2025-04-30

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

The remainder of the exam results were announced last night, and all the examinees were pleased with their results. Most people “pass” most of the time, but it’s not because tests are easy. Instead, it’s because I don’t let people test if they don’t have a good chance of success. I would always rather tell a student “you’re not eligible” than have to tell them “you didn’t pass.” I have a few strategies for making sure this works:

1. I require a minimum number of hours on the floor before students are eligible to test and if you’re absent long enough (measured in months), you have to start over. We all know that progress isn’t measured by “years of training” - it’s measured by “hours of training.”
2. I give out “kari”, or “half” ranks if a student’s performance isn’t quite up to snuff with the requirements for the next kyu grade. Students under 16 also have additional checkpoints along the way. To be clear, this isn’t “lowering the bar” at all. The ladder is just as tall - it just has more rungs. This gives me the ability to reward some progress rather than having to say “you didn’t make it.”
3. Even if a student is eligible according to my requirements, I have no problem telling them that I think they should wait. I generally offer testing opportunities every other month for those who are ready, so “waiting” isn’t too awful.