drop bear
Sr. Grandmaster
Why? Why not just wait until the next test?
Top down style schooling. If you want to get better you have to grade to learn the better things.
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Why? Why not just wait until the next test?
I am going to steal that one.Old timers have heard me say before that it's better to wear a white belt and have people wonder why, than to wear a black belt and have people wonder why.
Only if that stuff is needed to actually get better, and not just learn more stuff. If you learn basic punches and kicks, you've already got plenty to spend another 3 months to improve upon.Top down style schooling. If you want to get better you have to grade to learn the better things.
Two things I'm seeing, the second being somewhat of a shocker to me. First, the level of asceticism and self-denial that I'm seeing. Which I can see as understandable if they've met their personal milestones at other places, and this isn't their first rodeo. The second, which is surprising to me, is that they find it completely odd and abnormal that others don't have the same level of asceticism and self-denial as they do.Top down style schooling. If you want to get better you have to grade to learn the better things.
To some degree, this makes sense. If I have two white belts in the white belt class, and one of them can easily do a passable roundhouse kick, but the other struggles with it, I'm going to focus on the one struggling.Top down style schooling. If you want to get better you have to grade to learn the better things.
I think the key words here are 'to master'.I was saying 7 years to get to 4th dan. Not to get from first dan to 4th dan. I'm aware of schools that have 1 year to get to 1st dan (and would be highly suspect of a school that allows that in less).
So 1 year to first. 1 more year to 2nd puts us at two years. 2 more years to 3rd puts us at 4 years. 3 more years to 4th puts us at 7 years to get to 4th dan from beginning of training.
But I was also just using that as a base minimum. My point was that at 7+ years you shouldn't need to be learning new forms; you should have more than enough info to train and master already. Personally, I think that should be true after 3-5 years, so long as its not a grappling focused system, and you attend regularly.
I find using a title for black belts as weird as others outside Taekwondo for Master/Grandmaster. For me, 1-3rd are still beginner ranks, so aren't worthy of any particular title.In my school/family of schools, Master denotes 6th and 7th Dan, and Grand Master denotes 8th and 9th. I donāt see the Master designation as any different than addressing black belts as Mr/Mrs LastName while addressing colored belts as FirstName. Itās showing respect for the work theyāve put in. Both into TKD and into me.
Absolutely agree. It was quite a surprise that when I first trained in Korea, they never ask your rank and you never line up by it (and it's not normally on a belt either). It's just not seen as the important factor.[use of titles, ranks, etc] It's mostly a western thing anyway.
I really must apologize, but I've read this sentence like 7 times, and I still don't know what you mean by it. Can you rephrase it?I find using a title for black belts as weird as others outside Taekwondo for Master/Grandmaster.
Sure, I just meant personally hearing coloured belts call black belts "Mr/Mrs/Miss X" really strange, and others have said that hearing "Master/Grandmaster X" strange too. Make more sense?I really must apologize, but I've read this sentence like 7 times, and I still don't know what you mean by it. Can you rephrase it?
I've skimmed through this thread, but may have missed it. I just wanted to add some information that may help know the latest situation on this.If the org has standards and enforces them, then reciprocity makes sense.
The KKW has standards, but there is no real enforcement, which makes it silly.
That makes more sense.Sure, I just meant personally hearing coloured belts call black belts "Mr/Mrs/Miss X" really strange, and others have said that hearing "Master/Grandmaster X" strange too. Make more sense?
Out of interest, does whatever style of martial art you do (as you said "outside") have any titles? Sensei, Hanshi, Sifu, etc?I suppose i am simply having a visceral reaction to the use of the title āmasterā. I have no problem with using the term as a form of acknowledgement, such as āJeff really is a master of Tae Kwon do, his skill is quite high.ā But I find myself cringing when the term is used as a title and when addressing someone directly, such as āMaster Jeff told me to work on my side kickā or āMaster Jeff, when will we meet for training this week?ā
I find the cringiness amplified when the term is āgrandmaster.ā
That is my issue, of course. But I offer it as an observation from the outside.
This is news to me as well.I've skimmed through this thread, but may have missed it. I just wanted to add some information that may help know the latest situation on this.
Previously (before last year?) an 8th or 9th Dan could promote someone to 7th Dan or below (it's always been phrased as "recommend" but in reality they promoted them, and Kukkiwon accepted it without enforcement).
From this year, 6th and 7th Dan candidates must send a video of each part of the test to Kukkiwon, where they will make the actual promotion decision. From next January, 4th and 5th Dan candidates must do the same.
I would assume if the same examiners keep sending many failures to Korea, they'll be forced to undertake recertification as a Kukkiwon International Master (and passing that course is necessary from earlier this year, in order to recommend ANY rank to Kukkiwon).
