The Belt System and Its Place
Outside of science, my favorite hobby at the moment is martial arts. Specifically, I am heavily involved in practicing both Judo and Shotokan Karate. In both of these disciplines, there is an innate concept of progression and respect, the symbol of these being the belt system. The belt system is a structured series of colors and ranks that symbolize the knowledge, respect, and status amongst the practitioners. The concept is wildly popular among most martial disciplines and other sports like parkour. While usage of this system is a great way to spread confidence and signal progression to its practitioners, the system can be greatly misused. So I often wonder…what is the practicality of the system and what should its purpose be?
The dirty and quick origin of the belt system comes from Judo. In the early 1900’s Jigoro Kano, Judo’s founder, developed the first concepts of the belt system, by assigning ranks of either white or black. Either you had a basic understanding of the concepts of the Judo (i.e., black) or you did not (i.e., white). This early system was adopted by Karate by Gichin Funakoshi and the rest is largely history. Today’s common ranking system generally consists of roughly 9 or 10 ranks between a student’s white and black belt. This number and what colors are associated with what rank are usually up to the individual schools or federations. While some schools may only have 5 colors others may have upwards of 10 with a bunch of stripes and tape attached to each rank. Now, I like rainbows as much as the next guy, but I think if the number of colors in a ranking system matches the age of a teenager then the school’s emphasis is really out of whack.
The most important reason that I’ve come across to include more colors into a belt ranking system is to encourage progress and retain students. This line of reasoning works practically for Western audiences, particularly for kids and their parents. Kids generally have short attention spans and the ability for a school to “advance” children quickly between ranks serves as a great way of maintaining their attention to the art and grow their confidence quickly. This sounds great, but it is fundamentally flawed as it really is just a way of giving audiences and practitioners a quick immediate satisfaction not an investment of lifelong learning. From a business perspective, it simply gives the school a method to retain more students and maintain frequent purchases, not develop an investment in lifelong customers or quality practitioners. As such, this is usually a sign of a dojo/school synonymous with the fabled “McDojo” label of internet fame.
Do you really need a new color for each and every rank? I think this is answer is a definitive no.
The student is an investor and an investment itself. The focus of the ranks was originally, and still should be, that of proficiency and growth. This means that they are symbols of the investment and health of the art. As such, this means to me that a students growth both should be representative of both internal and external progression. Simply advancing a student just because they’ve learned an extra punch or combination in my opinion does not warrant a rank or a piece of tape. In this case, there is no emphasis on the internal growth. Alternatively, if the rank is only internally based on meditation, then they cannot practically use the art for self defense. Simply put, either scenario is a poor investment in the student. I think a student only reaches a new level of progression both a an objective external standard is met and when applicable questions regarding their character can be answered. These are questions like: Have they grown as a person? Developed maturity and camaraderie? Are they starting to or continuing to symbolize the path to true mastery of both one’s body and mind should look like? Do they even like/love what they are learning?
These questions are applicable to both children and adults and can be evaluated at all stages of progression. With both an objective standard for the external purposes of the art and a subjective standard for growth of the student, I think proper progression and ranking can be asserted. As such, I believe this means the number of colors should be limited to only a few ranks.
I personally the way grappling arts (Jiu Jitsu, Judo, BJJ, etc) rank their students. My judo school’s way of doing it consists of ranks with the colors: White, Yellow, Orange, Green, Brown, Black. Here from white to green indicates a novice level player, while brown and black indicate a more advanced player. The testing environment is minimal. It is not temporally regular and there exists a standard both internally and externally for your progression between ranks. You are only awarded a new rank if they see that you have developed/refined your proficiency for the art and yourself over time. The number of colors and ranks are low and, in general, it takes much longer to get to black belt. The system loses the immediate satisfaction of other schools, but your knowledge base and growth remain. It is symbol of a great investment in yourself and of the school.
Obviously, this line of thinking would indicate that there will be a drop in the business’ bottom line because people do not progress quickly. While true for a quick investor in the arts, it is not the rule. A teacher should be able to cultivate an environment that fuels actual knowledge retention and a drive to internally grow as a person. Minimal ranks are all that is really needed. The business will thrive given a good teacher and good content, not ranks. What I mean is that the arts are a lifetime investment, not just a quick return over 2–4 years. Like I said previously, the whole point of the ranks is that they are symbols of this investment.