Martial Arts Studies

Hello, this is my first time posting on this forum, but I have been following various posts for the last year.

I am currently working on an Associates Degree from the BYUH (Brigham Young University Hawaii) in Arts and Sciences as well as 2 certificates, one in American Sign Language and Deaf Studies, the other in Intercultural Peacebuilding. I am doing this through their distance learning program, which is fairly inexpensive ($110 per credit hour, with no requirement to buy books)! I'm also working on an application to University of the People for their Associates in Business Administration. I had planed to take the courses from FEMA and transfer to Thomas Edison State College. However, I recently found out the information I was reading was really old, and that they no longer are accepting transfer credits for those courses.

So here I am, trying to figure it out. I'm a martial artist (been studying martial arts since 1999) and am planning on opening my own dojo (School) one day. I figure that I may as well earn my Bachelors Degree in something that I love. And because teaching martial arts is one of my goals, I figure I don't need to get a Bachelors Degree in anything else so why not do a Martial Arts Studies program. I don't need a Bachelors degree at all to teach martial arts (in fact, I don't need anything from anywhere). But, here is my dilemma. I also want to become an American Sign Language Interpreter (for pay), it is my second language and have been volunteer interpreting for the past 3 years for different organizations (with out pay)... Most states now require Interpreters to be RID (Registry for Interpreters of the Deaf) Certified (Tennessee, where I currently live, doesn't yet have this requirement... However, they are looking to adapt this requirement.) Though the requirement to be an interpreter is to have a Bachelors Degree, It does not matter what the degree is in. So... Again... I figure... I may as well get it in something that I love.

I've been looking at Bridgeport University, however, that is so far away, and they don't have a distance learning program! Haha! It is the only accredited school that I have found thus far. I'm wondering if anyone else knows of another school that has some distance learning courses or a school that is accredited that I can earn a Bachelors Degree in Martial Arts Studies. I know about a few other schools that are unaccredited. I don't know if that would matter to RID or not. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I may just be pipe-dreaming here, but a Bachelors Degree in Martial Arts Studies would look really good on my dojo's wall.

 

We have a number odf members who are martial arts practitioners, maybe they'll have some input. Here's an old thread that's an interesting blast from the past.

http://www.degreeinfo.com/off-topic-discussions/38589-martial-arts-disscussion.html

 

If you're looking for associates level coursework that is relatively cheap and will likely transfer to TESC or Excelsior, I would recommend taking a look at PennFoster.

Though they are NA, a significant number of their business, CJ and ECE courses are ACE reviewed.

I noticed recently that a number of the courses now show a future end date (as opposed to saying 2001 - Present). I don't know if this means that PF intends to let their relationship with Ace lapse or if this is standard as the courses approach a certain age and need to be reviewed again.

Still, it would be a fairly easy way to pick up some business courses that have a decent shot at transferring to an RA school. I'm not sure how well University of the People will transfer as I have zero experience with that school.

That's just an aside since you mentioned UPeople.

I'd be interested in seeing what you find out about the bachelors program in martial arts. I wouldn't have thought such a thing would exist. Then again, I doubt I would ever have really thought about it since I'm not a martial artist.

 

I'm not familiar with any distance learning programs in martial arts studies, but Thomas Edison State College and Charter Oak State College will let you design your own degree program under their learner-designed area of study and individualized studies options, respectively. You could possibly complete PLAs for the martial arts courses. The key to this would be to find martial arts courses offered at another college and base your portfolio off of those. Some closely-related options to look for would be physical education and kinesiology.

 

I think that the idea of a degree in Individualized/Interdisciplinary Studies is a good one. Another idea would be to do a search for Physical Education programs (sometimes called Human Performance). Beyond that I think a good case could be made for a standard Bachelors degree in Education. The benefit of this last idea is that there are a lot of them around and you could probably find one nearby, giving you good name recognition in your area.

 

Our children have studied martial arts since 1995 through 2 dojos. We'd still be at the first, except we moved across country. Both schools are independently owned and operated by their sensei. My observation is that the strength of the instructors is martial arts, not business ownership. For that reason, my suggestion is your degree be in business. Some simple marketing, accounting, and management would be an excellent return on investment in my opinion.

