Stupid question: how do black belts learn when to promote people?

[skribs]

When I have a confident feeling that you can demonstrate and teach the material required for [color] belt reasonably well, I figure it’s the to promote you to [color] belt (and get you focused on the [color+1] belt material).

Sorry it's a bit late to follow up on this, but I didn't see it until now.

I don't think there is really [color] material and [color +1] material in BJJ. I think this is fairly universal. The majority of schools I don't think even have a codified set of material for each belt, except that certain belts "unlock" more dangerous techniques. But a blue belt doesn't have nearly the same ability with the white belt stuff (such as an armbar) that a black belt (or even purple belt) does.

There are some BJJ schools that have a consistent white belt curriculum that is specific to white belts or even specific to each stripe. But I think even the vast majority of those stop that at blue. At least, this is based on what I've read.

In TKD, it's different. In TKD, my experience has always been that every belt and every stripe has a specific set of skills to learn.

• At my first school, it was that white belts learn Exercise #1, 1-stripe learns Exercise #2, 2-stripe learns Exercise #3, 3-stripe learns Kibon #1. Then yellow belt learns Kibon #2, 1-stripe learns Exercise #4, and so on. (Exercises were mini-forms, usually a third the length of a full form).
• At my main school, it was that a green belt needs to learn Punch Combo #1-5, Kick Combo #1-5, and Palgwe #1. Then a green belt with stripe needs to learn Punch Combo #6-8, Kick Combo #6-8, and Palgwe #2.
• At my most recent school, it was that if you have no stripe you learn your belt's kick. If you have a yellow stripe you learn your belt's form. If you have your red stripe you learn your belt's self-defense. And if you have a black stripe you test.

There's nothing remotely like that in BJJ. I'm a blue belt now. I drill the same technique as the white belts did. I drill the same technique as the upper belts do. The only difference between me and the other students is the individual advice I get during rolls, but that's also the same approach as the white belts and purple belts and even the black belt at my gym get.