Benefits of the grading system.

[WildWest.]

Aside from the points that ExcessiveForce made, I feel that a solid grading system adds a sense of structure to the path of learning in a school and they make it more accessible to the average person.

Before I explain my point, I just want to say that I am a serious martial artist and like most serious people who live it, I've done things above and beyond what my instructors asked of me in class including full contact sparring, heavy conditioning and a variety of other things that I'll probably end up regretting as I get older. I say this not to brag... a lot of you have done the same things I have, but so you can understand my mindset.

When I started teaching martial arts in college, I believed that anyone who wanted the training had to become an athlete and push themselves to the limit every single time. The training was hard and the tests were brutal. I looked at what I had to offer as something to be passed from instructor to student as opposed to providing a skill for those who were paying for instruction. Because of this, I noticed that my classes would drop from a 40 to about 4 people within a few weeks.

I don't want to get too far off track, but most classes are not that intense anymore and few instructors can afford to chase off those who are "unworthy" of the training. Having a grading system, in my opinion, allows people of all ages and physical abilities to partake of training and allows an instructor to benefit a great deal more people that he would have before. I also think that it provides the instructor with a greater pool of potential students.

While toning down classes hasn't really been mentioned, I think it tends to go hand in hand with most schools out there that use grading systems in the way that is being addressed in this thread, but I also look at it like this... intense, hard training right from the get go intimidates people. Lighter training can leave some wanting more. You can always provide that to them. I think it had the potential to make everyone happy from the 70 year old senior citizen to the 35 year old taekwondo mom to the olympic tkd competitor right on thorugh to a potential kickboxer. It opens up the benefits of martial arts training to everyone and I think that the more people that train the better.

I respect this response. I think this and eXcessive Force's replies were quite good with a lot of worthwhile information.