How Important Are Gradings?

I have just passed my black belt in judo,there are two ways to get your blackbelt you can either fight and get 100 points,
you get between 7 and ten points per contest you win,so to get 100 points requires skill and dedication,or you can do a technical
test where you are tested on all of the techniques,as well having to know how each technique works,you also have to demonstrate
you know how to teach each technique as well. You also have to be at least 17 years old.You also have to understand the Japanese and English translation for each move. So being a black belt in judo takes time,dedication,and knowledge. Unlike some other martial arts i have seen where they just give you one for turning up. A black belt is a state of mind,not just a black piece of cloth.

 

My Gradings were held every 3 months had 10 sections Starting at Basics (Strike.Kick Block stances) then combinations, of the students own creation. 1 on 1 Set sparring and freestyle ,2 Kata 1 for the grade attempted and 1 other from the syllabus. Self defence against 1 person 2 people as they approached Black Belt. Last section Free sparring against 3 different opponents. 60% was the passmark. 2Kyu to 1st Kyu was 6 months as was 1st Kyu to 1st Dan,
but if the s core was 55-60% they received a provisional pass which meant they had to pass next time or it was automatic failure.
For black Belt they went before a panel of 4-5 senior Black Belts and were assessed by them . I eventually was part of the grading panel. The 1 rule the head of our association did invoke was that you could not mark your students.
This system worked for me for 15years and produced my roll call of Black Belts.
my charges were enough to cover the cost of the venue for 4-5 hrs and the certificates supplied by my Association. Any remaining was put to use buying and repalcing training equipment

All those years and I never made vast amounts of money. I was not in it for the money.

 

I believe gradings are important Soley to maintain a standard of ability throughout a style or organisation! Ideally for me a green belt in my club should have the same ability and knowledge of a green belt in any other club. I also think students should not be graded by their own sensei, But instead by a senior instructor to them, especially for black belt! This is common practise I believe in a well structured traditional karate org. And to do this correctly I think a syllabus is needed. But this is only my opinion and possibly because its how I was graded! I always thought it a bit dubious for sensei's to hand out belts to their own students at their discretion, although, dependng on the art and the instructors I now guess it could be acceptable.

 

I have spoken on this in another thread. The coloured belt grading system gives us stupid Westerners specific challenges and targets to allow us to monitor our progress and more importantly to us, show others how far we have come. It fuels our vanity and bragging rights.
It can also be easily abused, as our chief instructor says, when asked by new students how long it will take to get a black belt, "I don't give these away in lucky bags *points at belt* you will have to work hard for it and just may get one in 6 - 7 years, if you don't want to put in the effort go to ****** club you will get one in 3 years, it will cost you about £1000 but it is worthless and my green belts will kick your ass" Most stay, I did and took Shodan after 8 years, it probably cost more than the other club but I do feel it was earned not just paid for.
Used appropriately it is a useful system though, as most of the students who walk through the door are children it makes for teaching them a simpler process. By focussing their tutelage on the specific requirements to achieve the next belt you can be more pedantic about the finer detail, trying to get perfect foot placement, body position, hip rotation, balance ratio etc.....
We have a system of scoring at our grading sessions and students demonstrate to a panel of 3 or 4 of us Shodan and Nidan who rate each student on each category of their syllabus the scores are then averaged to get the "true" score, this is presented to the chief instructor for final approval to determine if the student has passed or failed the grade. This is his way of ensuring we maintain the standard. From 5th Kyu up students also have to demonstrate an ability to spar freely for their grading against any grade of opponent. Very few fail as they are not deemed eligible to grade without first having been seen performing to a suitable standard during training sessions. Sometimes it appears that everyone passes their grade regardless, not true. One 13yr old girl recently failed green belt (by miles) there was simply no effort or technique, her mother kicked off big style, we never saw either of them again, whatever!
The youngest age a black belt was awarded was 17, she was a worthy candidate having started at age 8 and trained hard. We don't impose a lower limit to grade to Shodan but we don't accept students under 6 years old to start so it would not be possible under our rules to achieve black belt until at least 12 but they would be classed as junior black belt until they were 16.
Under our system lower gradings are at least 4 months apart, middle grades 6 months apart and from 3rd Kyu to Shodan 1 year apart, they cost £10 which includes your new belt, except Shodan which is £75 which includes UK registration. At these prices you can see the club is not run commercially, it is for the proliferation of the martial art.

