grading mate not allowed to test

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Tryak

Orange Belt
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May 25, 2008
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On the surface this might seem like something I should be upset about but I'm actually very happy. Since white belt there have been a group of us that have promoted together every time. I have spent hours and hours working on material outside of class, signed up for private lessons, taken seminars, come to extra training and made up each and every sick/injured day I have taken in the last 7 months so as not to fall behind. I test when I am eligible because I so far have always felt prepared and always pass with flying colours.

It had begun to annoy me at testing that of the group of us testing there was 1 or 2 individuals who simply did not put the effort in and were even asking me 5 minutes before the test how to DO certain moves that were on their grading sheets because they had never learned or could not remember. It made me feel that my belt didn't really mean much if these people could hold it too.

Now at 6th gup the line has been drawn in the sand and one of the group was told she was not ready to test. She was really upset and showed the most deplorable immaturity based on the decision which further cemented to me that she was definitely not mature enough or prepared enough to test. I was at a loss what to say to her while she was ranting to me because I agreed with the instructors..but since her and I have always tested together now I find it awkward.
 
It's not like school..


or rather it is.

you don't do your homework, you don't advance....
 
glad to see this happening.

I know that there are people in my class that will be testing this next time that probably shouldn't be. Eventually it will come back to get them.
 
It is always nice to hear that some school will stop people from grading when they need to.
 
Excellent as that is the way it should be!
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Hopefully the fact that a few people haven't been allowed to test this time will serve as a wake-up call to them and encourage them to try as hard as possible to test next time.

Did the instructors tell the people why they weren't allowed to test? I hope so, as it will give them pointers to work on and hopefully let them see that you need to train hard and with diligence in order to be able to get the reward.

Good luck with your next belt test. :)
 
ya, that is exactly how it should be. A student who does not train or put the time in should not move forward until they are ready. There are too many schools who advance students based on time and money rather than experience and effort.
 
I would rather see what your instructor has done then to see a person pass a test just because they show up and pay the money for the test.
Telling a class mate that they where not prepared is difficult but asking them if they knew all the techniques and had put in the time practicing and having the techniques down completely is easier.
As you go through your journey in the arts you will find that there are those that fall off or behind and that is to be expected. Learning to work hard and trying to improve what you know is part of the arts. Getting promoted just because you think you should is not learning.
If at any time in your martial arts training you find that you are not testing ,when you think you should, take the time to reflect on you performance over the last year, month, etc. and look at it in relation to what the others are doing. If you find that you think you should have tested then consider that your not testing may be a test in and of itself by your instructor.
 
Aefibird said:
Hopefully the fact that a few people haven't been allowed to test this time will serve as a wake-up call to them and encourage them to try as hard as possible to test next time.

Did the instructors tell the people why they weren't allowed to test? I hope so, as it will give them pointers to work on and hopefully let them see that you need to train hard and with diligence in order to be able to get the reward.

Good luck with your next belt test. :)
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Yes they were told privately what they needed to work on. Some of them just expected to be passed without working on those things....
 
If she was upset with it, to me that means it was a long time coming. Sounds like what she's unhappy with not being able to CONTINUE to get away with what she has been getting away with. :) For me, this reminds me to take care of these things sooner rather than later.

Good for you, Tryak. Good luck on your testing. Hard work always pays off eventually.
 
hkfuie said:
If she was upset with it, to me that means it was a long time coming. Sounds like what she's unhappy with not being able to CONTINUE to get away with what she has been getting away with. :) For me, this reminds me to take care of these things sooner rather than later.

Good for you, Tryak. Good luck on your testing. Hard work always pays off eventually.
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I agree it was a long time coming. I think perhaps they were a bit easier on her because she is older and has had some past injury. However, she clearly got a bit "big for her britches" if you will and stopped putting the work in that I saw from her earlier on.
 
One thing that I tell all my students is, you are here to train and if you ever decide it is not for you it is better to take off a month or so and come back refresh than to go though the motion of a workout.
 
This remind to myself in the golden days. I started TKD in the 80's, the training was hard and I always prepared myself like you do, I saw classmates in those years that not passed the exams cause they were not prepared or ready to change the color of the belt.

It was november 1986, I was red belt and was candidate for promotion to 1 Dan Black Belt, that december (1986) came to my city a korean grand master his name An Dae Sup (from the area of Texas) I was very exited cause the examinator will be a Korean Grand Master and the diploma will be an international one!!!!!

My sambunim told me that I was not prepared for the examination and asked me to wait till next year. At first time I felt angry cause it was a great oportunity to test before a Grand Master, however I took what my sambunim said and wait.

On January 1987 my sambunim told me the palgues (poomse) we were doing were droped cause the new ones (taeguks) were released and that I will need to learn the Taeguks from Ilyan to Koryo, I almost got sick, all the effort to learn the pagues and now taeguks!!

I prepared myself dedicately and on december 1987 I did my BB examination and was one of the best ones to recieve my BB my diploma and a citation as one of the best practicioners of the year, all the effort and the wait paid my friend really paid for me.

Manny
 
The way I look at training, the whole point of it is to become better—to actually be better than you were earlier. If your instructor tells you you're not ready to test, I think the reaction should be one not of anger but of relief—you were stuck (unknowingly) at a plateau, you weren't improving significantly, you were kind of stagnating—but now that's been caught and identified, and you can get back on track, because you'll also have been told what you need to work on. Why should anyone be angry at getting the chance to move off the plateau they were, without knowing it, stuck on?

I mean, suppose it were tennis. They don't have belts in tennis. You don't get rank. Your quality is strictly determined by how good the players you can beat are. Would you want your tennis instructor to keep telling you, 'yes, you've got a terrific serve and a great forehand' when you kept losing to the same opponents by the same scores? Wouldn't you much rather be told, 'Well, the problem is that you can't get enough topspin on the ball with the stroke you're using, and you need to change it a bit so it works like this'? Because then you actually have a shot at improving, a chance to get better enough to beat these other players, a chance to really move up. Why should it be any different in the MAs? The two situations are, so far as I can see, completely parallel, except for this fetish about belts and rank that we seem to be lumbered with in the MAs... :idunno:
 
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