my friend (yes a friend, not me) started doing tkd in march and is getting ready for a double test next month that will get her a blue belt. they way the system is set up you are allowed to test every two months and if you do that you get your black belt in 22 months. She is enjoying her training but is upset with the teacher right now because she claims that he is going to let another student double test with her for the same rank even though he does not know the material very well and has not met the minimum amount of classes required to test. I do not want to turn her away from martial arts, but it seems to me she is at a bad school based on the short time to test, the short time to get a BB, and the BB test being over 400 dollars, with each testing fee 65 dollars. Because she is in 18 month contract she will have a lot of trouble leaving I think. Does this sound like a McDojang to anyone else? What advice do you think I should give her, if any?
The big thing screaming McDojang for me is the contract, and the high price grading. In my area I haven't come across a school thats asks it students to sign a contract, we can choose to pay for a year in advance and get a big discount, but nothing locking us in. Our school we have gradings every 10 weeks, early on in the belts you can try and grade at every grading (sometimes unsuccesfully), but as you reach higher grades you generally can only grade every 2nd or 3rd grading (our sensei give us an idea of when we are ready). Just tell her not to worry about other students, that leads down a very bad path when you try to compare yourself to someone else in the club. Tell her to focus on herself, give her best and everyone else will sort themself out (I don't mean this in a selfish don't help anyone way, just don't worry whether or not someone should be grading or not).
the common sense thing to do would to get her in one of your classes concidering in your signature you do Hapkido JJJ and TKD.
*whistles* That's a hefty fee when you add it up. What do you mean by "double testing"? I am unfamilar with the term and am scared by it. Seriously, I could loose sleep. If your friend is testing past another rank to get to blue, then my advice is to run. If she's is contracted then they don't care about her. They get their money regardless. As Jamesy said: why not your school.
double testing means that you test for two ranks at the same time, say you are a green belt and you double test, you then are testing for both blue stripe and blue belt at the same time. basically the teacher is saying you are ready to test for blue belt even though you have not tested for blue stripe. the way the payment is set up is so that you can pay monthly or have an 18 month contract, with the contract costing about half the price per month. my guess is the school figures that they make more money long term if someone gets the contract. The reason she can't train at my school is because she lives 250 miles away.