 

Sorry... gotta disagree with this... at least the "stupid Westerner" part. As mentioned above, the belt system started in Judo in the 1880s and was soon adopted by other Japanese martial arts. Moreover, Judo and Asian martial arts really didn't gain any foothold in the West until after WWII when US troops were stationed in Japan and elsewhere. So, while there may be some truth to the reasons why a belt system was adopted, it wasn't targeted at Westerners... it was targeted at Easterners and just happened to catch on later when Westerners were later exposed to Asian martial arts that had LONG before adopted to belt system.

 

Depends on which books or websites you read

I include myself in that portion of the statement "stupid westerners" if it were not for the grading system I dare say I would have constantly wondered how I was doing.

 

It isn't a question of books or websites. The origin of the colored belt system is well-known. It is also pretty hard to dispute that the explosion of Asian martial arts in the West occurred only after the end of WWII brought about largely by the US occupation and exposure the Japanese Martial arts. Kano certainly was trying to spread Judo internationally prior to WWII, but it isn't exactly like the belt system was devised with Westerners in mind. Frankly, it was devised with his fellow Japanese in mind since he first had to successfully replace Japanese Jujutsu with Judo, which took several decades.

 

I personally don't find grading's important. Though the way I've been teaching my guys is that they can grade whenever they want. There's no belt system or level of importance on one idea over another idea. Since the current guys I have agree with me and they don't care, I don't have any sort of formal grading. I just test them...if I think they're good enough, I get to teach them more stuff.

Generating Cash -
I can see that gradings' quite easily could make a lot of money, the ceremony (or attendance to the grading), the new belt, patches, whatever else you could think of charging them, and across hordes of students, that would work.

Sorting out a lot of students at once -
The best method I could think of honestly, gradings and a belt system. I don't have an organization or said-hordes of students. So I figure I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there.

 

believe it or not I try my best to insure that the rank my students wear is the rank that bests represents their level of expertise under my leadership, but you never truly know until the s**t hits the fan and they have to react. Plus you never really know how they represent their rank outside of the dojo unless someone rats them out or they slip up and mention something.

my dojo is only in its second week but I refuse to accept someone that might make my style and dojo look bad to other folks and other martial artists. And I dont mean that in a fighting way, more of the way they treat others and how they carry themselves.

but for me and the style I came up with we do use a belt system and it gives people something to work/strive for. its not to show whos better than who, Don Nagle is a good example of this.

 

Let's look at gradings in education first. How important is it to pass your grade level at school? How important is it to graduate high school or college? I believe it is very important! I couldn't imagine just walking up to a student and say, "here you go, you graduated to the next level or grade", can you! I hope that my next promotion at work is given out the same way! I do agree that belt testing should be held in highest regard and that students should do their best to pass the test! Students in most schools that I know of are usually selected prior to test because the instructor feels they are ready to test. Can a student fail a test? Yes, most definitely! I give my students 100 points to start with and deduct for mistakes. Does a student have to have 100 points to pass? No! They do need to have at least 75 points or higher to pass the test. Everyone including myself couldn't pass every test that they've taken with 100%. I also don't agree with someone having to wait 6 years to test for black belt! If your better than another student, you shouldn't have to wait to test. It's that simple! Yes, if you award a belt to someone, your reputation is at stake! Master Fahy

 

That's a very interesting point, and it certainly shows the difference between our philosophies. I've never cared for grading it education. It means close to...nothing for me...and I suppose that's reflected in the way I've conducted my 'gradings'.
Though the way you conduct your gradings still appears to be very thorough and you seem to be a very passionate teacher!
Cheers for the input.

 

I remember reading somewhere about it being introduced by Gichin Funakoshi in the 1920's . If it travelled over from Judo apologies to all for sharing my blinkered view.