Would you compare mastering a martial art to completing a PHD

Not unless you invent your own branch of Martial Arts or provide significant contributions to one.
 
Fight Professor said:
Not unless you invent your own branch of Martial Arts or provide significant contributions to one.
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This is the right answer.

A Ph.D necessitates a novel contribution to a discipline.

Not mere mastery of established knowledge.
 
It's different. A PhD is not simply about mastery, is about finding a research project that amounts to a significant contribution to a field of study, You must also show you have substantive knowledge of the canon, but you essentially have to do something that hasn't been done.
 
Your PhD program must have been a joke.
Either way, in the same way becoming a PhD does not mean you know everything, I do not think you can master a martial art. There are always new things to learn and perfect, new challenges and weaknesses. Both are difficult and to remain relevant at either you can't ever stop working.
 
nately said:
Getting a black belt is much, much easier. I think the average person would have an easier time becoming a black belt than getting an "A" in a college Calculus course. Sports are much easier than academics or playing a musical instrument. Sports don't require the same concentration, they are less boring, and they are more rewarding (more dopamine).

Think of these things as being on a spectrum:

Having sex
Practicing a sport
Practicing an instrument
Studying math

Our brains are wired to reward physical activities and things that increase our reproductive success.
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I agree with most of what you said but getting an A in a college calculus course is extremely trivial.
 
Fuck no.

BJJ black belt takes about 7-10 years with 3 or 4 classes a week for an hour or 2 per class.

A PhD takes about 20 years of school with some of that being 7-9 hours a day.
 
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Depends on the PhD. A PhD in gender studies doesn't mean much. A PhD is STEM field is impressive. Same holds true for black belts. Some are worthless; some are impressive.
 
Steven_Universe said:
In terms of study.

Getting a BJJ black belt for instance.

I would say that it actually takes a lot more training and discipline than becoming a doctor.

I’d probably compare it to becoming a surgeon.
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Wow
 
If 10 of BJJ is like a PHD then 10 years of Sambo is a PHD from Harvard- because if Sambo was easy it would be called Jiu-Jitsu ( FACT)
 
Training is easy, and enjoyable for me. Easy in the sense that I would do it gladly. I don't think mastering a martial art is anything comparable to earning a PhD, not even close really. But that's just my uneducated opinion, I've never been particularly scholarly.
 
Getting my degree was far harder than obtaining my black belt, solely because as others have mentioned I enjoyed training and the physical rewards and studying with dyslexia sucks. I will say though the work ethic learned from going through the training/grading process did help out loads while I studied
 
I will tell you after obtaining my eventual PHD..
 
HumanSandwich said:
If you were to cut out all the extraneous horseshit universities impose that don't contribute a rimjob to the discipline you're hypothetically studiyng, then a bjj black belt would probably take comparable work and dedication. But with all the blah blah blah that is necessary in academia, a PhD is more work. Just my opinion.
Source: bjj purple belt and 3rd year PhD candidate
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As I was getting my MBA, I contemplated continuing to get my PhD (I have some experience with tutoring as a profession, and have been offered an adjunct faculty position in the past, so I proved my aptitude for instruction), and he told me "[real name], you think you will learn more, but you don't. You research and write a paper proving to them that you belong in their little club."

I don't like that type of bullshit/politics garbage, so I passed on that.
 
Steven_Universe said:
In terms of study.

Getting a BJJ black belt for instance.

I would say that it actually takes a lot more training and discipline than becoming a doctor.

I’d probably compare it to becoming a surgeon.
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First, you need to consider the martial art. A black belt in BJJ is pretty tough. A black belt in Karate, not so much.

Either way, though, there's a sort of "natural selection" that takes place on the path to a PhD that is waaaaaay more severe than anything that happens in the journey to a black belt in MMA.

About 10% of undergrads are honours students with the chops to become MA students. From there, you're probably down to about 25% remaining of the 10% that make it into a PhD program. You're down to 4% now. Then you cut that in half at the comprehensive exam (which is pretty brutal when you consider that these are people who have never failed at anything in their lives) and then cut it in half again in the process of writing and passing the dissertation (which is also pretty incredible when you consider that these are people who have never failed to complete anything academically in their entire lives). So f the people interested enough in the subject area to stick with it for four years and get a degree, you have about 1%, at most, getting the PhD.

With most martial arts, if you stick with them long enough, and put in the hours, you're going to give yourself a very good opportunity to achieve that black belt eventually.
 
IngaVovchanchyn said:
Depends on the PhD. A PhD in gender studies doesn't mean much. A PhD is STEM field is impressive. Same holds true for black belts. Some are worthless; some are impressive.
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And what exactly do you know about the current state of academic research in gender studies to make that kind of claim?
 
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