Rank Promotion Letter of Recomendation

[ArmorOfGod]

Some schools make their younger students have their school teachers sign letters of recommendation when it comes time for them to test for higher rank.
Does anyone here go to a school that does that?
How are those letters worded (for those of you who use them)?

AoG

 

[KELLYG]

Our school has a testing form that an area on the back for parents to make comments both good and bad in reference to behavior.. They also can supply a copy of their report card if they are testing during report card time. There have been students denied the privilege to test, as well and some have been reduced in rank until some issues are resolved. Conversely students that have made a turnaround are, or that have been doing well, are publicly praised for there hard work. As to what the verbiage is I can not remember.???

 

[thesandman]

We've never had a formalized process like that for it, but as that our instructors keep close relationships with parents we are usually aware of any kind of issue as they arrise. Students know that these issues effect their testing schedules.

 

[IcemanSK]

For grade school kids I send a letter home that basically asks for the parents & teacher's signature. They have 2 boxes (one for satisfactory grades & behavior & one for not.) Both parent & teacher have a place to sign & make comments.

The sheet is called an "Intend to Promote" sheet. It says this child intends to test for their next belt. Part of doing well in martial arts is working hard in school & behaving both at home & in school. Is this child doing well? Yes___ No___

 

[Josh Oakley]

Man, I'm glad i don't lose rank in the military if I'm doing bad in a college class!:sig:

Generally, I ask parents how their grades and behavior are as a normal course of action, and as a barometer of the kid's growth, but I don't require good grades for the test. If they're behaving properly in class, and have a solid understanding of the material they're supposed to know at their level, I recommend them for the next test. I find that as they progress in the martial arts, and meet the challenges of their tests, their grades and behavior at home progress similarly.

 

[terryl965]

I know alot of schools that does this but it is not my cup of tea :asian:

 

[tshadowchaser]

I want my students to be good at home and to work hard to achieve a good education, however I train my students in the martial arts not these other fields. I expect parents to parent and instill discipline. I expect teachers to teach and if they can not reach a student I would hope they had counseling for the student and maybe the teacher also to find out why the student dose not learn or why the misbehave in class.
My tests are set up for what I teach and that alone. What a student accomplishes in my class hopefully will reflect upon there other activities in life, but I do not have control of their home life or their school.

 

[YoungMan]

For 1st-3rd Dan, the Instructor just recommends his student, although feedback from other Instructors is often sought out. Nothing really official, like letters of recommendation.
However, for 4th Dan on up, each prospective tester is required to complete several hours of contact time with 6th, 7th, and 9th Dans and be formally recommended by each Instructor who fills out and signs a sheet of recommendation. Call it formalized quality control

 

[Twin Fist]

you sure do have alot of high level dans around Young Man. It seems strange.

anywho, if you are teaching kids, part of your job as an instructor is to make sure they are becomming better PEOPLE, and part of this is school work and behavior. In my opinion, it would be irresponsible to ignore that aspect of your students lives.

My students dont test if they are not passing all their classes in school.

do whatever you feel is right, but thats the way I roll.

 

[YoungMan]

We don't ignore that aspect of training. Not at all. In fact, most of our instructors certainly take grades, family life, and school performance into account before recommendation for Dan testing. We just don't use formal letters of recommendation until higher dan testing.
As far as higher Dans, we have 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and one 9th Dan (our Grandmaster) in our organization, all Kukkiwon/Chung Do Kwan certified. In other words, they're all legit.

 

[Jade Tigress]

Our school has a testing form that an area on the back for parents to make comments both good and bad in reference to behavior.. They also can supply a copy of their report card if they are testing during report card time. There have been students denied the privilege to test, as well and some have been reduced in rank until some issues are resolved. Conversely students that have made a turnaround are, or that have been doing well, are publicly praised for there hard work. As to what the verbiage is I can not remember.???

My son's TKD school did this, but the report card was required. The form has areas for the parent to rank such as, picking up after themselves, getting along with siblings and friends, schoolwork, etc. The student had to be at least ranking at the minimum levels, then when next testing time came around there had to be improvement in every weak area to test. If the parent scored the student poorly in too many areas they did not test that time around. I thought it was an excellent format.

 

[kidswarrior]

I find that as they progress in the martial arts, and meet the challenges of their tests, their grades and behavior at home progress similarly.

This is my experience, too.

What a student accomplishes in my class hopefully will reflect upon there other activities in life, but I do not have control of their home life or their school.

Much truth in this statement.

As a professional teacher as well as a MA instructor, have seen both sides of this coin. For example, I've known some parents who might use such a benchmark to blackmail their kids into doing what they wanted them to (beyond the reasonable), e.g., I won't sign this unless you do more, better, bigger, faster--until the kids throw up their hands and give up on everything. But then I deal with some pretty dysfunctional families. (But maybe many of us do?)