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I know far too many schools zip students through the belts as a part of their student retention strategy. Look at us Americans we are so into instant gratification. Also throw in our ever so delicate psyches. No kids should fail in school or be held back because it will traumatize them. Instructors feel (some of them) that they have to advance students who are not ready just so they won’t loose them. This is usually for financial reasons. No one wants an empty dojo. Adults aren’t into the belts quite as much as the kids but there not immune to them either, let’s face it in most dojos the bulk of the students are kids.
Let’s be fair though, not all dojos are like that. In some schools and it should be in all schools, students have to have time in rank and every belt has to be earned. Some instructors promote readily and quickly to green belt and then you really have to earn the belts from there.
When I first started in karate my instructor had belt promotions for lower belts about every four months. However if you didn’t know what you were supposed to you didn’t advance, but this was more on knowledge and being able to perform techniques and kata , but not on how well you perform them. At the green belt level it was harder now not only were you judged on knowledge but on how well you could perform technique/kata.
The average time it took to reach black belt in my school was 4-5 years. Not many made it. It seemed most students would start dropping out about the green belt rank. We always had about 20-30 students in class but never more 4 or 5 black belts at a time.
It took me 5 years to get my BB. I had to have a year as a brown belt and participate in several camps and mock BB tests. When I finally tested I had to go to a three day camp in which several leading practitioners of the system were there to evaluate each candidate. These were a panel of 4, 5,6th degree black belts. Your instructor has nothing to do with the BB promotion he only recommends you. It looks bad on him if he send students to BB camp and has several of them fail. So he only recommends you when he knows you are ready.
I honestly believe the black belts I saw in our organization at the time had genuinely earned and deserved their BBs. The system I studied was wado ryu.
Let’s be fair though, not all dojos are like that. In some schools and it should be in all schools, students have to have time in rank and every belt has to be earned. Some instructors promote readily and quickly to green belt and then you really have to earn the belts from there.
When I first started in karate my instructor had belt promotions for lower belts about every four months. However if you didn’t know what you were supposed to you didn’t advance, but this was more on knowledge and being able to perform techniques and kata , but not on how well you perform them. At the green belt level it was harder now not only were you judged on knowledge but on how well you could perform technique/kata.
The average time it took to reach black belt in my school was 4-5 years. Not many made it. It seemed most students would start dropping out about the green belt rank. We always had about 20-30 students in class but never more 4 or 5 black belts at a time.
It took me 5 years to get my BB. I had to have a year as a brown belt and participate in several camps and mock BB tests. When I finally tested I had to go to a three day camp in which several leading practitioners of the system were there to evaluate each candidate. These were a panel of 4, 5,6th degree black belts. Your instructor has nothing to do with the BB promotion he only recommends you. It looks bad on him if he send students to BB camp and has several of them fail. So he only recommends you when he knows you are ready.
I honestly believe the black belts I saw in our organization at the time had genuinely earned and deserved their BBs. The system I studied was wado ryu.
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