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Old 04-13-2006, 07:33 AM   #22
aikidoc
Dojo: Aikido of Midland
Location: Midland Texas
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,652
United_States
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Re: Watch Out for Aikido 'Shihans'..........

This level of misrepresentation is ,as pointed out, about the almighty buck. I know of one situation where the instructor is teaching a credit college class. Unfortunately, the college does not realize or fails to check out anything other than a credential most likely made up by the instructor. I've thoroughly checked the person out based on claims made and I have been unable to even substantiate that his instructor even exists. I even tried mailing everyone I could find with the same last name to see if they heard of the instructor's instructor. Zero.

What is unfortunate is the college students are coming away thinking they learned aikido. Most could not even roll after 1 or 2 semesters of college "aikido". Having lived in Southern California for years and attending a lot of seminars, I have seen a lot of different styles. If this guy's style is not either out of a book or jiu jitsu or some techniques learned in hapkido then I would be amazed. If he was told it was aikido, he was duped. If he was, I do feel sorry for him and his students. However, the college is being either intentionally or unintentionally defrauded. What is even worse, is he is not even qualified by degree to teach given the colleges own criteria (requires a bachelor's degree). He is riding on the credentials of someone else. Another element of fraud.

Unfortunately, the legal ramifications make it difficult to do anything about it. With modern computers, people can print up fancy looking certificates and fake about anything.

Last edited by aikidoc : 04-13-2006 at 07:36 AM.