Testing

How does a teacher evaluate the skill set of a student? How does the student evaluate their own developing skill set? How does a teacher get feedback about how their own teaching style is working? How does the system maintain a standard between schools?

While there are many feedback loops for all these questions, testing is the event that is supposed to tie them all together. All throughout training, the teacher and student should be evaluating how things are moving forward. All throughout training, students should be looking to their peers for feedback (what is working in sparring).

If this is the case, that students are, from training session to training session, thinking about where they are at, then why do we have belt testing? Why, if the student is getting feedback from their sparring partners about how they are developing, do they need to go through the formality of evaluation?

These are tough questions, but ones we need to ask as students, as a school and as a system – do we need testing? I think it is one more opportunity to keep the feedback channels open. It is one more time to evaluate, with a neutral eye, a students capacity and a teacher’s methodology. It helps keep us honest as well as moving forward.

I’m excited for the two upcoming tests. I hope everyone else is as well.