Somehow, with how one goes up in ranking while studying karate, one starts to put a premium on going up in ranks. Belts show proof of that rank. A few weeks ago, my wife talked to me about it and she made a pretty good point. Belts and ranks mean nothing. What you know counts more. She tried to learn karate but didn't want to take the tests. She said that if she learned her lessons for her belt, cant i not teach her the next lessons? This reminded me of the time i was practicing Aikido. There, i didn't really care if i took the test or not. The lessons for white, blue, brown and black were the same. It only changed according to your skill. As a white belt in Aikido (being already a blackbelt in karate), i learned fast to the point that the lessons i was learning in Aikido was the same as that of the brown belt. I could roll and fall like the best of them. Given that, i didn't feel the need to advance in belt because i was already advancing in skill.
In my class, if a person learned his lesson for his belt, i could not withhold the next lesson from him. It made no sense to keep teaching the same thing over and over if the person already knows it. Mind you, i keep my standards high so if i teach you the next set of lessons, it really means that you fulfilled my criteria to consider you ready. I have a sharp eye and i notice the littlest mistakes specially when i have my eye just on you.
I digress. In the end, what is a belt really? A sign of your rank or just a sign to help the teacher know what to teach you? If a teacher knows you and pays attention to you, will your belt matter? If a child like my student Urie knows her katas up to 2 levels higher than her supposed rank, do i limit her to just the kata for her rank or let her practice what she knows? If a student like my regular adults learn fast and is hungry for more, do i limit their knowledge or expand it to include that which is considered beyond their rank? .... If a child wants to learn, wouldn't you be excited to teach him more and more?
