Advice Please

cfuserkildare wrote: »

Hi Folks,

........We were told that he has reached his potential, and the Master will no longer GRade him??
.......

if this was to an adult, I'd find that kinda funny, "pure cnutish" as they say, but funny as ...

If its to a kid then its way out of order.... one does not go around "limiting" a kids potential.

Of course, maybe the kid has gone as far as he can...... with that instructor.

perhaps consider an art less prone to "subjective" judgements and more of a combat sport? Every day there is feedback, respect is earned and deserved, losing gives way to losing less frequently and eventually competing and winning, at the level up to and decided by the student / practitioner, and one isn't dependent on some tosser with a coloured belt who 9 times out of ten has zero fight experience giving their unqualified opinion about a "Martial" skillset.

I'd never subject my sons to that kind of nonsense, I wouldn't want them mollycoddled and duped into thinking they are better than they are (belt colour V Championship belt) nor would I want them held-back from their true potential by group fantasy.

I'm not making any judgements about what parents chose, I believe that they obviously want what's best for their kids. I do think that they often aren't clear about the level of deception and self-deception in the world of martial arts.

From my own experience in Gung Fu / Wushu, you have the Sanda (Chinese MMA) brigade and those lads usually can move well from their training and therefore have good forms (katas), not 9.4 "master-level" IWUF scores, they aren't spending their lives in front of mirrors but on the mats. Conversely, I have yet to meet a form-competitor of high level (international champion of forms) who can half-arsed fight or use any of the stuff supposedly in their forms!

Traditionally all this form / kata nonsense comes from Chinese Martial Arts Gung Fu... TKD from Karate, Karate from White Crane.....

Forms come from the "folk" arts, including Chinese opera. Most of the "folk" arts have only a form or two and that consists of their entire syllabus. They are looked down upon, like "boxercise" here in the west.
Real "boxing" arts in the Gung Fu World have forms sure, they are used as catalogues of techniques aligned due to relationships in recovery or counter dynamics. When you see a form with 5 or 6 executions of the same technique and the technique is too simple, a straight punch etc. where the body and full arm etc and preceding movement aren't doing something critical like chin-na (chokes / /locks) or wrestling etc. or if you see a several step run-up to a kick etc... you are watching crude "folk" art. That's an uncomfortable fact for many, but any serious degree of research evidences such.

Can you imagine heading over to the "boxing" forum here on boards and suggesting that "real" champions should be graded on their upper-cut, hook and jab forms? and that such should supersede any fight record?

The fallacy is clearly evident, but put "oriental" this or that before it and hey.... bullsh1t becomes all zen!

Belts are the same jive.... invented in Judo first to simply avoid injury by separating out two levels.... beginner and advanced... simple practical usage.
But the greedy and inept saw the potential. gradings are cash-cows and belts lend undeserved respect!

I acknowledge that some decent instructors use belts to motivate students, and some students thrive on such gold-stars... to each their own....

for me the intent desired in martial arts is to never give up, is to be able to weather atrocious storms and not break, how else can one hope to defend one's self when outnumbered or otherwise disadvantaged? Going through the furnace of training required to mould that character automatically produces a respect for all true endevour and effort and those who try, and an understanding that rewards require such ceaseless exertion. It delivers an appreciation for culture and world heritage, because we have had to study such and come to "know" it, "embody" it! And this method of self-cultivation demands honesty and truth... you must be honest with yourself first! Our opponents and rivals become our most valued checks against fallacy and often our inspiration. Enemy realises into friend!
This is the kind of attributes and self awareness many parents seek for their kids, and clearly the demands of real martial arts will offer the opportunity to develop character!
But a belt system is an crutch in a lot of ways, a hierarchical position awarded by another. Do such systems condition the child into requiring constant reaffirmation from their peers? Is that a "warrior" mindset? And do we want our kids to respect "hierarchy" unquestionably? Bowing to a higher belt, or to a "master"? That sounds like mental slavery not an unbreakable iron will?
No doubt, the belt culture will programme (as it was designed to do by the Japanese military) contented little troopers, who know their place, and take self-defeating orders willingly, with a bow..... and today, wage-slaves for the 9-5 corporate culture (it served early twentieth century Japanese Budo Fascism well. A tool to condition children to more readily accept their later experience with military hierarchical structures. When you send troops out as bait so the army can persevere, you don't want them opening up a discussion on the matter!).... I fail to recall any international fighter I know, and I know a lot, who are not self-made men, successful entrepreneurs, who were taught long ago in martial arts to seek beyond the 9-5 and ignore, no! "value" the pain of effort and sacrifice. I have to say that I don't think any of them could or would put up with a beta-life for long, they all cut their teeth as wage-slaves for sure, but quickly surpassed the middle-management belt-holders and didn't fail to recognize less than efficient structures and people around them and thus figure out how to succeed, to win... but that's what real fighters do!