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Old 10-30-2007, 11:26 AM   #16
Pierre Kewcharoen
 
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Dojo: Aikido at NJIT
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 100
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Re: To Test, or not to Test

Quote:
Donna Grant wrote: View Post
No offense...really...but statements like this make me laugh. When a student says that to me, I think "wow, how big (and fragile) your ego must be that you refuse to get up, in front of people, and take a simple little test." (because, come on....if you are working hard on your skills and techniques, then a test should be nothing...nothing!)...

Testing isn't for YOU. Testing is so that your Sensei (and maybe his Sensei) can see your strengths and weaknesses (and maybe recognize some issues in their instruction!). Testing is, in fact, part of your training, so by refusing to test for non-injury reasons, is like throwing down your bokken in class and saying you are not going to do bokken cuts anymore. Or refusing to do Sankyo. Or forward rolls.

HarlieG
Apparently you didn't understand my post clearly. I NEVER said anything was wrong with testing. I enjoy testing actually. If I could I would get tested as much as possible. I work hard just like anybody else here. I train to fix my weaknesses. Of course I believe testing is required, but when you have to jump through political loopholes to get it becomes ridiculous. All I said was that I just don't put emphasis on RANKS. I seen alot of 20+ y/o individuals brag about being black belts in their discipline with a skill level of a 7 year old. I also do believe that people get ranked up higher soley by politically means eventhough their skill level doesnt necessarily reflect that. So try to see it from my side and get the whole story before you try to belittle me.
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