But the bottom line is always that you cannot prepare for EVERYTHING.
This is the fundamental truth of self-defense. No situation you find yourself in on the street will be exactly what you train in the school. So, put as many tools in your bag as possible.
And in my experience belts are awarded to soon causing people to think they can handle any situation.
This is also true. The blame for this lies squarely on the shoulders of greedy instructors.
Like it or not, the modern day colored belt system was developed to make money.
At first, students in Japan lived at the school. Because of the nature of the training, they were poor and had only one set of clothes or uniform. It had a simple belt to hold it all together. The uniform was white. The symbology is that white represents emptyness. As the student worked, they never washed their belt so, it got dirtier and dirtier. The dirtier it got coincided with more experience in the school. Ultimately, with enough time, it would turn black. Of course nothing ever turns really black. More on that later.
Enter the marital arts in the US. In order to distinguish more experienced students from new students, the brown belt was introduced. So, a student would start with white, representing emptyness or lack of knowledge. Then they would get 3rd Brown, then 2nd Brown then 1st Brown, then Black.
As time passed, instructors realized that they could charge more money for each belt test. The color system was born. Schools introduced requirements for each belt color and there was a monetary value that went with it. So, students were pushed to test because it meant more money to the school. Some schools have "upgrades" within each belt color. I know one school that has 5 upgrades for each belt and ten belts.
The way it should work is each belt level represents a certain amount of knowledge, but not necessarily skill. A lower ranking individual may be better at certain things. The higher ranking student may lack a certain ability, but had attained the knowledge commensurate with that level.
In my school there are six belts; Orange, Purple, Blue, Green, Brown and Black. White isn't a rank because everyone is a white belt. We say, "Attaining the level of Black belt doesn't mean you've mastered anything. You've simply earned the right to
begin to learn."
Based on the old way, the dirty belt starts to become thread bare and the dirt starts to flake away exposing new patches of white. This represents the fact that we are always learning. Even the most seasoned master still has patches of emptyness. The more we know, the more we know we don't know.
My greatest fear as an instructor is that I'll send a student out into the world thinking he can defend himself when in fact he cannot. So, I work hard to avoid that. I strive to teach quality movements, but more than that, quality thought processes.
