Remember when phones were black, ice cream came in two flavours, vanilla or chocolate and bathtubs were white?
Well for those who don’t. You can’t be more than thirty years if age. It wasn’t all that long ago that we lived in a world where our choices were limited to ‘either this’ or ‘that’… and in many instances there simply was no choice at all. In the 40s there was boxing or wrestling, in the 50’s we saw judo, in the 60’s Karate, in the 70’s Kung Fu and Taekwondo; then in the 80’s the floodgates opened and we had choice as we have never known it before… virtually hundreds or hitherto unheard of systems and styles hit the marketplace.
Now we are into the 90’s and have undeniably moved from an either/or orientated society to one of multiple choice. And, by the way it isn’t over yet!
There are ice-cream parlours in America today where you can muse over and sample more than three hundred and fifty flavours, provided you have the time, the money . . . and the inclination. And as far as the martial arts phenomenon is concerned . . . the choice is far, far greater still.
Children, even young adults now find it hard to imagine a world without choice . . . they will only ever shop in a multiple option marketplace, they will only enrol in multiple option courses, they will only negotiate on a multiple option basis. Who would subscribe to a broadcasting network that only offered one channel for viewing?
Within ten years you’ll be hard-pressed to find the household without a multi-function-function communications/information network that’ll provide the viewer with a choice of more than a hundred channels; many of which will offer specialized programs based on ideas and concepts that we have yet to even think of. The either/or environment will be a forgotten relic of the industrial age; indeed, people will look back in future generations and wonder at how we survived at all. Think of what this means to the martial artist of tomorrow; and don’t forget, that’s just a few years down the track!
For prospective students the options will allow for a far more tailored program suited to personal needs. Tomorrow’s student will no longer feel like just one of so many sheep being herded into the conformist pen, the shape-up or ship-out option will still exist but it will be only one of many alternatives available.
The martial artist of the new millennium will celebrate diversity much as those of the sixties and seventies celebrated traditionalism and conformity.
As far as tomorrow’s instructor is concerned, he/she will be required to provide a multiple option environment within the studio/club/gym and/or curriculum/syllabus. In short, the student of the future will expect nothing less!
Instructors will have to become more flexible in their approach. And be highly skilled in tailoring the curriculum/syllabus to the students needs. The like-it or lump-it attitude will simply not measure up to the demands of the market. This or course can be either a grim or an exciting picture of the future, depending on how flexible one is in their thinking.
Nevertheless. …there is no turning back evolution and social change; the momentum of such is only just beginning to pick up. In effect we are sitting quietly musing over the ripples when just beyond the horizon, the tidal wave is thundering shoreward.
John B. Will,
