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Grandmaster
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At my most recent Taekwondo school, there was a lot that you would have to remember. There was so much rote content in each belt, that you would brain dump some of the information every new belt color. It got even worse when he started adding in the Taegeuks.
In discussing this in another thread, I brought up that I was the only person at my dojang capable of retaining the entire curriculum (aside from the Master and his wife). I didn't brain dump, so I was able to keep up with training. During my time as an instructor, we had around a dozen other students get their third dan. Half of them immediately quit to move on to other things (like college or other sports). The other half stayed for a while. All but one of those that stayed had a strong call to a leadership role. But, none of those were able to retain the colored belt curriculum. Most were struggling just to keep up with ours.
In fact, even the Master struggled with the 3rd Dan curriculum. He taught the colored belt stuff and even the 1st Dan stuff every day for over a decade, so it was firmly ingrained in his memory. He'd have a mistake here or there, but 99% of the time he was rock solid with the beginner levels. By the time I got my 3rd Dan, he had trouble showing me the rote material in a consistent manner, which made it difficult in turn for me to learn.
I've always been quick to pick up on curriculum. I also took very detailed notes after every class (even as a white belt) to make it easier to remember. I'm not sure how much of my success in learning the curriculum was due to my natural talent for it, my dedication to my notes, or simply the fact that I continued to practice what everyone else brain-dumped, and then reinforced when I started teaching. But it's got me wondering what is reasonable to expect a person to be able to memorize when it comes to Taekwondo. This question comes in a few forms:
In discussing this in another thread, I brought up that I was the only person at my dojang capable of retaining the entire curriculum (aside from the Master and his wife). I didn't brain dump, so I was able to keep up with training. During my time as an instructor, we had around a dozen other students get their third dan. Half of them immediately quit to move on to other things (like college or other sports). The other half stayed for a while. All but one of those that stayed had a strong call to a leadership role. But, none of those were able to retain the colored belt curriculum. Most were struggling just to keep up with ours.
In fact, even the Master struggled with the 3rd Dan curriculum. He taught the colored belt stuff and even the 1st Dan stuff every day for over a decade, so it was firmly ingrained in his memory. He'd have a mistake here or there, but 99% of the time he was rock solid with the beginner levels. By the time I got my 3rd Dan, he had trouble showing me the rote material in a consistent manner, which made it difficult in turn for me to learn.
I've always been quick to pick up on curriculum. I also took very detailed notes after every class (even as a white belt) to make it easier to remember. I'm not sure how much of my success in learning the curriculum was due to my natural talent for it, my dedication to my notes, or simply the fact that I continued to practice what everyone else brain-dumped, and then reinforced when I started teaching. But it's got me wondering what is reasonable to expect a person to be able to memorize when it comes to Taekwondo. This question comes in a few forms:
- How much rote material should you expect someone to be able to retain, after which most people will not be able to keep up?
- How important is rote material to Taekwondo? Should someone "peak" in their career because they've reached their limit on how many forms and combinations they can commit to memory, or should their technique and ability to teach technique and application be a bigger factor in promotion?
- How much of rote memorization is up to natural talent, and how much is able to be practiced? In other words, if someone can't memorize something, is the answer that they need to keep working at it, or that they've reached their limit?
- How much of rote memorization can be taught? In other words, is it a flaw in my Master's teaching that people did not retain the colored belt curriculum and struggled to keep up at 3rd Dan, or is that just the nature of the beast?
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