<<After introductions, etc.>>
Caller: My son is interested in taking Karate at your place. (we don't teach Karate but I go along with them)
Me: Great, how old is he?
Caller: He is __ years old. He has been doing Karate since he was ___ years old. He studies/d with ___________. He is _____________ Belt and he is very good.
Me: <already knowing what is coming next I say> Oh, that is excellent. How can we help you?
Caller: Well, my son would like to take classes there. <here it comes> Will he be able to keep his current rank?
Me: No, I'm sorry, but he will have to start over, it is a completely different style, and different school.
Caller: <A sigh of disappointment is followed by a question of defiance> But, why? He has earned his rank?
It does not matter how the conversation continued, you get the idea. No matter what I say in these conversations with various people, it always ends the same -- they never sign up at my school, and they invariably find some school that will take them in and let them keep their current rank. Personally, I question the integrity of any teacher that does that for a buck, but to each their own, it is not my point in this post.
I find this situation discouraging of course; as losing potential students is always a downer. But more importantly, I find this extremely disappointing on a societal level. With our current culture of - 'every child gets a trophy just for showing up, or even if they lose', or in martial arts specifically - 'you get promoted just for showing up'. Now there is a creeping expectation that successes in one field/area automatically guarantee the same credentials in another art/trade/field?
A carpenter with 5 years experience doesn't take up plumbing and automatically get 5 years of experience in plumbing. Both are trades, both use tools, both require some technical skills/background, but the two are completely different. The same exists with a doctor who graduates school in the field of Radiology. They don't just switch to Orthopedic Surgery without going back to school/training. A Chemist doesn't become a Physicist just because they switched careers/companies no matter how successful they were in Chemistry.
I write this to hopefully educate people, as well as do my part to prevent some creeping expectation, that is wholly unreasonable, from worming it's way into the societal norm. There are 100's of different styles of martial arts in the world. There are 10's of thousands of teachers and schools. When you earn a rank in one style it will typically help you to learn a new style, but not guarantee it.
Our past experience: coordination we gained, balance, flexibility; strength, endurance, familiarity with and exposure to martial arts, will all help us to gain skill and thereby rank, in our new school/style/art. It does not however grant us skills by proxy, or guarantee that we are a superstar in that style.
Nowhere should there exist an automatic transfer of rank in martial arts, except possibly, and not always, from one school to another. If said school teaches the same style, and is preferably in the same system then I can see the relevance of course.
I have two female students that were both Black Belts in Tae Kwon Do before coming to my school. Both of them emptied their cups and hung up their previous ranks when starting new arts. They threw out their egos and humbly put on White Belts when they started Kung Fu and Tai Chi with me. Amazing example.
At the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school I attend, a student came from another BJJ school with a Brown Belt. They let him keep his rank (as it was the same style) and he joined the class and proceeded to roll (spar) with his new classmates. After rolling with people, he took off his Brown Belt, handed it to the teacher, and asked the teacher to give him a Purple Belt to wear (a step down in rank). He knew he didn't deserve the rank he had, even though it was the same style, and that he had that earned rank in another school. This is the ULTIMATE in humility, and to be highly praised and respected.
I have another student that was granted an intermediate rank. He later turned it in saying he wasn't ready for it. I had tightened standards since the time he received his, and he humbly traded his belt in for the next one down. He is still working hard to this day to earn back that rank.
"A full cup can hold no more tea..."
One of my students said at graduation when they messed up a demonstration - "Like a first day student" (I paraphrase). I chuckled and said - "we should always be like a first day student". When changing from one thing to the next, we must empty that cup of ours. Just because we are a Prince in our land, doesn't mean we are anything more than a Pauper in someone else's.
