Would you promote...to Black Belt?

[jks9199]

The issue I see is the automatic assumption that a DUI charge is some sign of moral failure.

It's not. In the US, the per se Blood Alcohol Content limit for DUI is now .08 % mass by volume, generally measured by .08 g/210 liters breath. It's not hard to get there; you can play with the estimate here to see what I mean. A 160 lb guy who has two martinis in an hour (not particularly hard) is at a BAC of around .07; so would 6 beers over three hours. (I picked that time span and number because it's about a normal televised football game, give or take a bit.) It's pretty easy to get to .08 BAC. It's not hard to hit .10 BAC, especially if you're celebrating. (An officer I know found himself in the unenviable position of arresting the BRIDE for DUI between the wedding and the reception. He couldn't even cut her a break, because the only person with her was even more trashed.)

Incidentally, MADD estimates that the financial cost of a DUI conviction is on the order of $10000 to $20000... And that's not including any financial hit due to job loss or problems caused by having a restricted license.

A single DUI is an indicator of a bad decision. A pattern of DUIs or related offenses is a different issue. Without more to judge by, and without any evidence of other problems... why punish him for a lapse in judgement.

 

[Dirty Dog]

The issue I see is the automatic assumption that a DUI charge is some sign of moral failure.

It's not. In the US, the per se Blood Alcohol Content limit for DUI is now .08 % mass by volume, generally measured by .08 g/210 liters breath. It's not hard to get there; you can play with the estimate here to see what I mean. A 160 lb guy who has two martinis in an hour (not particularly hard) is at a BAC of around .07; so would 6 beers over three hours. (I picked that time span and number because it's about a normal televised football game, give or take a bit.) It's pretty easy to get to .08 BAC. It's not hard to hit .10 BAC, especially if you're celebrating. (An officer I know found himself in the unenviable position of arresting the BRIDE for DUI between the wedding and the reception. He couldn't even cut her a break, because the only person with her was even more trashed.)

Incidentally, MADD estimates that the financial cost of a DUI conviction is on the order of $10000 to $20000... And that's not including any financial hit due to job loss or problems caused by having a restricted license.

A single DUI is an indicator of a bad decision. A pattern of DUIs or related offenses is a different issue. Without more to judge by, and without any evidence of other problems... why punish him for a lapse in judgement.

It's also 100% avoidable. You can call a friend, a family member, have a designated driver, or call a taxi. Hell, if you're a AAA member, they'll come pick you up.

 

[jks9199]

It's also 100% avoidable. You can call a friend, a family member, have a designated driver, or call a taxi. Hell, if you're a AAA member, they'll come pick you up.

I didn't say it wasn't avoidable.

I merely said it's much easier to reach the per se limit than many people understand, and that a single DUI is not an indicator, in and of itself, of anything other than the bad decision to get behind the wheel after drinking. Quite honestly, I've known plenty of people to be at or near BACs of .08 or higher without realizing it.

 

[NinjaJax]

This might be a time that he needs his training more than ever. Closing the door on him now is going to give him one less option for help. If this is a 1st time offense for him, and he didn’t kill someone as a result of it, I don’t think it would be beneficial to keep him from his promotion. If this is an ongoing problem with him, then maybe you would have more reason to give him the boot. As his instructor, you are someone that he looks up to. See what you can do to help him. Let the justice system handle his punishment.

 

[FieldDiscipline]

A single DUI is an indicator of a bad decision. A pattern of DUIs or related offenses is a different issue. Without more to judge by, and without any evidence of other problems... why punish him for a lapse in judgement.

I'd agree with that I think, although without knowing the individual it's hard to say for sure. Degree of severity would play apart too. One off error/bad decision, no one hurt, he's sorry and and a nice guy. I don't think I'd make an issue of it. Everyone makes mistakes.

 

[James Kovacich]

I think that if the testing is a year away and the instructor is deciding "now" that the student could not test. Then the moral thing to do "now" is tell the student that they can not test.

Instead of paying for another year and not being able to test. Let the student move on and continue in another school. Being close to black belt, they deserve that much at a minimum.

 

[d1jinx]

Yeah, Id promote him. Mistakes happen. i dont know if it was a one time bad decision or a common re-occurance. But if it has no effect in the dojang, then why would i pass judgement.

Certain things outside the dojang should remain outside. Unless he is showing up drunk or smelling of alcohol, or creating a disruptive class environment because of his outside issues, its not for me to judge.

Now if I had parents complaining and it was well known in the school of his issue, it is now disruptive and may require his dismissal.

Martial Arts should be a sanctuary from the outside worlds problems, where one focuses on the betterment of themselves. Not a place to pass judgement and give out punishments for outside life events.

 

[Carol]

I'd have a difficult time getting behind the idea of not promoting him, strictly because of his DUI.

How would an instructor find out such a thing? I suppose s/he could be taking the student's personal info and running background checks on them, on the sly, but that not be an honourable thing to do.

They could hear it from someone else. Trouble with that is...you don't really know if it is true unltess you dig in to the issue. Police logs report arrests, not convictions. There have certainly been many cases inside and outside of martial arts where someone has bad things about someone else -- and those bad things proved to be untrue, or exaggerated.

Or, they could hear it from the student themselves...but then the teacher is basically punishing the student for his honesty. There may be other people in the class that have run in to legal issues too, but have not been as up front.

Unless the person is misusing/abusing his skills off the mat, I would lean towards addressing the issues as they relate to the school. If the student has not been intoxicated in class, I don't think I would take sanctions agains him. I certainly don't approve of check kiting (for example), but if the student was current on his tuition, I don't think I would kick a student out simply because they were arrested/convicted on such charges.

 

[Kyosanim]

I understand how a Black Belt makes one represent your dojo.
But how does the BB mean they represent Christ?

He is saying that being a member of the Christian religion makes him an ambassador of sorts for god, and if he is going to represent god, and his dojo and even martial artists as a whole he needs to behave himself.