arnisador said:
If a shodan is an instructor rank, then it is traditional in many systems that an instructor can promote another to instructor rank--after all, many systems had only the distinction between "student" and "teacher" (including that there was not always a well-defined head of the system, e.g. early Karate, in the 1800s). So, an instructor would certify the student as ready to teach, and the student would be fully empowered to do so.
I think Arnisador has a good point here.
This situation is a very clear example of the problems that I believe the whole ranking structure and traditions can create. Some schools and organizations are very rigid in their procedures. You have to be a certain rank, say 3rd or 4th dan before you are considered a teacher, and then you can only promote people up to two levels below you, etc. I think at some point, this whole scenario become problematic. How do people reach the higher ranks, if there always has to be someone two levels above? eventually, nobody can reach the dan ranks at all because of this kind of requirement (i am playing the devil's advocate a bit, but you see my point).
Other schools are more loosely structured in this regard. I trained in a kenpo school that was only loosely affiliated with a larger organization. My teachers were 2nd and 1st dan. When I was promoted to 1st, the certificate I was given states that I am authorized to teach and give rank. No conditions were attached. Of course no other organization formally recognizes my rank, but I don't really care. Nobody formally recognizes anyone else's rank if they don't belong to their organization anyway, since there is no uniformity from art to art, or school to school.
I have heard stories in the kenpo lineages, of the earlier generations becoming teachers at shodan. Sometimes even earlier. Often in those days, anything above shodan was only vaguely recognized.
We have become so infatuated with rank, I think it really becomes a mess. I expressed my own opinions about this in another thread, but I do think we would be better off with a simplified blackbelt system. My feelings are that there should be only two levels of blackbelt: Blackbelt Non-Instructor, and Blackbelt Instructor. Instructor rank would be given by one's teacher whenever he feels it is merited. It could be given immediately when blackbelt is awarded, or it could be given years later or never. Of course there is always more to learn, this does not mean you have reached the pinnacle, but I think it is time to move beyond the mess created by the dan system. I think it is time to grow up a bit, and this could be a step in that direction.
As far as the situation goes in your school, I guess if those who are in charge are comfortable with the situation, don't worry about it. Of course the new first dan is not equal with the other teacher. There is a level of experience that is vastly different, even if they hold the same formal rank. Nothing wrong with recognizing that.
