How important is time in rank?

[ninjanurse]

Time in grade is a guideline. Students who excel and meet all other requirements should not be held from rank unless there are other reasons for doing so-sometimes they just need to wait a little longer than usual to settle their ego down .

[JR 137]

As a lot of people have said, minimum time in rank should be a guideline rather than set in stone.

There's valid arguments both way, but something I keep coming back to is no matter how well you teach, you can not teach experience. You can't give a student experience. The student has to acquire that experience, and the only way to acquire experience is time. The quality of the students' experience will differ though.

[MatsuShinshii]

I don't subscribe to time in grade requirements.

We all learn at different rates and some have natural skill and other do not and require more time to develop said skill.

If anything this is more of a guide than anything else. Something to gauge an individuals progress.

The thought that because I have trained for 7 years automatically dictates that I be afforded the opportunity to test for Shodan is a farce at best.

I have seen students that were ready to test for Shodan after four years of training and others that were not ready after 8 years of training.

Our organization states that time in grade for Shodan is 5 years minimal and 7 years normal time in grade. This is nothing more than a guide.

No one person is built the same way, has the same intelligence or has the same physical ability. Why then would time in grade mean anything?

Take myself for example; I have passed on promotions/tests because I was not ready and have been passed up on tests because I was not ready.

To have a set time frame is not practical unless you are teaching carbon copy clones.

[Montana]

We used time between belt tests as a "minimum amount of time" between tests.

For the first 3 belts (10 total) it was a MINIMUM of 2 months between tests.

Next 3 belts was a MINIMUM of 3 months.

Last 3 colored belts was MINIMUM of 4 months.

This doesn't account for them knowing that next levels requirements. 

[Nidan Melbourne]

Since this has popped back up since I last contributed to it; 

Kyu  Grades have a lot more flexibility at my club than we do for our Dan  Grades. As our requirements for all Kyu Grades require the following: 

• 5 'Tags'
  • Students tested at minimum every 6 lessons; but dependent on their attitude and behaviour on the  day 
  • Can't just know the skills tested, but need to be proficient.
• 30 Training Hours (Minimum)
  • By the time gradings come around; most students will have close to 40-50 hours per rank. 
  • If they miss a grading; they will attend the next one
• I expect of students to have some understanding/knowledge of the history of Karate and Goju

For me at my own club; you need to be invited to grade 

Dan Grades; have a time  in grade minimum

• as a Nidan; I have a 3 Year Training Requirement
  • Requirements (in addition to that gap) also require me to consistently train throughout the 3 years 
  • Understanding and Knowledge of History of Karate (as a whole) and Goju-Kai 
  • Build an understanding of other Styles or Martial Arts and to demonstrate such knowledge 
    • For Example: Learn some Judo Techniques; regardless of technical difficulty or even say Kobud
    •  

 That is starkly different to say someone preparing to grade to Shodan (1st Dan) from Shodan-Ho (Provisional 1st Dan) where they mainly have to worry about their curriculum and the time in grade (18 months). 

[aurik]

My instructor's philiosophy on belts and ranking is, "the colored belts aren't for you (the student), they're for me (the instructor) - they give the instructor an easily identified reminder as to what part of the curriculum you're at and what is appropriate to be teaching you".  So with that mindset, I have absolutely zero problems with TIG requirements.  At our school, junior kyu ranks (up to 5th kyu or so) have a 3 month TIG requirement and senior kyu ranks (4th kyu and up) have a 6 month TIG requirement.  This is for your average student who attends a minimum of twice per week.  Students that only attend once per week will test less frequently.

These TIG requirements are set by our organization, and are fairly standard across Uechi-Ryu styles.  Kyu gradings are done purely at the local dojo, so technically my CI can adjust TIG requirements slightly depending on the student's circumstances.  However, when a student tests for shodan, their entire packet gets sent to our organization, since they will be awarding the dan grading.  As such, any discrepancies in TIG requirements will need to be justified.

As I mentioned, the belt is a guideline to the instructor to let him/her know what the student is ready to learn.  So if a student shows above-average aptitude, then the instructors will recognize this and introduce him/her to more advanced techniques earlier than other students.  

For Dan-level gradings, the TIG requirement is generally 2 years to test for nidan, 3 years for sandan, etc.  If you are an instructor, they can reduce that TIG requirement by 6 months at the discretion of the CI, since instructors are required to teach at least once per week in addition to their normal training.  

Again, these are guidelines and minimums.  Any and all test candidates need to be invited by their supervising instructor to test.  Generally the instructor in question will run a "pre-test" evaluation in class the week prior to the testing board to make sure the eligible candidates are ready to test.

[KorroddyDude]

I don't see a problem with time-in-grade requirements.  If they're good enough for militaries who are tasked with defending entire nations, then it surely can't hurt anywhere else.

Generally speaking, in Shotokan, the TIG requirements are for the dan grades - one year at ikkyu for shodan, two years at shodan for nidan, three years at nidan for sandan, and so forth.

Tests are every three months; so a brand new white belt who signs up today could test for yellow belt next week if that's when the test is scheduled.  Ultimately, they still have to pass the test in order to be promoted.  Technically, as you noticed, this creates a de facto three month TIG for each kyu grade.

Personally, I like it that way.  I've heard of schools that simply surprise students at the end of class with their new belts rather than testing.  I wouldn't be a fan of this.  Students showing up to class hoping that today is gonna be their day, and they go home livid - and this continues on indefinitely.  And the reason why a student did or did not get promoted in this case can't be "quantified" (for lack of a better term) the way it can in the case of testing.

[RJCKarate]

I have a classes policy rather than time, as I believe hours training is more important than time in grade. It also accounts for individuals learning differently. The requirement is quite minimal. Most take around 5-8 years to become Yudansha. 

For BmYudansha there is the nominal years (eg 2>3Dan 3 years) as well as the classes.

[Nidan Melbourne]

3 hours ago, RJCKarate said:

I have a classes policy rather than time, as I believe hours training is more important than time in grade. It also accounts for individuals learning differently. The requirement is quite minimal. Most take around 5-8 years to become Yudansha. 

For Yudansha there is the nominal years (eg 2>3Dan 3 years) as well as the classes.

 

Is it a fairly uniform policy for classes for all Kyu Grades? or does it scale upwards as they progress through the Kyu Grades? 

Our students have a similar thing; where they have to have a minimum of 30 class credits to be eligible. Yet students often do in excess of 40-50 before attending their next grading. Yet our 1st Kyu's may have well over 100 class credits attributed to them.

[sensei8]

We held Kyu Testing Cycles every 3 months in all dojo's including our Hombu. Whether a Testing Cycle candidates Petition to Test was granted or not depended on several things but the one thing that stands out is class attendance. Kyu students were required to attend a minimum of 3 classes a week. Anything less than that was an immediate rejection of their Petition to Test. Every dojo submitted copies of every student's Hard Card to the Hombu, and one of the things that was on a student's Hard Card, which was kept at the Dojo and at the Hombu, was attendance.

We train for a reason, and not just for a season.