..Always a black belt?
On another thread I was shocked into realizing that in some systems, it may be possible for one to lose a black belt, as in, have it taken away. Say it ain't so! :O How can this happen? Only under special circumstances, I hope..?
In Kenpo, my understanding was that once somebody was a black belt it was considered a forever thing. Yes, a person could cease training and go rusty, get out of shape, etc. but that in itself would not strip them of their rank. OTOH if they wanted to pick up again and train for the next level they would have some catching up to do of course. But taken away? It seems like sacriledge.
Please educate me about this! I don't ever want to "lose it" from whatever style I study.
At our school, I have seen students with attitude issues be told to shape up or they would 'lose' their belts. These have been kids who's attitudes suddenly improve; the idea of losing that belt was enough to jar them into behaving, no pushups necessary.
I have seen one adult student expelled from the school. He was not stripped of rank, however, simply told not to come back.
A black belt itself is less of an issue; it is the
rank that counts. A major who is busted down to captain (if I have my military rank progression right) doesn't lose his purple heart, silver star, or any awards for marksmanship. His war record isn't altered. He simply loses some of the administrative authority and command responsibility that he had been awarded. His combat skill and knowledge of the military arts remain the same.
By the same token, a dan rank practitioner who either commits a serious crime (as mentioned earlier in the thread), damages the integrity of the school or organization through either dishonorable conduct or some other way, should certainly lose his or her rank within the organization. Yes, he or she will still have their cotton belt and certificate hanging on the wall. But a school or organization can and
should police its membership.
I think that in a case of severe rust (not due to injury or illness), rather than losing rank, the student, upon return could simply be asked not to
display his or her rank until they've brought their skills up to a level comensurate with that rank. This spares the student a level of embarrassment; a blackbelt who cannot keep up with a blue belt would be embarrassed. But the student is displaying a green belt, then he or she can take their time, renew their skills, and then be permited to wear the rank again. This may not take all that long; generally, a rusty student can get back into the grove very quickly.
With practitioners who suffer from a debilitating injury, severe illness, or simply are aged, I think that organizations and schools simply accept (as they should) that things happen sometimes that prevent people from using the skills that they had learned, but that the practitioner still is a reservior of knowledge and experience and will always be a valueable asset to the art.
Nobody expects an eighty seven year old master to be able to mop up a fifth dan forty year old at the top of their game in sparring or to be as crisp and solid when performing poomsae/hyung/kata. But that eighty seven year old master can impart a great deal of knowledge to the forty year old and very likely provide him or her with some of the keys needed to reaching the next level in their own training.
Many of the most valueable lessons that have been imparted to me by my masters have been through the imparting of knowledge, not through advanced drills. It is the knowledge has enabled me to get to the next level in my training, not just the physical drills.
Daniel
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