dancingalone
Grandmaster
Some have argued in another thread now locked that a black belt certificate conferred by a large organization, namely the Kukkiwon's, is portable. Thus, a student "Joe" who earned perhaps a second dan at one school can readily keep the same rank when studying at another school in the same org. Sounds great at face value, but what are we really talking about?
At his new school, Joe
1) Gets to wear his nice dan Nike Grandmaster dobak with the black trim. Cool. He's told however that the stripes on his black belt are ostentatious and he should buy a new black belt as possible without extra adornment as that is what they use locally. Oops.
2) Gets to line up at the front with the seniors. Cool, Joe thinks. I'm the master of the demo and Chuck "The Truck" Wallace has nothing on me. Yellow belts, hear me roar.
3) Has the automatic respect of everyone in his new school. Well maybe. Some will honor Joe's rank without question; others will wait to see if he has the goods first. Anytime one joins a new school, there's an adjustment period to see where one fits in. Certainly, it will take time before a transfer student even a dan holder is treated with the same level of regard as someone who has sweated and bled there the whole time.
4) Gets to learn the new school's dan material right away. Perhaps. The KKW requirements are a bit lean and schools often augment the curriculum with some in-house material. Joe might have to spend a few months learning gup self-defense material to get up to speed first. Oh the horror! On the plus side, the KKW requirements he learned seemed to have translated almost perfectly.
5) Gets to keep accumulating his time in grade without interrruption. That's really important to Joe since he sees himself as a grandmaster someday. Yes, this is a real advantage if you're committed to the KKW path and you're one of the elite 1% that will go all the way.
So what am I missing? I honestly don't see much of a benefit to rank portability unless one just likes the rank for its own sake or if one have a goal to run a MA business. You can say the rank is portable, and it probably is on a superficial level - but it seems to me if you're switching schools, you're in for a journey with plenty of uncomfortable moments regardless.
There are indeed advantages to being a member of a large org, particularly the KKW, but I really think some of the advocates overstate it, particularly for the rank and file type students.
But what do I know? I just have an Allen Steen/Jhoon Rhee lineage BB. The equivalent of shopping at Wallyworld, I know.
I also own a Honda and a Toyota and I attended a public university instead of having a Rolls-Royce and going to Harvard. And I (cough) have been known to make a trip from time to time to Walmart. Poor me.
At his new school, Joe
1) Gets to wear his nice dan Nike Grandmaster dobak with the black trim. Cool. He's told however that the stripes on his black belt are ostentatious and he should buy a new black belt as possible without extra adornment as that is what they use locally. Oops.
2) Gets to line up at the front with the seniors. Cool, Joe thinks. I'm the master of the demo and Chuck "The Truck" Wallace has nothing on me. Yellow belts, hear me roar.
3) Has the automatic respect of everyone in his new school. Well maybe. Some will honor Joe's rank without question; others will wait to see if he has the goods first. Anytime one joins a new school, there's an adjustment period to see where one fits in. Certainly, it will take time before a transfer student even a dan holder is treated with the same level of regard as someone who has sweated and bled there the whole time.
4) Gets to learn the new school's dan material right away. Perhaps. The KKW requirements are a bit lean and schools often augment the curriculum with some in-house material. Joe might have to spend a few months learning gup self-defense material to get up to speed first. Oh the horror! On the plus side, the KKW requirements he learned seemed to have translated almost perfectly.
5) Gets to keep accumulating his time in grade without interrruption. That's really important to Joe since he sees himself as a grandmaster someday. Yes, this is a real advantage if you're committed to the KKW path and you're one of the elite 1% that will go all the way.
So what am I missing? I honestly don't see much of a benefit to rank portability unless one just likes the rank for its own sake or if one have a goal to run a MA business. You can say the rank is portable, and it probably is on a superficial level - but it seems to me if you're switching schools, you're in for a journey with plenty of uncomfortable moments regardless.
There are indeed advantages to being a member of a large org, particularly the KKW, but I really think some of the advocates overstate it, particularly for the rank and file type students.
But what do I know? I just have an Allen Steen/Jhoon Rhee lineage BB. The equivalent of shopping at Wallyworld, I know.
