Originally posted by bloodwood
Dan stated in his opening post to start this thread, "I'm putting my butt out here on the line."
When something as controversial as the Professor Title is at the heart of the discussion people tend to get quite passionate about what they say. Dan opened this can of worms all by himself so let the posts fall where they will. If that's the way the Lady feels, So be it. Lady Presas has made only 3 posts and most are on this subject. It she felt strongly enough about this to come foreword, then give the lady her right to speak her mind.
Dear Bloodwood,
No one has suggested that Lady Presas, should not speak her mind... if that has occured I missed it within this thread... please clarify the matter and quote the source.
Lady Presas wrote on 2-16-2003
"I attended most of Professor Presas' seminars in the years' immediately preceding his retirement. The majority of the people called him "Professor". Not to be rude, but I don't recall seeing you at any of these seminars, so how could you possibly know how the people addressed him?"
My objection is was specificly limited to:
"... but I don't recall seeing you at any of these seminars..."
And I believe that I clearly stated that position in my post. This has almost become a 'mantra' and some variant of it appears in almost every thread. Count the years that Professor taught in the USA - 26; count the number of possible weekends for seminars and camps - 1352 - and it becomes obvious that no one aside from Professsor was at ALL of the CAMPS and SEMINARS!!
The use of that arguement has worn exceedingly thin, it is without merit!! If one has to predicate their position on who saw whom at how many seminars/camps, then they are either very lazy or they do not have a good arguement to offer!!
I am, however, in agreement with Lady Presas' basic premise regardinng the use of the term "professor" within the Modern Arnis context. I wrote the following on 1-24-2003:
"The matter of using the title "professor" is not as simple. The major problem stems from the fact that the title and the man are so closely linked in terms of the art that it is difficult for some people to seperate the two things - the title and the man. This is a function of Remy Presas being the founder and grand master as well as Remy Presas, the man having a magnificantly giant personality... he was charismatic... he was Modern Arnis.... he was THE PROFESSOR!! Therefore many Modern Arnis activists find it is difficult, if not impossible, to have someone else, anyone else, using the title without seeing that person as a usurper of the late Professor's crown!!! That is why everyone who has attempted to use the title within Modern Arnis has come under constant fire from those within the ranks... in effect the critics are saying 'I knew the real Professor and you ain't him!'"
Lady Presas, has said essentially the same thing. Her message has not been censored, nor has anyone told her that she can't object to Dan using the title. She can. She has. And I offered a suggestion to Dan, "Senior Head Master". He declined to accept my suggestion. He is well within his right to do so and I am not offended in the least.
I am simply tired of reading that ridiculous statement about not seeing someone at the seminars and camps that another person attended. Has it ever occured to all of you who have made that statement, that Modern Arnis was taught at seminars and camps by Professor? So, if one attended 5 seminars and 2 camps a year, the most that you could have trained with Professor was 14 - 19 days a year. Who were you studying Modern Arnis with the rest of the time? And what if you only went to one seminar and one camp per year? The maximum time for training with Professor was now only 7 days for that year. Who were you training with when Professor was not available to you the other 358 days of that year?
This is why the 2003 Modern Arnis International Symposium is important to us all. We have the opportunity to meet, work with, hold discussions with some of those people who were and are the backbone of the Modern Arnis System!!! Professor may have been the heart, but the skeletal framework was provided by the people who labored day in and day out teaching the art from beginners to blackbelt! I want to honor the system, the founder and the instructors at the Symposium.
I do not believe that it is in Dan's best long term interest to insist on using the title within a Modern Arnis context, but that is entirely his decision to make. That is the way it is and nothing is going to alter that bit of reality. Both Lady Presas and I, along with many others have expressed our opinions on both sides of the matter, but it still goes back to Dan for the final decision.
Just my thoughts on this matter.
Jerome Barber, Ed.D.
:rofl: 
