Laurentkd
Master Black Belt
You have a good point here, exile. Perhaps it's not an issue for a Goju-Ryu or other Ma-stylists. But you brought up the issue of lineage. With the intentional blending of the Kwans into Kukki TKD, most folks in TKD (at least many WTF/KKW ranked schools) don't know their lineage &/or Kwan background. So, they have to rely on their KKW cert. as the closest thing to a lineage. Since Kukki-TKD is so big now, the question of "who is your instructor" means little, anymore. You & I are in a unique position to know the history & lineage of our training. Most are not.
I think you are right on with this point. I honestly don't know what it would be like as a JMA or CMA to walk into to another school and claim a rank. Must they allow you to keep it? Do you have to start over? Is it just up to the instructor? I don't know. But at least with a KKW certificate you have something that is recognized (and I mean actually eye-sight recognized) the world over so that you at least have some ties to something bigger. I really can't add more to what Iceman said, I think he hit it exactly.
In these other systems, the legitimacy of the school lineage seems to be the crucial factor. In contrast, it looks to me as if KKW ranking trumps school ranking, no matter how illustrious the teaching lineage, so far as legitimacy goes. If so, why would that be?
This is a funny thing as well. I am glad I have KKW certification and I wouldn't want to give it up. But I know others who have KKW certificates who would never have earned the privilege to test for them at my dojang. We even tell students that the KKW certificate is a good thing to have, but you have to train must harder and learn much more to earn our school certificate than you do a KKW. So while the KKW is worth a lot to the greater TKD community, my school certificate is worth more (in my opinion) because of how much higher the standards are to earn it. Kind of a funny dichotomy huh!