Laurentkd
Master Black Belt
I did a search and didn't come up with anything, so I want to ask, how many of you use poom belts at your school and at what ages?
At my dojang, we have just implemented Poom Black Belts (before we gave all kids solid Black, but we never had very many kids reach that level). Our kids know the same curriculum as adults, and perform at a high level based on their age and ability (just as is true with our adults). However, now that we have a couple, we just don't feel that a 10 or 11 year old (our youngest black belts) is really on the same level as adults, solely because they are in fact kids. For example, we don't have them teaching classes and kids aren't allowed to give out any sort of correction as we have found it often goes to their head (the same can be said for adult Black Belts, but we have ways of fixing those problems pretty quick!). Also, kids are still kids and still sometimes need correction on behavior. So while we wanted to reward these kids for the 4 or so years of hard work they have put in, and show that they do indeed have a basic grasp of all color belt curriculum (which IMO is all a 1st degree black belt means), we didn't feel it should be the same as a full Black Belt. So, we started getting embroidered Poom belts (half black half red). These are now given to any kid under 13. Depending on the maturity of the kid, a 13 or 14 year old can be awarded with either a poom belt or a full black belt (at our last testing we had 3 get solid black and 1 get a poom). And then anyone 15 or older gets solid black (based off Kukkiwan's requirement).
I am really excited about this change (we just implemented it in October) and I feel it will help incoming students understand that yes a kid can learn material and work hard and will be rewarded for their effort, but yet we still view kids different than adults and that should be obvious looking at our students. So far we haven't had any kids act disappointed about getting a poom belt, in fact they think the gold embroidery on a black and red belt looks pretty cool, as does the poom collar dobok! (I'd have to agree!)
So, I am curious. Do you always award full black belts, or do you award poom belts as well? I rarely see kids from other schools in poom belts. Do you think if all TKD schools awarded poom belts instead of solid black belts to their junior black belts TKD would have a better reputation as far as the whole kid black belt reputation goes?
At my dojang, we have just implemented Poom Black Belts (before we gave all kids solid Black, but we never had very many kids reach that level). Our kids know the same curriculum as adults, and perform at a high level based on their age and ability (just as is true with our adults). However, now that we have a couple, we just don't feel that a 10 or 11 year old (our youngest black belts) is really on the same level as adults, solely because they are in fact kids. For example, we don't have them teaching classes and kids aren't allowed to give out any sort of correction as we have found it often goes to their head (the same can be said for adult Black Belts, but we have ways of fixing those problems pretty quick!). Also, kids are still kids and still sometimes need correction on behavior. So while we wanted to reward these kids for the 4 or so years of hard work they have put in, and show that they do indeed have a basic grasp of all color belt curriculum (which IMO is all a 1st degree black belt means), we didn't feel it should be the same as a full Black Belt. So, we started getting embroidered Poom belts (half black half red). These are now given to any kid under 13. Depending on the maturity of the kid, a 13 or 14 year old can be awarded with either a poom belt or a full black belt (at our last testing we had 3 get solid black and 1 get a poom). And then anyone 15 or older gets solid black (based off Kukkiwan's requirement).
I am really excited about this change (we just implemented it in October) and I feel it will help incoming students understand that yes a kid can learn material and work hard and will be rewarded for their effort, but yet we still view kids different than adults and that should be obvious looking at our students. So far we haven't had any kids act disappointed about getting a poom belt, in fact they think the gold embroidery on a black and red belt looks pretty cool, as does the poom collar dobok! (I'd have to agree!)
So, I am curious. Do you always award full black belts, or do you award poom belts as well? I rarely see kids from other schools in poom belts. Do you think if all TKD schools awarded poom belts instead of solid black belts to their junior black belts TKD would have a better reputation as far as the whole kid black belt reputation goes?