For a very long time I have been pursuing the goal of gaining academic recognition for the martial arts. This goal is to put martial arts above the typical role as a one credit P.E. activity course within the university setting. This was the case as I taught at Hamline University for 15 years. Many times students commented about the class being the hardest one credit class taken. In 2013 I had the opportunity to work with an emerging university. I was asked to help write the curriculum for their Parks & Recreation/Non-profit Management program.
This included P.E. courses and, once they learned my background, eight courses in each Korean Karate (Song Moo Kwan) and Haidong Gumdo. Once all curriculum was prepared, the approval from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education was sought and achieved. The fortunate aspect of this approval was that the martial arts courses were approved as 3 credits, rather than the single credit. This is how I have believed that the martial arts should be considered. This is very different from the current trends and marketing of the martial arts.
The desire to earn academic recognition will take effort and time. The time portion is to get our society to view martial arts with the value it truly has! Toward this end, I’ve joined the Institute of Martial Arts & Sciences (IMAS). This is a professional institute that is working toward the academic recognition deserved. Feel free to contact me (see below) with questions. Also, check out the IMAS website.
Author: Master Robert Frankovich
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