter, march of dimes, doing meals on wheels, donating blood etc. (First BB test, I built a web site for a local non profit.)

 

[Aniela13]

For my 1st black in EPAK, my instructor gave us the option of writing a thesis, creating a set of techniques with a specific theme (one guy did a lot of shop work, so he made a set using shop tools), or creating a form (another created a form by grafting techniques together); I wrote my thesis on the different types of take-down techniques in the system and why the different types exist/are used. I think it was about 15 pages when I finished! :ultracool

 

[YoungMan]

All of our 1st Dan testers are required to compose a three page essay to test, usually along the lines of "What Taekwondo means to me" or "Why I want to be a black belt".
Our first class of masters had to write a 20 page paper abouth their thoughts and ideas about Taekwondo. Those would have been interesting to read.

 

[Brian S]

What is the purpose of a thesis? I never put a whole lot of thought into it, but our school never required it.

I find it that mostlt TKD schools require a blackbelt thesis.

 

[chinto]

actually from about 7th kyu you have to do a paper for each testing.. at 7th kyu its not less then 100 words .. any thing on karate... and each rank it goes up.

i think this is not a bad thing at all... and have done each paper turned it in the day before the testing was scheduled.

 

[Korppi76]

I havent wrote thesis. I heard it might have required 20 years ago.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I know that my EPAK instructor required a written, 3 page thesis from each student who was testing for black. The topic was to be something along the lines of What I Learned from Kenpo Karate, or How Kenpo Karate has Affected My Life. Sadly, I was never able to read any of them myself but given the different ages and backgrounds in the dojo I'm certain it would have been very interesting stuff.

I'm assuming a thesis is not uncommon for testing for black? What guidelines do your senseis give for topic and length?

It might be interesting to read some of your theses, if anybody would be kind enough to share them with MT. Perhaps some of you would post your thesis here?

I have had to write one for each dan rank that I have achieved (two in kumdo, one in taekwondo). I consider it to be a good idea: blackbelts are supposed to show a level of maturity beyond being mere technicians. If one wishes to be a technician and nothing more, they really don't need to test for black. Having a deeper understanding of the art is as important as one's ability to fight, which is very, very important. Fighting and understanding make up the foundation of what a black belt should be.

Daniel

 

[Grenadier]

We require a two page essay at every dan rank.

When someone tests for shodan or nidan, the questions are:

What does being a yudansha in the organization mean to you?

and

What are your goals?

As someone progresses in rank, though, the questions change, and require a lot more thought. This is something that requires years of experience to answer, and really makes the candidates think.

It's really interesting to go back and read what someone has written for his shodan and nidan exams, and then compare it to what he wrote in his sandan essay, since you'll probably see an interesting development in character as the more recent essays are perused.

 

[rmclain]

There is a minimum 10 page thesis requirement for each dan rank in Chayon-Ryu. Grandmaster Kim Soo assigns the individual topic to each person.

R. McLain