Promoting & Encouragement ?

Have you ever seen someone get promoted for encouragement?
If you are a teacher have you ever promoted someone to encourage them ? And.. what are your thoughts on the practice ?

[TallAdam85]

hello yes i am in a club that has 5 schools now at some of these schools it takes for ever to get ur next belt but others it just takes days. And there all the same style and club. How can they learn so fast maybe it is $$$? But what happeneds when u give them there belt to make them feel better just making it worst in the end for a bigger fall what you think?

adam

i agree with adam here. in order to get the belt you must earn it. it is fine to encourage the students to try and do their best, but you should not give it away.

that gives them a false sence of achievement. and thats not what the arts are all about.

We sometimes use the first two belt rankings for encouragement. They are still at the beginner stage and it takes some more time than others. Plus it helps with if they fall short on the next belt testing, it serves as an insentive as we tell them, "look you've already made it past the first or second belt, you can make this belt". You'd be surprised how good this works. In addition, nobody likes to fail right out of the box. You stand the chance of possibly losing a potentially good student. As they go up in rank they will expect it to get harder. They will more readily succed if they have a history of success. Sometimes all somebody needs is for someone to believe in them.

i dont disagree with you but i still feel they should not be given away. if you didnt earn it..you shouldnt get it. the most important part of someones training is at the beginning. it is there that they learn all the right stances techniques and movements. it really shouldnt be easy at first.

[Deaf]

Encouragement is always a good thing. BUT the individual must also be capable of doing the required techniques. Brings to mind the difference in Eastern thinking and Western thinking.

In Eastern thinking, an individual is awarded the belt and expected to "grow" into the belt. Where as in Western thinking, the individual must "earn" the belt before receiving it.

Personally I like the Eastern way of thinking because from my experience, it gives the individual an incentitive to get better and the necessary encouragement without the added pressure of having to worry about knowing this technique or that technique just to continue!

I hope that above makes sense. But that is the best way I could figure out how to describe it.

~Deaf~

I think "Deaf" makes an excellent point. I like the Eastern thinking and the idea of growing into a belt. We all do that anyway.

Western culture - My feeling is that it's disrespectful to the belt. It cheapens the effort put forward by other people who wear the same color.