 

I must second Jennifer's post.
I've seen far too many dojangs/dojos go out of business that had phenomenal instructors due to poor business decisions.

 

Ditto. The dojang to which I belong today has a great instructor (Grand Master). He was pretty weak on the business side in the early days, but he has surrounded himself with people who are business professionals. These professionals include paid staff as well as student volunteers with great management and accounting backgrounds. The result is a thriving business that now goes beyond martial arts. It includes cardio-kickboxing, dance, academic tutoring, summer camps, etc. The martial arts instruction is still top notch, but now there is a good business plan that is generating lots of new students and lots of new revenue. This allows him to do what he loves, which is to teach martial arts.

 

I'm afraid I'll make the phrase "You know yourself best" my tagline, but I think this is an excellent example of this.

Why do you need a degree?

Do you need more formal business training to help you run your dojo? I don't know. Maybe you don't know either. If you need business training to open a small business, I honestly think the SBA should be your first stop for education. Will a business degree help you in your ability to run your small business? Maybe. It depends on what skills you need to acquire and what the specific business program offers.

SBA Courses are free and they are targeted to specific business objectives. I have a B.S. in Business. It's true, I have courses in management, accounting, marketing, operations management and business law. But my business law course didn't teach me what licenses I needed to open an ice cream shop in Kansas City or what sort of insurance I need to protect myself. My accounting courses were a great overview of accounting. But I wasn't an accounting major so I didn't take any coursework related to tax accounting. So yeah, I have nine credits in accounting, but those courses didn't teach me how to file a corporate tax return.

Business degrees are a great way to broaden your business knowledge. However, the education itself is just that, broad.

Are you an awesome business person? Maybe you just want the degree to adorn your wall? Then that's going to suggest more of the other focuses such as physical education or a self-designed learning plan.

 

I agree with the above. I'm almost finished with a BSBA, but wouldn't know where to start to open up a small business without doing additional research concerning state laws and local ordinances.

 

Hi Adam, I'm a long time martial artist myself, but only a hobbyist. I toyed with the idea of teaching, but ultimately it's not my passion and I'm not particularly talented. My background is 21 years in Chinese systems (Wing Chun, Shaolin, and various styles of Taiji). I mention all this so you know that a): you might be more knowledgable than me, and therefore take my opinion with a grain of salt, and b): our styes (and therefore interests / goals may differ).

I thought about a bachelors in MA a long time ago but ultimately decided against it. There were a couple of reasons, one of which was that it would be difficult to do as I don't live anywhere near a university that offers a BA / B.Sc in MA. Another reason, though, was that it's not an industry norm - that is, not having a degree in MA won't hold you back at all - you can do everything without it that you could with it. So its utility is literally nil. I don't really see this changing - I'm not sure university level MA studies will ever be beneficial for anyone (in the sense of utility - if it's just for personal pleasure, then that's your call). I also don't really see what an MA degree offers that you couldn't get elsewhere for less, in terms of knowledge and skill.

If I were you and I was focussed on studying martial arts at the university level, I would probably analyse what my MA goals were, and pick a degree that was likely to give me beneficial knowledge and marketing skills relating to that area. Do you want to train professional or semi-professional fighters? Do you want to get a deeper understanding of the history or philosophy behind traditional martial arts and teach that? Do you want to run a successful business with lots of kids classes?

In all of the above, degrees in physical education, physiology or anatomy, history or philosophy (with relevant specifications) or even religious studies (if, like me, your practise includes numerous Buddhist and Taoist philosophical constructs), would probably offer you more in terms of knowledge and marketability. And, as a poster said above, a TESC or similar degree would offer you the ability to tailor your degree in history or whatever towards martial arts.

 

Get your bachelor's degree in something that will not cost you arm and a leg and will qualify you to work as an ASL interpreter. Then, do the one year study abroad program here: IBUQBudo Specialization Program

I assure you, that certificate will look good enough.

I also agree what others said about getting a degree that will be transferable into other fields, like business administration, or accounting.