Asking About A Promotion

[Rich Parsons]

There was a thread over at the Kajukenbo Cafe (which has since been removed) in which a member commented on someone being promoted to 9th degree in Kaju. He had asked who had made the promotion. This member was, IMO, simply asking, in a nice way, who did the promotion, and from what I saw, never received a direct answer. Instead, it seemed like it was a big 'hush hush' sort of thing. It didn't seem that he was being rude or disrespectful in any manner, again, just asking a simple question.

Some other members, commented that it was wrong and disrespectful for someone to ask about a high ranking instructors promotions, who they received it from, etc. Others commented that it wasn't a big deal, and as long as someone was polite about it, they'd have no problem with someone asking them questions about their rank.

So, that brings us to this thread. In your opinion, do you feel that its wrong, disrespectful, etc, to ask a potential teacher, who promoted them? IMO, as long as you're not being a complete jerk about it, I see nothing wrong with asking someone about a promotion that they received. IMO, if the person in question, has nothing to hide, then why not answer? You'd think that you'd be more than happy to talk about something like that.

Mike,

Always ask the question. It is good to know. As many have said. (*Begin Sarcasm *) Except, when you are talking about "ME". (* End Sarcasm *)

I agree that some may not want to have the promotion know if they are a quiet and personal person. Yet they usually do not go and publish it online. I also agree that with self promotions some jsut do it , while others slide it in. Either wat admit you did it as the leader of your org, take the heat for it, and hope for the best as it is your organization.


Now, I hope people will still do research and check people out. Yet many might not.


Good Discussion and good thread topic Mike.

 

[Steve]

Skill and ability will show down the road, but how much wasted money, time, and effort does that include? A beginner has no basis to judge what is inferior and what is solid martial arts. For instructors, thier lineage is thier certificate of study and thier certificate to teach. This tells the beginner that someone has held this person to a standard and he surpassed that standard. This doesn't neccesarily have a ton to do with rank. For instance I know a very, very, good teacher in BJJ that started teaching as a brown belt. He was upfront about his rank, who he studied under, and that he was approved to teach.

This is true, but it takes very little time or energy for a prospective student to learn that a brown belt in BJJ is the relative equivalent of a 2nd Dan black belt in many other arts. There is nothing at all odd about a brown belt running an affiliate school in BJJ.

In BJJ, the only time I'd expect to find people who are evasive about their lineage are when they're flat out lying. Some guys have a little judo or a little BJJ and then try to invent rank in styles like "Combat Jiu Jitsu." The other time is I've seen it is when they do something that alienates them from their affiliation.