For the instructors: Do you test your own students for black belt, or do you bring in an outside instructor to test them?
We bring in an outside instructor to test them, although the students' instructor is also present. We also do this for color belt testings.
What are the pros & cons of each?
There are issues of integrity either way, but greater, I think, when you test your own students. As an instructor, it is easier to say "well, I know s/he can perform "x" properly because I've seen it in class" about your own students than others' students. The purpose of testing, IMHO, is to deliberately create a stressful situation to see how students perform; black belt testings should be correspondingly more stressful. Testing for someone other than your own instructor increases the level of stress in some ways and reduces it in others - having both instructors present maximizes the stress of testing for another instructor, especially as one's own instructor must sign off on the promotion along with the testing instructor.
If you bring in an outside instructor, how nervous are you when your students test? (I guess that question still applies if you do it yourself).
More nervous, in many ways, than if I am testing myself; I have less ultimate control over the actions of others than my own, and it seems like my students make mistakes at testing that I never see in class. In addition, when my students test, in many ways I
am testing - my instruction, rather than my own performance, is being put to the test every time I allow a student to test; allowing a student to test who is not ready reflects poorly on me as an instructor, as does allowing a student to test who is ready but does not perform (for whatever reason) at testing.
For students: What has your experience been?
I have never tested for my instructor, although he has been present at all of my testings, and has signed all of my certificates. I know that there are people who test their own students, but the only time I experienced it myself I was not happy with it, and neither were my students (I was told to test my own students because there wasn't a testing instructor available - but in reality, my class was too small, and there wasn't a testing instructor willing to show up for the minimal fee s/he would get, as the fee was based on the number of students testing).
Would you rather test in front of your instrutor, or an outside instructor that perhaps you don't know?
Well, as I said, we test for another instructor, but with our own instructor present as well - sometimes the testing instructor is someone you know, and sometimes it's not. Knowing the testing instructor can raise the bar, because if it's someone you've trained with, you want to be sure that you perform well; not knowing the testing instructor and what s/he expects raises the bar as well, because you don't know what to expect. There's something to be said for each way.
