Lol, when people pass solely because of their ethnicity, you are right, there are going to be people that are upset. When people pass without testing, people are going to be upset. People will be upset when they spend over $2000 to take a test and are told they didn't pass to a the degree they applied for because, "noone got what they tested for, they got one degree less". Unfortunately, people want to be tested fairly. I don't think that is too much to ask for, especially when they are at the core of the tenets.
We didn't petition (although I think we'd have a case), at this point, we just want the certificate and to know what is going to happen to the extra money.
It seems to me that what is taking precedence and priority is the relationship with the Org, over the relationship with one's teacher. To me, that seems backwards. One's teacher ought to be the one testing you, and ought to have the final say whether you passed or failed, because he has developed the relationship with you and knows you better than the Org. If the teacher is in good standing with the Org, then he ought to be able to get the proper certificates and whatnot, once you pass.
But it looks like people are stepping around their teacher to test (and complain and petition to) the Org. And from some of the posts here, it looks to me like this is a well-established and common practice, at least with the particular Orgs here under discussion, the KKW and the USAT. I don't have any familiarity with them, so I don't exactly get their relationship and interaction, but it just looks very strange to me.
Of course everyone wants to be tested fairly and evaluated accordingly. And everyone wants to pay whatever is the fair fee, and not be paying for something that is not delivered. But then, if you've paid $2k to test for the extra dan grade, does that entitle you to that grade? If you've paid that much money, does one feel entitled to the rank, regardless? Is it not still possible to simply fail the test, even tho you've paid so much in fees?
But then it's easy to point fingers at the Org and accuse them of simply pocketing the extra fee and arbitrarily refusing to grant the rank. If the rank was truly deserved, and they collected a fee for it, then they have an obligation to bestow it. But who makes these decisions? Who gets to decide if the test was successful or not? And who gets to challenge that decision? Does nobody else see the dysfunctional relationship inherent in this? I see a whole can of worms here, wriggling around the dollars.
I've never been involved with an organization or school that demands these kinds of fees. Nothing even remotely close. So it's quite foreign to me and I really don't understand it. Just reading this thread has given me a picture of the many problems that arise with big organizations and big fees.