That would only leave 1st to 3rd Dan candidates with no oversight/enforcement, which given that these are considered beginner ranks, probably makes sense...
I guess I've been lucky that in general the club I've trained at and others I've visited have enough masters to not need any duties for lower dans. We try to give them teaching experience (e.g. I have a few 2nd Poom kids that help out with a kids class on a Saturday morning), but it's not expected of them or a duty.That makes more sense.
In my experience at every school I've been, 1st - 3rd degree black belts (and often higher rank color belts) have some degree of assistant instruction as part of their duties. So it makes sense to me that these would hold a more formal title than say a green belt, but a less formal title than a Master rank.
I find those titles strange personally. We would call a lower rank black belt helping out an assistant instructor (when talking about them), but wouldn't use it as a title with their name. They would just be Skribs, not Assistant Instructor Skribs (for example.The school I recently joined has it spelled out by degree:
- Assistant instructor
- Instructor
- Assistant master
- Master
Yeah, I agree that BJJ Black Belt is around 4th Degree. Let me ask a question that may show a difference.BJJ tends to be less formal, but they use the Professor title for their black belts, and I would equate a BJJ black belt to around a 4th degree in TKD, in terms of how long it takes to get there and how much respect there is for those respective ranks. But you would still call a purple or brown belt "Coach" if they're teaching.
Background info #1: The rule at my old school was that if the exercise was too much and you had enough, you weren't supposed to complain, but to say "Thank you Master."Just wondering if it's the word Master and potential negative connotations, or the use/overuse/abuse of a title
I agree it's a little late, but requiring a (short) course on how to do the basics properly and passing a test on it is a step in the right direction. And I think it's fair to say that if people want to issue the certificate, they shouldn't have that much diversity in technical standards (thinking of the use of the word to mean "definition" rather than "level").This is news to me as well.
I get what Kukkiwon is trying to do. But my problem is that you have an organization that's allowed so much diversity in teaching style and curriculum, that trying to reign it in affects the identity of the individual schools.
Absolutely. The book of the syllabus is online somewhere, but I wrote a script to download every page and combine to a PDF and didn't keep the original URL.As a simple example, I know KKW is coming out with a self-defense program, and part of that includes groundfighting. Based on my experience before I started BJJ, I would not be qualified to teach groundfighting, and it wouldn't make sense for me to include it in my curriculum based on a KKW self-defense seminar, compared to the Hapkido techniques that I'm extensively trained in. Now that I've started BJJ, and will likely have been doing it for a few years before opening my own school, I might find myself over-qualified on groundfighting compared to what KKW expects, and might have different opinions than what the KKW curriculum is at that point.
Well, it's causing waves, but it's happening. We'll see what happens in 2-3 years when the dust has settled.Kukkiwon is trying to tighten down the screws on a ship that's already left the harbor, and it doesn't really work like that. I've seen the same thing in my day job, when a local business network is getting taken over by the headquarters enterprise network. It's too late to change the business processes, so all the enterprise does is create more chaos when they're trying to reign it in.
The school I was at as a kid, the Master at the time I believe was just a 4th degree. I took classes at the YMCA, which were led by a 2nd degree (his wife). I think this may be a similar phenomenon as BJJ has had more recently, where it used to be that most schools were run by a purple or brown belt, because black belts were so rare. But now that BJJ is more mature, most schools are run by a black belt.I guess I've been lucky that in general the club I've trained at and others I've visited have enough masters to not need any duties for lower dans. We try to give them teaching experience (e.g. I have a few 2nd Poom kids that help out with a kids class on a Saturday morning), but it's not expected of them or a duty.
Depends on the school. My professor (4th degree) doesn't care what you call him. Most people call him Professor. I often use his first name, because it's the same as mine, so it results in some fun back-and-forth.If you go to a BJJ Dojo and the instructor is a purple belt, I agree you'd call them Coach. If they had a black belt in attendance but asked "Jane" to come and help you and a few others with a technique, would you call her Coach during that teaching, or just Jane?
I would be very interested in a copy of that PDF, if you were willing to share it.Absolutely. The book of the syllabus is online somewhere, but I wrote a script to download every page and combine to a PDF and didn't keep the original URL.
There's a couple pieces to this. First, the waves may be that folks leave Kukkiwon so they aren't bound by new restrictions. One of the reasons I had originally wanted to go with Kukkiwon when I open my own school is because if my requirements for my school are just Taegeuks and sparring, then I could easily work around that. But now I want to go unaffiliated, so I don't have to deal with drama above me.Well, it's causing waves, but it's happening. We'll see what happens in 2-3 years when the dust has settled.
FYI, that's mostly a Brazilian thing (because "professor" just means "teacher" in Portuguese). Almost everyone who has called me Professor has been Brazilian.BJJ tends to be less formal, but they use the Professor title for their black belts