Expect to be treated as an individual

You're all individual. You're all different
My sensei, Jason Smith, is very fond of the saying, "Nothing is so unfair as the equal treatment of unequals". Isn't that a great one? So often in class, my students look to others who started training on the same date as they did, and expect to grade at exactly the same time right up to black belt. Never mind that the other person might train twice as often, or practice daily in their spare time, or pay much more attention in every lesson.

By the same token, I have some very talented students who get upset when I hold them to a higher standard than others of their grade. I make them work harder, I pick them up on finer details of their karate, and I push them harder. They have a natural talent and quickly move ahead of others of their grade, yet they expect to be allowed to settle for mediocrity. They would sooner turn up and coast through every lesson, than have me create challenges that push them as hard as their grade-mates.

Some students find it a challenge merely synchronising their punches with their steps, whilst others of the same grade find it easy to combine any strike with any stance, moving backwards, forwards or sidewards. How would I be helping those talented individuals if I merely measured them by the same yardstick as others? I wouldn't, of course!

Shihan has repeatedly pointed out that everyone is graded according to their capabilities - not what they've learned to do, but what they're physically capable of. Thus it is that 65 year olds, or arthritics, or people with bad backs or knees, or disabled students can still earn their black belts.

So the next time you're in class, and you think your sensei is giving you a hard time, be grateful that he's paying you that much attention - it might just mean that he considers you important enough to require an extra push. And if you don't feel that you're grading quickly enough, perhaps you should ask whether you're putting in enough effort to deserve a new grade...