Before class, several of us were in the back room warming up. Kids classes were going on in the front room. At one point, sensei really had to get onto the kids. I remarked to Brad, "I could never be a teacher. I'd end up killing someone!"
Brad laughed a bit and responded, "I wondered why you're never out there teaching."
"Sensei pays Josh to teach," I told him. He expressed surprise, saying than in his Tae Kwan Do dojang, the sensei doesn't pay anyone to teach. They just do. From the time I was a blue belt I came in early and helped teach, up until last year. That's when he started paying a purple belt to teach. I decided then that if he'd rather pay a purple belt rather than have a black belt teach for free, then he just didn't really need me teaching. That purple belt stayed just long enough to get his brown belt, then quit, so now sensei pays Josh to teach.
"And green belt is higher than blue belt?" Brad segued, because in TKD, it is just the opposite. I said that in Isshinryu, each sensei pretty much sets up the belts and what is required for each one in his own dojo. There is no hierarchy--no controlling body within the style. At one time, some of the first generation students got together to try to standardize things, but they couldn't agree on anything so it never happened. Master Shimabuku was constantly changing and improving the style. One student would train in the early 60s and would learn the kata one way. Another student would train in the late 60s and would learn the kata with differences. They never could agree on which way was "right", so nothing really came of that meeting. I used the example of Mrs. Wagner. She trained in a different dojo, even though it is the same lineage, yet her kata are different from ours. Not major, glaring differences, but differences nonetheless.
Brad said that the American TKD Association controls all of TKD in America. They actually have a manual outlining what the ranks are and what are the requirements are for that rank. There is nothing like that in Isshinryu, and I kind of wish there were. We have to test before a board of IKA certified instructors 5th degree and above, but in other places, the sensei just tests and promotes within the dojo. There is no consistency, and this can be abused. For example, a young shodan (first degree black belt) gets kicked out of his dojo, for whatever reason. His girlfriend leaves the dojo with him. A few weeks later, he promotes her to shodan in her garage. There is no certification, no association recognition, nothing. Just a "You're a shodan," and he hands her a black belt, and we are supposed to recognize that? Is that a legitimate belt? I wouldn't think so, but in Isshinryu it is. (True story, by the way.)
About that time, kids class ended and our class started. Brad and I were the only other black belts there, and Brad's black belt is in TKD, so he didn't count. For teaching purposes, I mean. So sensei took the five highest ranks into the back to work with them, while I taught the white and yellow belts. We did basics. Now, when Mr. T is there leading the basics, it is more ka-robics than karate. I've talked about this before. Even I can't always keep up with his counting. His count is so fast, you just have to fling your punch or kick out there as fast as you can to try and keep up. This leads to sloppy basics, if you ask me. So when I teach--especially a room full of white belts, I slow them down. I tell them not to worry about speed, it will come later with practice. Right now, concentrate on getting your form correct. At this point, that is what they need to be practicing anyway. Sloppy basics lead to bad habits.
During the break, I gave a belt tying lesson. I cannot stress how important it is to have the obi tied correctly. Coming into the dojo looking all sloppy shows tremendous disrespect to the dojo, the sensei, they style, and yourself. Besides that, if you can't make the effort to get your belt tied correctly, what makes you think I will believe you have what it takes to make it all the way to black belt?
After the break, we did some sparring drills. And that was the end of class.
After class, sensei told me, "I've got a dilemma here. Some of the new white belts could be promoted all the way to yellow, but that wouldn't be fair to Tim and Brian." I wanted to throw my hands into the air and shout hallelujah! At least he's thinking about being fair. I don't think he ever meant to be deliberately unfair, he just didn't think about it. Now he's thinking. That's a huge step forward. Anyway, I gave him my opinion, which is to promote Tim, Brian, and John to yellow, and the rest to their two green stripes. John had trained with us a few years ago, and was actually promoted to two green stripes before he left, so it would be logical to promote him to yellow. The ones in this class are old enough, and hopefully mature enough to realize that they are not all going to advance at the same pace. Besides that, Tim and Brian have been training some 4 or 5 months now. It wouldn't be fair to them to promote someone who just walked in the door to the same rank. That's like telling them that all the time and work they put in didn't count for anything. There's more to karate than just learning a kata and getting a rank. If that's all it took, we could have 8 month black belts who didn't know anything.
I don't know what sensei will decide. I'm just glad he's finally trying to be fair.
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3 comments:
Ah, Brad gave you some misinformation there. As a current member of the ATA, aka the American Taekwondo Association, and considering I DO work for them -- or at least an ATA school, have competed in ATA Tournaments, my boss is the RCT (Regional Chief of Tournaments) for our region (which is most of the mid-Atlantic region), and she also trains and certifies instructors, I think I might know a thing or two about that.
Brad was correct that there is a set curriculum for Songahm Taekwondo, which is the style that the ATA practices. Just as in many other forms of martial arts, there are styles within styles. In TKD, I've seen that there are 3 main sub-style - Songahm, International, and Olympic. Originally in the ATA, we followed something more like the International style. But they guy who started the ATA, Eternal GM HU Lee, thought of standardizing it and bringing the form, which had become more of a Korean-Japansese hybrid, back to a more traditional Korean style which concentrates on the kicking. Anyway, it took literally decades to come up with this, and it was introduced to the ATA in the early 1980s, I believe. Anyway, the ATA does NOT control all the TKD in America. It IS the largest martial arts organization in North America, as well as worldwide. A big reason for the standardization is to prevent exactly what you are describing. And what's cool is it really puts everyone on a level playing field as far as what requirements are, and what's expected, and the progression makes sense as you go along. The rankings as a color belt are 10 belts before you test for 1st dan/degree. On average, if they don't stop their training and go an average of twice a week, and get through all their midterms and tests through their color belts, they can get their black belt in 2 years. You really can't take it in less time, as you are supposed to put in a certain number of hours of training in. So, a 1st dan in ATA TKD is supposed to be comparable to any other black belt. And the ATA does allow other style - karate, muay thai, whatever, to transfer into our style. If they have a 1st dan in their style, the head instructor of that school, or the equivalent of a sensei, would determine where in the curriculum they would fit into the system based on what that person can do and keep up with, and they get them on the curriculum track appropriately. The other thing about ATA/Songham TKD is that since the curriculum is standardized, the testing is too, AND the certification to be a judge or even an instructor is too. I have not gone for my certification yet, even though I've had the material several times. I just haven't had time to relearn it perfectly in order to teach it all. When I'm ready, it's good, because in the ATA, you can't teach (and get paid for it) unless you have your certification. You can assist for free, like an apprecticeship, but you really can't teach a regular color belt or higher class unless you've gone through the appropriate certification.
For more about ATA history and all that, see About the ATA. Pretty interesting stuff.
Dani, I think it's more likely a case of me misunderstanding than Brad misinforming me. He does train in an ATA school up in Memphis, and as a ni-dan, he's been there long enough to know how it works.
I'm sure I just heard him wrong.
OKay, no problem. But you'd be surprised how many black belts don't know the inner workings of the ATA at all! Even those with 2nd and 3rd degree belts! No worries. :-)
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