Chances of reaching dan grades

[bushido_man96]

Well, there is a lot of coulda, woulda, shoulda that you hear about every day in the world. Restraints come in a lot of forms, physical inability, time constraints, etc. In the end, though, it adds up to not being there for everybody.

[Killer Miller]

It's actually the time devoted to achieving Shodan and above versus all of life changes that occurs with the vast majority of people whom are not able to dedicate the necessary time to reach shodan and above...

- Killer -

But going back to the original question: it's not right to say that because only a small percentage do achieve dan grade, it follows that any individual karateka only has a small chance of being able to do so. It's the old statistical fallacy of correlation = causation. Personally, I think the majority of karateka could achieve shodan and above, but it is obviously a matter of perseverance, practice etc. The odds are not stacked against those that withdraw from training any more than against those who succeed.

[whess]

As long as you stick with karate you can achieve any rank if you keep practicing