Testing

It's all about standards.

We have a Blue Belt in our club, who will be permitted to test in a couple of months for his Purple. The examiner will come to town, and most likely our guy will pass.

If I were his examiner, he wouldn't. I'm not saying he's bad, or even that he can't be ready in a couple of months. I am saying that he could be much better. If I were the examiner, I would take him aside now and give him a list of half a dozen things to fix. I would make it clear that failing to fix any one of them would result in a failing grade. Mean? Not at all. I am confident he could repair any of these deficiencies.

A few months ago, one of our Yellow Belts was testing for his Orange. The examiner promoted him past Orange up to Green Belt. If I were his examiner, he would have easily passed, but never gotten a double promotion. He's good but not that good. An equally exciting reward for a promising student can be permission to test for the next belt a little early.

I am also a firm believer in testing without surprises. Our current examiner does not stick closely to the published testing syllabus, which is an examiner's right. In my old association the exams were done to precise specifications. During exams, students used to perform their entire test without direction. They knew precisely what to do. If I were the examiner, I'd stick closely to the requirements.

I used to be my club's examiner. I had the authority to do kids exams, and adult exams in the lower ranks. I have done so many hundreds of times.

Why do I bring this up? When our club started, we joined our current association rather than my old one. Both are wonderful groups, but I am really jealous of the testing system of my old group.

They currently permit trusted club instructors to do exams up as high as Brown Belt. They would have allowed me this authority.

The fear in some associations is that non-centralized exams lower standards.

In my case, it has always raised them without being harder on the students.

By testing my own club members, I was able to let students know exactly where my standards were. They never failed to meet them.