From: mary@Cayman.COM (Mary Malmros)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: Rank-test ranting (was: years for black belt)
Date: 30 Jul 92 13:35:37 GMT
Organization: Cayman Systems Inc., Cambridge, MA
In-reply-to: stark@dwovax.enet.dec.com's message of 29 Jul 92 18:45:33 GMT


In article <1992Jul29.193523.19653@PA.dec.com> stark@dwovax.enet.dec.com (Todd I. Stark) writes:

   stave@apollo.hp.com (Joel H. Stave) writes...

   >In article <1992Jul29.164241.4373@PA.dec.com>, stark@dwovax.enet.dec.com
   >(Todd I. Stark) writes:
   >|> When it comes down to it, after all the reasons have been analyzed,
   >|> I think it comes down to ritual.  The test is a ceremonial event,
   >|> a rite of passage both public and private.
   -snip-
   >|> unless the test is for a license to be a demonstrator or performer.
   >|> 

   >One reason I have heard is to see how the student performs under pressure.
   >Admittedly, spectators and masters staring at you shouldn't make any
   >difference, but it often does (I know it does for me).

   Must be pretty strange training that never puts 'pressure' on the student
   until the day of a rank test.  

I don't think that Joel was implying that the rest of the training is 
pressure-free.  

   The only difference is the pressure of
   performing in a public spectacle, which is arguably a valid test of
   martial arts skill, unless your art consists primarily of public
   demonstration.   If the pressure is supposed to simulate the pressure
   of a confrontation in some abstract way, I contend it is a poor substitute 
   for scenario specific role playing work.

Well, I don't think it's the "public performance" aspect, exactly.  
Look at it this way.  When I'm in class and we're practicing a 
technique and I blow it, or practice one of my unique variants like
the Falling Wheel Kick ;-) the instructor will either tell me what
I did wrong or (if we've been through this eleventybillion times already)
will just shake his head.  If I mess it up repeatedly, we'll probably
have A Talk, and I'll get told to practice that technique more...but
it isn't a make-or-break situation.  

On the other hand, if I mess up on a promotion test, that's it...and
that's what gives the testing scenario some value.  It's a situation
in which you have to get up and do your stuff...not in a minute, not
when you get your act together, but RIGHT NOW.  And life is full of
those kind of situations.  What is a job interview, after all?  Or, 
what is a self-defense situation?

[snip]

   These tests just remind me so much of mass production line standardized martial 
   arts.  I need to know what the people training around me can do and I believe 
   in small intimate trainer-trainee group environments.   

That's nice when you can get it, but it isn't available to everybody.

   I guess tests/ranks 
   serve their purpose for large groups to tell people who they're working with, 
   and to provide a rite of passage at important points.  But I don't understand 
   the automatic acceptance that most people seem to have of the significance of a 
   dozen different ranks in the first couple years of practice, each with its own 
   public test, and belt color, and especially with the pyramid increasing fee 
   that is associated in some schools.   

What they tell us at our school is that the ranks don't have intrinsic
significance.  One green belt student isn't the same as another green
belt student, just by virtue of having a green belt.  They do represent 
different stages of development, but what those stages mean is different
for each individual.  

   It's a shame to have a student come up to me all worried about performing
   in some silly rank test, as the ultimate measure of their progress and their
   source of personal pride when I know damn well what they can do and what 
   they need to work on already.     That's my main job as a trainer.  If they
   want a second opinion, they can always find another trainer and work with
   them for a while.   In fact I eventually insist on it if they train with
   me exclusively long enough.   You need another set of eyes eventually
   to pick up and compensate for the first trainer's biases, unless they
   are truly world class.

Agreed.  

Personally, I think the big disadvantage of ranks/belts/etc. is the
way that they encourage students to make comparisons among themselves.  
Instead of thinking about whether they've improved compared to where
they used to be, they look at other people who have a higher rank and
wonder, "Am I as good as so-and-so?"  If the answer's yes, at least
in the student's eye, they decide that they're "good enough" and 
test...and then, when they fail the test, all the instructor can 
say to them is, "You're still making the same mistakes you were six
months ago."  A lot of times this message is not well received.  

I tend to think it's a US cultural thing, which may be found other places
as well.  We are always comparing everything.  Our favorite tool of 
analysis (ha!) is a comparison chart.  Witness the popularity of 
Consumer Reports: a handy list with tick marks telling you what's 
"the best".  Witness the number of people who are new to martial arts
who ask, "What's the best martial art?"  That's why I don't think
it's a stupid question...simply because we also ask, "What's the best
car?" or "What's the best television?" or "What's the best operating
system?" and get into debates about what's "the best" and why.  But
none of these things are that cut and dried, any more than martial
arts is.  If you ask a "What's the best..." question of anyone who's
proficient in any field, they'll probably either tell you that there
are tradeoffs, or they'll give you a safe generic answer, like "Hitachi
makes good TVs."  We do love those comparison charts.  Just talk to
someone in marketing, and they'll tell you that you can't put out
a product that doesn't have just as many tick marks as your competitor's
product ("New!  Potato Swirler with digital readout, battery backup, 
AND a water-pik adapter!").  Your customers may never use those 
tick mark items, but if they're not there, you can forget about selling
it.  

Well, that was MY rant...
--


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 Mary Malmros     | Cayman Systems Inc, 26 Landsdowne St, Cambridge, MA 02139
 mary@cayman.com  | Phone 617-494-1999  Fax 617-494-5167  AppleLink CAYMAN.TECH


Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts