Gradings Too Lenient?

I was wondering what people think of the way gradings are done?

Having done my first grading this month (and passed), I did feel maybe slightly robbed by the fact that there were quite a few karateka that I thought should not have passed, but were anyway. Their moves were lack-luster at best, and in my humble opinion they demonstrated neither precision in their moves (ie flailing arms and legs) nor spirit in their execution. This seemed to prevail through kihon, kata and kumite, and seemed to mainly be in orange and red belts, and, in the younger members. I don't so much have a problem with some of the younger members not getting some of it right, but I do still think they should have to demonstrate the umpf, but some of the early teens, should be old enough to have precision and umpf. I don't think age should be a factor, because we all pay our money and we are all being examined against the same criteria (apparently). My point is made by the case of 2 karateka, both around the 8-9 age mark, one 7th kyu and one a 5th kyu and both excellant in their grading. Technique was brilliant and their spirit was everything you would hope - in short, they truly deserved to pass their grading.

I once read a post that questioned what was behind it all these days - and most said money. I am already inclined to agree, because when not even the belt cost is included in the grading fee (which I think could be cheaper), you have to ask yourself, if the standards for a kyu are not the measuring stick, what is??!

I have to say, I was slightly disheartened by the event, because it seems anyone can pass the grading so long as they can roughly show the move(s) in some slightly related form. I think it takes something away from those who have practised hard to perfect their techniques for the grading. I know that I at least can have pride in my grading, because I worked really hard for it and not one mention was made about my technique, umpf etc - but it still seemed like a bit of an empty victory.

Grades are like Zebras. You think they are faster than horses but when you get on one you get bucked and it tramples you to death... wait what was i saying?

More on topic... just because they didnt reach your standard doesnt mean they didnt meet the requirements of the club. The longer you stay in the karate world the more and more people you will come across that dont fit with your image of their grade. After awhile a pretty coloured belt will be what it is... a pretty coloured belt nothing more.

I think you have to realise that, to a high ranking instructor who has been in the martial arts for several years, there is very little difference between (for example) a 9th kyu and an 8th kyu. However, I appreciate that when you are at those grades there seems a world of difference.

It's the difference between unconscious incompetence and unconscious competence.

Why would I want someone who cant tell the difference grade me? That would be like getting a Physicist to re wire your house. The physicist would have a better understanding of the nature of electricity however... can you see my point?

In saying that i think more experienced students dont lose the ability to see the differences between kyu/dan grades.

**by more experienced student i mean "black belt/higher dan grade or what ever you want to call it.**

Why would I want someone who cant tell the difference grade me? That would be like getting a Physicist to re wire your house. The physicist would have a better understanding of the nature of electricity however... can you see my point?

In saying that i think more experienced students dont lose the ability to see the differences between kyu/dan grades.

**by more experienced student i mean "black belt/higher dan grade or what ever you want to call it.**

I didn't say that can't tell the difference I said that there is very little difference. The two statements are not the same. I think that you have to understand that there are 4 stages of learning. These are:
Unconscious Incompetence
Conscious Incompetence
Conscious Competence
Unconscious Competence

I can tell the difference between one of my 9th kyu students and one of my 8th kyu students because they have a certain amount of requirements they must meet as set out by my grading syllabus. However they are both still within the first stage of learning, unconscious incompetence and ultimately if they both walked away from the dojo at that point in 6 months or so they would both be back to square one. Karate is something many people set out to study for life, are you telling me that 3 month's training really makes a huge amount of difference in the scheme of things?

Why do you think that when grades were first brought in there were a lot less belts? I tend to think that white, green, brown and black sums up the various stages of learning quite nicely. Anything between that is bite-sized goals for the students and useful for learning various aspects of the syllabus and showing hat kata they should know, but (IMO) largely irrelevant to the instructor. Anything else is just ego (or lack of understanding) on the part of the student.

This post has been edited by AngelaG on Jul 15 2009, 09:06 AM

If this is going to bother you then perhaps you are in the wrong club.

I don't train anymore, but when a grading was approaching, Sensei would advise you that you should grade if he felt you were of good enough standard, if he didn't, you had to ask him if you could grade, and he turned people down.

Also, just because he allowed you to grade, didn't mean you would be successful, I have seen people fail their gradings.

If that seems more like what you are expecting, then maybe you should be looking for another club.

On a slightly different tack. In my area there is a supposed Wadokai karate club that has as its grading examiner a judo dan grade, with no experience of karate. What on earth is that all about.

This amazing bit of information would probably light a bigger fire on the wado section Nimrod.?

oneya

Yeah its wierd thats why I dont understand having your grades "certified" by other bigger organisations.

Why would I want someone not doing my karate to grade me? I wouldnt lol

As for getting a Judo guy grading a Wado club thats just dumb. Did they give you a reason why in Jimmanies Cricket they did that?

They offered no reason and didn't seem to think it was unusual. They came to my club on a spying mission and I thought I heard the clinking of spurs and 6 guns on their way out.

That makes no sense to me haha.

The question I have to ask of all these dan graded people is how much freakin time do you have on your hands if your doing all this stuff when you could be training.

How do you know he has no experience in Karate? He might well have achieved a high grade in Wado before deciding to cross train into Judo?

If you are grading a karate class would you really tell everyone your a judo black belt as opposed to a karate black belt. If he was a wado dan grade he would have said so other wise its gonna look really messed up on the grading certificate "graded by 3 dan Kodokan Judo"...

But he does not go to this club, so he might not know the whole story. He might not be telling everyone he is a judo black belt and not a karate black belt.

For a hypothetical example.

I get up to 6th dan in karate. I then decide to cross train for a while, and so I go to a club to train in judo but keep my wado ticking over by training at home. I then grade to 3rd dan in judo.

To any observer I am a 3rd dan Judoka signing wado certificates because I currently do not train in a Wado club. However I am still a 6th dan Wadoka.

See what I mean?