tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1540643628218431638.post998174036865316940..comments2023-12-19T07:45:21.442+08:00Comments on Kojutsukan: Jan de Jong Pt 15 - Grades - Attracting or Weeding Out StudentsJohn Coleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14634192254115557179noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1540643628218431638.post-53844416541524324632011-03-26T08:28:09.382+08:002011-03-26T08:28:09.382+08:00Thanks for responding with such an in depth look a...Thanks for responding with such an in depth look at the question. It's an interesting topic. The founder of my style only promoted a few people to black belt, including my Sensei. The progression under my Sensei is slow, especially now that he only accepts a few private students and no longer runs a commercial dojo. Our curriculum is robust, but misleading in a way. A belt ranking will ask for you to demonstrate say, 5 responses to a choke, and it will list the required ones. I learned early on that you might get asked to demonstrate 40 come test time. The curriculum is the bare minimum, maybe even less.<br /><br />At higher belts, you're expected to know the techniques and then know several counters. The pages can be deceiving.<br /><br />I imagine if you are trying to run a commercial club, you might need to consider how much is in a curriculum, but then again, good teachers are good teachers. Serious students care less about belts and more about the quality of instruction. Attracting new students can be tricky though if things look overwhelming. I'm getting off topic now, but thanks for the response, and thanks to Ash at Spirit Defence for adding to the discussion.Journeymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00146093025259375890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1540643628218431638.post-42302725523095883522011-03-24T16:32:27.340+08:002011-03-24T16:32:27.340+08:00Hi John,
There is so much here and I might be abl...Hi John,<br /><br />There is so much here and I might be able to provide a student's (beginner) perspective - albeit one from quite a few years ago<br /><br />From my point of view, the syllabus seemed so comprehensive that, at times, it felt like one could spend their own training career in the kyu grades and never make it to black belt. But I wonder how much of this actually related to organisational culture whereby there was an unspoken expectation that it would take a long time (10+years) for no other reason than... just because.<br /><br />I remember passing a grading, and you, myself and Mr deJong were happy with the results. You then set a target for the next two grades which surprised me at the time. Actually, I was more inspired at the time because the time frame went against the norm at the school. Rather than chasing belts, it was a challenge to learn as much as possible and keep progressing.<br /><br />I felt like I was getting an education in martial arts rather than simply training - a sure sign of having a good instructor.<br /><br />With an extensive syllabus there is the danger than life will indeed get in the way. Add an injury or two and time just slips away. In many ways, it was harder to "chase grades" and much easier to just meander along without true technical progression taking place. <br /><br />At the risk of contradicting myself, the large syllabus also meant that it was better to focus on simply developing skills rather than focussing on the black belt as a goal. A balanced approach would have been to look to the next two or maybe three grades as goals - which is exactly what you did (clever). <br /><br />As far as weeding people out.... I don't know either. It obviously doesn't make economic sense to weed people out, but conversely it doesn't make (long term) economic sense to lower standards either. Perhaps the syllabus ended up being a good balance between challenging and inspiring. <br /><br />I do know that private training helped a lot and I can't imagine getting very far without one on one assistance - but perhaps that's yet another topic for a future posting.<br /><br />cheers,<br />AshSpirit Defence www.spiritdefence.com.auhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06590710790982271684noreply@blogger.com