On Passing (An update on failing!)

[aefibird]

Congratulations on passing, but even bigger congratulations for being able to "take" failure and learn from it - and not giving up! A big well done to you.

[Jiffy]

Abosoutly. Many can handle winning, but only true winners can handle loosing.

[koryu]

Personally, I think everyone, at some point during their training (usually during the 3rd, 2nd, or 1st kyu ranks) needs a wake up call so to speak. I remember when I was a 2nd kyu, bogged down with school, work, training, and assisting teaching. My sensei pulled me to the side one day after my normal class and told me that I would not advance to the next rank if I did not improve and that my training had really gone down hill. I was upset of course, but after about a week of analysis, he was absolutely right, and I dug in, and trained harder than ever before. I don't think a student should ever fail a test. A sensei should recognize a struggling student before the test even comes up and address the problems and maybe postpone the test for a month or two to allow for improvement. Failing a test is very embarrassing, but is sometimes necessary for some students to have their wake up call after being spoken to by the sensei. Congratulations on passing your test! You can overcome whatever obstacles are in your way, and you've just shown that you can overcome a very large obstacle.

[Jiffy]

Some great thoughts there! As you mentioned, these sorts of issues should be addressed before the grading. The only problem of course is that when they are up for grading, they know they will pass, but that's another issue.