Rank, Grades or Levels - Oh My!

" ... student learns new rank is a challenging responsibility not a test reward." - Victor Smith of Isshin - Concentration the Art blog.

When I read this quote I felt it tells the story of an attitude when a person seeks out and/or attain rank in martial arts. I like the idea that we look toward progress, not advancement or promotion or grading, as a challenging responsibility. Progress in martial arts especially in karate should not be a reward. It should also come unexpectedly - a total surprise. 

I remember my kyu days fondly. My sensei held training the same way every single day or session. We lined up, paid respects to one another, then we trained and practiced. Often, without notice or expectation, sensei would have us line up and then would simply ask the person to be given the responsibility of a certain level of progress to come up front. Sometimes it was to have them run the warm up sessions and once in a while he would simply reach into his karate jacket and pull out a green, brown or black belt, toss it to the person, smile and say congratulations you are a go-kyu or ik-kyu or sho-dan, etc. Then the class would continue. 

No formal testing, testing was daily and often it was a self-test. No money exchanged hands at any time. The certificates, if and when he gave one (mostly for sho-dan only), were not a cost to the individual. The belt was not charged to the person. In other words there were no specified requirements, testing criteria or costs - it just happened when the person was perceived as ready and responsible.