The above phrase is an old Latin phrase.  It asks...who will watch the watchers?  It is an age old question.  The martial arts, which used to be about building character have become about many other things.  They have become a business, a sport, a recreational activity, and have even been referred to as an industry.  All of this has undermined the traditional basis of the arts as an individual path to self mastery.  Moreover, this path to self mastery used to be about humbling ourselves to follow a teacher of the Way.  The Way used to be in the training...now it is in the talking.  In fact, this is evident in the bad behaviors of Black Belts today.  Many are arrogant, self centered, and disrespectful.  They seek after societal recognition through any means possible.  Not satisfied with being a Grandmaster?  No problem....you can be a “Supreme” Grandmaster.  I suppose that this is similar to a taco supreme...a Grandmaster with sour cream.  I much prefer the Kenpo term of a Senior Grandmaster to the notion of all out supremacy.  However, the absurdity to which this self aggrandizement rises is astonishing.  Lately it has become fashionable for one “noted” martial artist to award the title “Ph.D.”  to those who attend his “Martial Arts University” which is, of course, not accredited.  This dishonorable man essentially sells the title of Ph.D. to those willing to boost their self esteem and their public esteem at the cost of a few hundred dollars.  Let us put aside the fact that this is perpetuating a fraud upon the public and that it is illegal to confer this degree without the recognition of the state.  It is immoral and unethical to do so.

    Let us examine for a moment what is required to become a Ph.D.  in the real academic world.  First, you must attain a Bachelor’s degree and then a Master of Arts or Master of Science Degree.  In some programs it is possible to enter the Ph.D. program directly.  This was true of my alma mater.  However, along the way, once you meet the criteria for it, you may apply to be awarded the Master of Arts Degree.  At any rate, there is a certain amount of course work to be taken...usually about 60 credits of course work in three separate areas of specialization.  Once you have finished the course work, you must then pass the oral examinations.  Then you must pass the written examinations.  Then you must write a dissertation prospectus, which is a summary of the problem you wish to do original research on, and how you propose to do so.  Then you must defend it in front of your assembled committee.  Once the dissertation committee approves the project, then you write the book length manuscript which is the dissertation.  At this stage you are admitted to candidacy by the Graduate College of your institution.  Then you must defend the completed dissertation before your committee and generally the entire college or university.  After all of these steps are completed, you walk at graduation and are “hooded” as a Doctor.  I am intimately familiar with this process since I walked through every stage.  It took years to complete.  The last phony Ph.D. I spoke with bragged about his completion of a 12 page research paper.  Congratulations!  You have just completed a segment of the requirements from my 101 undergraduate survey course which I teach.  This absurdity is just one of many that have befallen the martial arts community. 

    One reason for this I feel is our descent into becoming an industry.  Members of the martial arts community have sought this self aggrandizement because of our descent into commercialism.  The commercial world is a competitive world in which the legitimate and humble martial artist often loses revenue to slick marketing, impressive sounding credentials, and impressive sounding titles.  Moreover, those dishonorable men will attempt to steal students, slander, and libel the legitimate master who is usually unwilling to respond to such indignities by stooping to the level of those who resort to such tactics.  But, make no mistake, it is commercialism that is the enemy.  Would the incivility between martial artists of different styles and even among various styles have cropped up if there was no profit motive?  I think not.  I do not condemn payment for lessons...the laborer is worthy of his hire.  However, there is a point where it becomes a bridge too far.

    When the instructor makes his decisions based on whether it enhances the commercial viability of his school, then he has sold his allegiance, usually cheaply, to the god of money.  There is no decision in my Kwoon made on this basis.  Testing decisions are made based on who has earned the opportunity.  Standards at my Kwoon are based on the skills that we demand for each level, measured against student progress toward that objective.  When I counsel a student, I tell them what they need to do and need to hear, not what they want to hear.  I stand proudly as a Sifu, not as a businessman.  I have been here for over 18 years.  Obviously there is a place for what I do.  There are those who suggest that there is a place for the “commercial” schools as well.  There are those who defend such commercialism.  I fail to see how you can call someone your student when you have 500 such “students” and cannot name one of them!  How can any of them be your students if you do not know who they are?  I run a Kwoon, and not a business...a school of traditional martial arts!  And I am proud to do so.  I am also humbled by my place in the great chain of being that stretches back hundreds of years...like my Sifu before me, I am a Sifu.  It is my obligation and responsibility to stand in the gap and guard the standards of my art and my teachers who have gone before me!  I do it willingly and proudly, compromising nothing in the process.    

    It does frustrate me at times that the general public is so ignorant about what makes a great school and what skill really is.  They seem swayed by the slick marketing, the impressive sounding credentials and the phony titles.  But, when these titles are unearned, do they really mean anything at all?  Further, who is willing to call someone out for such things?  The fraud who is perpetuating this Ph.D. fraud is himself a “noted” black belt.   Who will watch the watchers? 

    The creation of “new” systems that are founded by those who lack the credentials to found them is another problem that we in the martial arts world face.  One such founder, claimed a 3rd Degree Black Belt in his made up Japanese system.  He claimed that he was combining Shorin-Ryu and Shotokan.  Now we look to his qualifications.  He had earned a 5th Kyu in both systems...so he had not even made it to Black Belt himself!  Let alone being qualified to found a system by being noted as a Master Instructor in the two arts that he sought to combine.  

    Just the other day, I had a “black belt” in Kickboxing come into my school.  Kickboxing...is not even a martial arts system acknowledged by anyone.  Yet this young man claimed rank in it.  He also informed me of the “kickboxing organizations” that conferred it.  Clearly he had no knowledge of how little legitimacy he had in the martial arts world.  Confucius is right when he states that “ignorance is the night of the mind...but it is a night without moon or stars.”  I truly feel sorry for this young man.  No matter how talented he might be, he will never be a Black Sash or Black Belt in anything legitimate.  His parting comment to me was an offer to teach me something...lucky me.

    Still, regardless of how we might feel about our respective systems, it is imperative that we respect the other legitimate systems taught and also the legitimate teachers behind them.   In other words, we must be civil.  Should we reject this notion, then the Martial Way, which many of us still revere,  will die.