Failing as an Instructor

**nasty_totoro** · Posted On: 11/26/2004 4:04am

twas a dojo of light and a dojo of darkness ...

the point being missed here is that there are 2 americas ... one of status and the other of results ...

one america believes in what you can do ... that is it matters not who your are, what your rank/education/background is ... etc ... can you do the job ... yes or no ... and in this case its a matter of fighting ...

the other america believes in who your are, what degrees/belts you hold, how much seniority you have in your job ... regardless of your actual performance ...

both americas exists ... and both are being catered to ...

THATS why america is the land of the biggest bullshido/mcdojos ... AND ... some of the best modern fighting/training systems and schools ...

f-ck im glad im not in calgary ... its cold enough in the land of yummy sushi as it is ...

**Bang!** · Posted On: 11/26/2004 4:09am

Dodged a bullet, eh? Today was the first official cold day in T.O. If I were back in Calgary, I'd probably want to put myself in an oven.

Your point is well taken.

It's too bad that people can't look past credentials to see what a person actually has to offer.

**nasty_totoro** · Posted On: 11/26/2004 4:15am

ahhh ... but if i was running a business ... id DEFINATELY give out belts to at least a reasonable degree ... for the retention and self-achievement factors ...

mankind is a social animal based on hierarchy ... it pays, literally, to reinforce that sometimes ...

**Onecardshort** · Posted On: 11/26/2004 4:51am

One point that hasn't been brought up yet (I think) is that it can be easy when running a semi-isolated dojo to get into a situation where you over-value a rank and raise the bar far beyond what you yourself had to pass. While I'm all for maintaining consistent standards, I have seen this type of grade creep happen before and can be caused by many factors, but the standard one is that the main instructor has got detached from what the grade should mean.

As an instructor, you have an obligation to teach, teach well and promote only on ability. But, your standards should be consistent across the years and not affected by some sort of half-arsed competition with the dojo down the road or even by a biased view of ability caused by your own "veteran" students.

**Wounded Ronin** · Posted On: 11/26/2004 4:38pm

Originally Posted by j416to

Yes, obviously you're correct. Graduating black belt in only a few short years, with 2 hrs a week training, is garbage. But so is only graduating a few black belts in a lifetime. A 1st level black belt is only an acknowledgement that they can teach the beginners, not open their own schools. To do that they would have to have been awarded a higher level black belt, something like 4th or 5th.

I don't agree with your definition of what 1st degree black belt means.

I know lots of Judo yellow belts and green belts who could do a good job teaching judo to newcomers. Should they be judo black belts? No. Does virtually every judo black belt I know possess a really high degree of proficiency greater than the already-considerable skills of these yellow and green belts? Yes.

So I would say that a 1st degree black belt is not necessarily just a token indicating you can teach beginners.