n Pt 1 there are three lines which I hope stood out for you in my explaining of the rationale, as I see it, for stripe and belt promotions within your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school/academy.
“In my opinion the best teachers/instructors/school owners apply rigorous consistency of their promotion criteria within their schools, as in the end, every promotion they award is a reflection on themselves and their personal standards”
“So, at the end of the day, whilst there are objective factors within the guidelines, the final decision is a subjective evaluation of the schools instructor! “
”…but importantly this only works within the academy itself as long as the standard is consistently maintained by the Instructor!”
Standardisation, or more the lack of it, is the Achilles’ heel of all Martial Arts
In essence I’m trying to convey that any/every promotion is at the discretion of individual instructor/school owner and that, although there may be some objective guidelines or framework for him to be cognisant of, it is an exercise in subjective evaluation and hence the need for rigorous consistency of the drivers of his/her subjectivity…. Of which in turn it can be said, that they have established their “Standard”.
Collins: Standard noun (level of quality)
Something that others of a similar type are compared to or measured by, or the expected level of quality
Bearing all of this in mind, this blog is, as promised in Pt1, about “comparing yourself against others from outside your club yet wearing the same-coloured belt …”
For this one we both need a drink, so let’s go to the pub 😊
When you go to a pub and buy a “pint” of beer you do so with the confidence that you know what a pint is and that you will get what you expect! Sure, the price you pay may vary, the taste of the beer may vary, the shape of the glass may vary but you know you will get Beer and that you will get a Pint of it! This is because of “standardisation”
“Standardisation” has been around since ancient times and has evolved along with humanity itself. It’s been a critical component that has enabled construction, industrialisation, mass production, digitalisation, currency and trade. As such it can be said to be a cornerstone of human civilisation, one that we simply take for granted most of the time… it’s everywhere, unannounced and quietly going about it’s business of governance and giving us with the confidence that we can make fair comparisons. In our world we have become so used to a metre, a kilo, a litre, a pint, a yard, a kilometre etc being the same anywhere in the world it’s easy to subconsciously assume that standardisation has infiltrated every walk of life, and that comparisons are fair because they are like for like!
…describing something of the same value, quality, etc. that replaces a lost, stolen, or damaged possession
Now imagine, just for a moment, you go on a pub crawl visiting three pubs next to each other on the same street. In the first pub you get what you were expecting, a “Pint” of “Beer”, when you go next door you get half the amount you were expecting in a glass filled with what you call water, in the third pub you get twice as much as the pint you are expecting and it’s filled with what you know as wine. All three landlords confirm that they have sold you a pint of beer! Can you imagine the chaos of such a world ?….
Well, that’s pretty much where all the different Martial Arts of the world are at and where “standardisation” would be more than useful…To be fair, there have been multiple attempts by various governing bodies to standardise the promotion criteria relevant to their Martial Art over the years, but none to my knowledge have cracked the nut internationally so to speak!
So, when you make the mistake of comparing someone from a different academy wearing the same belt (you shouldn’t do it, but you will – because you live in a standardised world and subconsciously assume standardisation has infiltrated the Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) remember the pub analogy, because you are comparing with a pint from a different pub!!!!
What it also means of course is that if you are a regular in pub number 2 and never go anywhere else, you will of course be happy with your Pint of beer because everyone in Pub number 2 gets what you get, if they ask for what you ask for (because the landlord of Pub 2 has his “standard” which is applied with rigour and consistency!) …. Now, to add a little devilish fuel to the fire, just imagine what it would be like in Pub 2 if he’s not rigorous and consistent ….and you simply get what he decides to give you, the subjective whim of the landlord influenced by his mood, whether he likes you or not or perhaps even worse, whether you have paid him for it or not? (caveat emptor – believe me, I have witnessed it many times for myself – there are plenty such clubs/instructors out there so to speak!)
Murray