ever seen a belt taken away?

[IcemanSK]

Skills cannot be taken away but ranks can be erased. In the Far East, old-school teachers would disown and banish a student who committed a serious offense. The offender was expelled and the expulsion was made known to other teachers as martial arts teachers were often well acquainted with their peers. Word spread quickly and soon the blacklisted student would be refused everywhere. Being involved in Okinawan karate circles, I have heard of this happening a few times even in branch dojos in North America and elsewhere.

More than 30 years ago, I trained with a very talented BB. He was sparring with another BB (who was a guest at our school) before class. One accidental low shot not apologized for turned into cheap shots on both guys' parts. Next thing that happens, our student wants to take the fight to the alley. Luckily, we had several respected BBs at class that night who prevented that from happening.

When our master got there that night, he expelled his own student for good and made sure he no longer had a great reputation in our area. (Basically, our master told other masters the facts of what happened). Several years later, this guy went to jail for a number of years for molesting children. This guy is a different guy than the one I mentioned above. UGH.

[liger]

We are a small class. None of the kids or adults act out in a way that needs to go to that extreme.