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PizDoff
2/12/2005 12:26am,
AHAHAHA! No.



Philadelphia May Host America's Toughest High School

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Next week the School Reform Commission will announce the approved charter school applications.
Among applicants, one stands to champion school reform in Philadelphia: Zhang Sah Charter High School. If approved, Zhang Sah (Korean for "brave scholar") will be the nation's first and only martial arts-themed charter school.

According to project co-leaders Salvatore J. Sandone and Joel DiBartolomeo, Jr. the need for such innovation in secondary education is long overdue.

In the proposed charter, students in grades 6-12 will train daily in several martial art styles. They will take required Theory classes whose purpose is to teach both the history and philosophy behind traditional martial arts. These elements will augment the rigorous academic curriculum derived from a project-based, cooperative learning model.

Teachers will participate in ongoing and extensive professional development, including collaborative Japanese Lesson Study. They too will train in martial arts alongside students, with accomplished black belts filling instructor roles. In this way, a special bond will develop between students and teachers since both will be striving for perfection of character, the ultimate goal of martial arts.

Located at 1421 Arch Street in the heart of Center City, the facility, a converted YMCA, will provide optimal accommodations: a half-sized Olympic swimming pool, indoor track, and gymnasiums to suit martial arts training in addition to interscholastic sports.

The student to staff ratio, where staff comprises teachers and teacher aides, will be 16:1, a number rivaling private institutions.

Every classroom will be equipped with five computers to aid computer literacy and facilitate communication between teachers and parents. In foreign language, Spanish and Chinese will be offered. For visual arts education, Fleischer Art Memorial has signed on as a community partner. The school's disciplinary code will follow a restorative rather than punitive model.

Above all, Zhang Sah will be a community school, featuring a school store and cafe open to the public. During evening hours the facility plans to be open; during summer, day programs will run. Year round, community-wide ceremonies will be held for students advancing in belt rank. Governance structure for the school will include active youth and school councils, a home and school association, and the school board.

Zhang Sah Charter School will educate the bodies and strengthen the minds of young Philadelphians.

About Us: Gold Medal Karate t/a Zhang Sah Martial Arts Salvatore J. Sandone, President 530 Bainbridge Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 Phone: (215)923-6676 Website: http://www.zhang-sah.org/

CONTACT: Salvatore J. Sandone, President of Gold Medal Karate t/a ZhangSah Martial Arts, +1-215-923-6676

Web site: http://www.zhang-sah.org/





http://www.zhang-sah.org/
Hey look! Ninja Fu!!!

MEGA JESUS-SAMA
2/12/2005 12:33am,
Hahaha, "toughest". They'll still be a punch of pansy teenagers.


In foreign language, Spanish and Chinese will be offered.

Latin is t3h d34dly. If Latin and Chinese got into a fight, Latin would totally win.

Equipoise
2/12/2005 12:38am,
I'd have loved to have done this, the only problem though is the lack of other fields of study. I mean great, Martial Arts highschool, but this isn't feudal Japan. What's going to happen when these kids want to go to college or is this going to be a school for troubled teens in which people are going to fund BEH children to learn to hurt people. Spectacular.

Wounded Ronin
2/12/2005 2:08am,
What a weird idea. But I'll bet that this school does better overall than most public schools just because most public schools are in a very sorry state.

MEGALEF
2/12/2005 2:24am,
They will take required Theory classes whose purpose is to teach both the history and philosophy behind traditional martial arts

No anatomy, or anything to explain why joints break if you do certain things to them?

lifetime
2/12/2005 7:00am,
It's not such a new idea. Korea's Yong-In university is Korea's premier martial arts training academy and students there undertake top-level Judo and TKD instruction daily.

Zing!
2/12/2005 1:20pm,
http://www.zhang-sah.org/

I can't believe they actually teach something called Ninja-Fu.

Wounded Ronin
2/12/2005 2:43pm,
Ninja-fu sounds as bad as shaolin-do, from the perspective of mixing up languages.

Equipoise
2/12/2005 2:49pm,
Similar to my favorite.. Mexican Lasagna...

lifetime
2/13/2005 1:00am,
Come to think of it, Martial Arts High School is starting to sound like a really really bad made-for-TV movie.