andyjeffries
Master of Arts
His criticism was something to the effect of "How can you be a "Master" of a system when you have not yet learned parts of the system?"
I felt the criticism had merit.
I see your point. Personally I feel Master doesn't mean the be all and end all of grades, any more than I think 1st Dan is "expert" level.
Personally I'm more of the option that Master should mean you are capable of training someone to black belt level and judging when someone else is black belt worthy and have been in the art long enough to be trusted to promote them to black belt.
The Kukkiwon (currently) says that's 4th Dan - whether I agree or not is difficult, I've been kind of conditioned to accept it so much that it seems reasonable. What I means is, I've come up through the ranks thinking that a 4th Dan is worthy of that so now it seems right by conditioning.
I'd say if it was when you master a system completely, then why bother having grades beyond it? Surely if you've mastered it (in that sense), there's nowhere else to go.