Agreed. College and university are also different for us, as is the other end. Kindergarten is preschool childcare here, before you start school, there it's for 5 years olds. Hence our confusion over the American advertising stuff some martial arts schools use here, suitable for American kindergarten children is not suitable for our kindergarteners aged 1-4.
At day one you don't know what you don't know, and uninformed self-study can get you off track. At this point you need to be led and hand fed: Listen, watch, imitate, repeat. One of life's paradoxes is that the more you know, you discover more things you don't know. You get the skill to identify the important things yet unknown to you, a major step in learning. As a beginner I think one should stick with doing what you know and concentrate on getting it down with the instructor. No need to dive in alone when you don't know the depth.
In ACSCA the 3rd degree BB is equivalent to teacher's certificate.
I think this is the crux of the issue. I donāt know the original intentions Kano Jigoro had in mind when he introduced the belt system of ranking but I assume it was to encourage children to progress, strive and practise hard for the next beltā¦.children. But when starting out in a new endeavour, we all need a little external validation, even adults! Or do we? Kendo, Iaido and other traditional bugeisha donāt wear belts and yet they find the strength of will to continue training hard and from experience, it seems that it is the prospect of grading examinations that motivates. I have known many Iaido students who say theyāll stop grading at some early point and just practise for the love of the art and lo and behold, after that point, they soon stop training at all.
Different approaches work for different people. Some folks thrive with the motivation of a next rank, better than they might without it. I use ranks, but they are far-spaced (about a year minimum to each), so they arenāt a good focus for students. I mostly use them for some parity with others in my primary art.
For schools, you have a national standard to reference against. So a grade 2 student can transfer to another city and be assurrd of essentially the same curriculum. In the martial arts, the same can be said of some national or international organizations, like Kodokan judo. But walking into a judo club with a TKD black belt and expecting that your rank will transfer, won't fly. Totally different syllabus. I was a black belt in a Japanese jiu jitsu system when I started judo, I had to start as a white belt ( as it should be), as while there were obvious similarities between judo and jiu jitsu, I did not do things the " judo way". If you're suggesting a universal standard for martial arts in general, good luck.
The colored belts you are complaining about were not started by Kano, who had only white, brown and black. The colored belts ( yellow, orange, blue, etc) were introduced in Great Britain in the mid 1920's. Although Kawaishi is often credited for starting up the colored belt system in France, there are references to colored belts in the Budokwai records in 1926(1927?), before Kawaishi was even in France.
No "self-study" on day one but "practice" is okay? Maybe semantics are at play here.
No, Iām not suggesting a universal standardā¦thatād be trying to align apples andā¦parmesan cheese! What I am pointing out is that very non-standardisation and the meaninglessness of the belt system outside of their art/association.
This got me thinking about the various arts that I have experienced enough to talk about (TKD, BJJ, and Wing Chun). Of these, only Wing Chun did not use any form of belt system... or did they?
I Agree but I'd also add that any blue belt should be capable of that, and maybe that's a great example to ponder on.
I have to say some of the saddest days of my life have been when my mentor/ teacher has past on. I have always liked the word "reverberation" Nice to be told that, "Now he is within you. He taught you so that you can carry things on" But there is always that little thing that he never taught you. In Japanese the wording on certification you get as a qualified beginner (first degree) and that of classical art where one headmaster qualifies a new one is the same. It says, "You still have lot to learn".
Is that āyoinā in Japanese?
While this is true, it makes it difficult to assess hobbyists who might have a lot of skill and experience, but just don't have the tournament wins. It also makes it difficult to assess for those arts that are primarily test-driven, in which you may not have many (or any) opportunities for tournaments.
It is not only nearly meaningless outside of a given art, it's often meaningless from dojo to dojo. It is what it is. I think of it as a rough guide. Each dojo is different in terms of standards. Each person is different in terms of how well they can express their art. I don't get too worried about it.
Different styles and different schools have different belts and different colors and they go into different orders. You also have to take into account the requirements and difficulty of getting belts at one school vs another. For instance they say getting a purple belt in BJJ is like getting a black belt in most other styles, in terms of the time, skill requirements, and difficulty in getting it. And black isn't always the highest color, there are some styles with higher colors such as in Gracie Jiu Jitsu the highest belt is the red belt.
