Promotion Ceremonies

[fnorfurfoot]

Since there have been a number of belt related threads going around recently, I thought that I would add one of my own. What kind of ceremony is involved with rank promotions at your school. When I was at my first school, when we finished a test, everyone would kneel down, remove our belts and fold them in front of us. Then we were told to close our eyes and think about what we did good and what we needed work on. While we were like that, my instructor would lay our new rank and the certificate in front of us. He would tell us to open our eyes to find the new rank laying there and that was the end of it.

When I promote, I call each student up individually to present them with their new rank, then they go back to where they started to put the belt on. For the children, I finish the test with them tossing their old belt into the air with a jump and a kiai. Kind of like tossing a cap at graduation. I present the students with their certificate at their next regular class so that the other students can acknowledge their accomplishment.

So what happens at your school?

 

[tellner]

In our teacher's class it's a little less formal. He asks "What djuru are you on? Five? How long has it been since you got a new djuru? Tiel, show him djuru six." The only time I've seen him make someone an instructor he announced it at his big yearly seminar. It went sort of like this:

"OK folks, this is Narin. He's been with me a long time and understands the principles of Sera. So I'm making him a guru." Everybody claps. Guru Plinck shakes his hand.

 

[Steel Tiger]

At our school there are only five ranks. The first three are tested privately and gradings are awarded privately. The fourth grade, the red sash, or Adept level, requires a public grading. After a public testing process, including Daoist philosophy, the students are acknowledged as having passed or failed the test. They then kneel in front of the teacher, bow and receive both their certificate and red sash. They then bow again. And that is that. The Master level is once again tested privately.

 

[IWishToLearn]

I've found the "ceremony" is different everywhere.

I do all my students' tests privately, and the promotions are given publicly, usually with a small workout session for the benefit of the invited guests, wherein the newly promoted student is showcased. Generally this is followed up by a potluck dinner. These are some of my favorite nights, because it's all about the family at that point.

 

[Steel Tiger]

I've found the "ceremony" is different everywhere.

I do all my students' tests privately, and the promotions are given publicly, usually with a small workout session for the benefit of the invited guests, wherein the newly promoted student is showcased. Generally this is followed up by a potluck dinner. These are some of my favorite nights, because it's all about the family at that point.

Having a nice dinner and a get-together is a good idea.

 

[TraditionalTKD]

We have two procedures, one for color belts and one for black belts (actually three). Color belt students are called up before the class after testing results are in (about a week after testing), and told of their new rank. Everyone then applauds for them.
Black belts are called up individually in front of the testers after they have finished and scores are tallied. The senior judge then announces their scores and whether they pass or fail.
At the organization gathering later in the year, all black belt testers line up in front of their Instructor (so you'll have 10-15 single file lines up to 20 deep) who then gives them their new belt and certificate.
New Masters and Masters who have been promoted get a whole ceremony where a professional announcer describes their Tae Kwon Do career and professional background. They then proceed to receive their new belt and banner from the GM of our organization. Afterward, students, friends, and family come up to congratulate them on their accomplishment.

 

[NDNgirl4ever]

We have our test, then we each go up and get our certificates. We get our new belts the next class session after the test.

 

[sholo86]

It is during testing where we have big ceremony. Students are encouraged to invite family members and guests during testing. Students will not know if they passed or failed right after testing. This eliminates the student from getting embarrassed in front of their family and friends if they failed. Now, after testing is over, we have a big potluck and everybody is just enjoying each others company and the food.
Promotion ceremony is less festive. Senior student would line up everybody and the teacher/instructor would hand out certificates of achievements to students that passed. Students that failed are told why they failed and given pointers of what they can do to improve and pass the next testing cycle. Senior student then dismisses the class.