Grading for improvement

March 18th, 2008 at 22:18 · Filed Under Karate 

In January, I failed 3 students during their grading test. There were 5 kids from Jasin testing for hachi-kyu. 2 passed and 3 failed. Although the 3 kids were not up to the grading standard, I deliberately tested and failed them. Why?

I am repeating again and again during training every Sunday but they take training very lightly. They don’t pay attention while training and not to mention practicing at home. These kids, including their parents, think it is enough coming for training once a week. Their concepts are wrong, so do many other people in martial arts training. The kids, including adults, come to training not to learn but to prepare their body and mind. The actual training begins when they achieve black belt sho-dan. But many people thinks they are learning which I don’t agree. Yes, learning it is, but to learn how to control our body, every single muscles and mind. That’s the learning I am talking about.

So, tonight, the grading has shown good improvement. 4 kids took the grading. The 3 kids who failed in January had retest and passed at border line and earned their hachi-kyu. The other little girl (8-year-old) had earned her nana-kyu. This girl is improving very fast.

After the grading, their parents arrived to take them home. I took the opportunity to explain to all of them the concept of training and their children’s progress, advantage and weakness. I hope these kids will continue to excel and improve.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Grading for improvement”

  • 龙 on March 25th, 2008 17:16 1

    Like in China, the is increasing of families that take their children to learning center and leave them there. This usually happens in modern industrial cities like Shanghai and now even Beijing. I guess these families are trying to transfer the responsibilities to instructors/teachers.

    Back in my rural hometown, parents still send their kids to learn martial arts and stay with them and watch how they perform in class. You still can see these parents giving strong moral support and sometimes words of encouragement to their kids.

    龙

  • Adrian Hoe on March 25th, 2008 19:24 2

    Yeah. Sometimes I feel like a baby sitters rather than instructor.

    One mother told her kids that she was not going to take them to doukoukai for grading because they were repeating the same thing since last November.

    But this mother did not come to see her children’s performance and the performance of the 8-year-old. Her children is 10 and 9 years old and hardly improve a little. Her children was the first to learn from me at else where before Jasin class was started. Her kids were senior (in terms of ranking) to others. Now, the 8-year-old girl and the other 4 are ahead of them in terms of ranking. These parents are really concerned of their children’s performance and they even helped their kids making training notes every time they come to doukoukai.

  • amon ra on March 27th, 2008 21:16 3

    “Kesedaran Sivik Bermula Dari Rumah.” A government tv slogan around the late 80s and early 90s.
    If the parents don’t give a damn, the children will continue the don’t care legacy. I am not a parent myself but as a person who has parents, I wish to do them proud. Tell your students that their attitude mirrors their parents’. That might make them think.

  • Adrian Hoe on April 8th, 2008 9:29 4

    Yeah! But these parents are just wanting to transfer responsibilities to others. They are hoping 3rd parties to train up their children and leaving headaches to others so to make themselves free of troubles.

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