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kickin_yellow wrote:
so what do you do when your going to be close to the same level or want to test higher then your master??
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There have been some excellent responses to this question, and I agree with each person's input. Doughbough is absolutely right about the testing procedure. What I am about to say is, in no way, intended to contradict the other comments, but address a different aspect of this question.
I think it is important to make a clear distinction between an instructor, and a Master. When I started Taekwondo at age 16, my instructor was a 3rd Dan. After I had reached 1st Dan at age 18, he was promoted to 4th Dan, and became a Master. He moved away, and years later, we met again. I was a 4th Dan and he was a 6th. Now, I am a 6th Dan, and he is an 8th.
Conversely to this scenario, there were two Black Belt assistant instructors when I began as a white belt (one recommended, and one 1st Dan). They remained active all the time I was coming up through the belts, and they even taught me in many classes. However, due to one of them being in the National Guard, and the other being sidelined repeatedly for knee injuries, I tested for 2nd Dan before both of them. We remained friends, and peers, but I then out-ranked them.
My point is that if a "Master" instructor continues to remain active, and motivated to train, better themselves, and promote accordingly, there is no way that a junior is going to surpass them. However, if you are training under a 3rd Dan instructor or lower, then you should view them as an "Instructor" and not as your "Master" until he or she become one. You might pass up many of your former instructors, but if your teacher is a 3rd Dan, they have a Master who guides them (hopefully
). This is who you should view as your Master as well. Instructors come and go, but a Master should be committed to work hard and stay ahead of his or her students. Your 3rd Dan Instructor might go on to become a Master, and remain your Master for life.
On the other hand, if it happens, as mentioned in other posts here, that your Master decides to forgo the promotions, and you reach a level too high for your Master to test you, or provide you with adequate training at a higher level, then your Master should accept their own decision to remain at a certain level, and when you reach that point, pass your instructional needs on to his or her Master or Grandmaster.
Although you might surpass your original Instructor in rank (and that does happen from time to time), the respect of their seniority as a Black Belt should never be forgotten. I have been around 8th and 9th Degree Korean Grandmasters whose teacher is an old Korean who never tested to the higher belts, but whose seniority and life-long commitment to Taekwondo is not over-looked. They out rank him by stripes on the belt, but he was a Master when they were all white belts, so each and every one of them bows their head when he enters the room, and they call him sir!
Although my teacher is an 8th Dan Grandmaster, and I am only a 6th Dan, we are in the same organization under the leadership of the same 9th Dan, therefore he has directed me to our Sr. Grandmaster, Edward Sell, who is now my teacher. Yet, I will always respect my original teacher, and look to him as my senior. I think that one of the most disrespectful things a student can do, is to try to bypass their teacher to get in direct line with the Grandmaster, but if the time has come that you surpass your Instructor's ability to teach and guide you, then they should step aside and give you direct access to their teacher.
This is my own personal opinion, so I hope not to offend anyone by it.
Chief Master D.J. Eisenhart
