Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
If there were a TCMA program for school kids, which style/system would it be? And how would the school know what the standards are? If there were a school TKD group, there are clear ways to check the credentials of the prospective teacher, if he/she is certified by the WTF (not the Internet acronym) or whatever. TCMA are different. In many instances, the only way to vet a CMA teacher is for him to really demonstrate his knowledge and skill. How could school officials be made to understand or accept that, or even what that would entail?

Again, which style? Or would there be a watered-down, simplified, generic system developed specifically for schools? Kind of like what happened around the 1930s, when karate was introduced to school children in Japan; the methods were modified/simplified for mass consumption, with certain martial aspects deleted from the curriculum.

It would have to be clear that there are no religious connotations to it. North of where I live, there is a high-income school district that incorporated a yoga program for children, and there was a legal issue brought up by Christian parents convinced that the yoga program was teaching their kids 'Eastern values' contrary to their religion. Even though the school district and the kids themselves stated there was no religious indoctrination going on.
style - who cares? the more the merrier, I'd say. let's say I have 3 schools and I teach them bak mei. at my other three schools I have someone teaching them southern mantis. at two other schools, I have someone teaching shuai chiao. that makes for an awesome mass demo for the parents and the schools. look at aftercare programs in schools now. for example in my city, there are programs that teach African dance, some teaching hip hop, some teaching zumba. doesn't matter what they are teaching and the students could really care less. they are doing something different, they are being active and many of those kids are getting exposure to other cultures and things they ordinarily would not have said exposure to. I was teaching cma. there are several schools here with people teaching tkd and karate.

in terms of legitimacy of the instructor, there would need to be someone qualified to determine that if it were going to be a city wide, state wide, etc program.

watered down can be a relative term and also would depend on the instructor. I wouldn't show them breaking applications and probably not locks. that is common - in judo kids are not allowed to arm bar either. it's a safety precaution. you aren't going to be teaching them an entire system, there isn't enough time. you don't have to water anything down, though. I can teach kids all of the punches, blocks, kicks, etc. explain basic principles and then show them a basic form. with only a couple of hours per week, a few months out of the year, that may be the most you get. kids that are involved multiple semesters will learn more. but they can all have a decent grasp of basics and learning a form gives them something to achieve.

I agree with you on conveying the lack of religious connotation, however, I never had a single parent ask me about it. I thought that was odd.