In This Hub:
Commercialized Schools
   Contracts
   Lowering Standards
   Martial Arts Business
   Martial Arts Marketing
   Padding Information
   Rank Inflation
   School Selection
   Specialized Equipment
   Student Overturn
   Volunteers
   What Owners Don't Want
      You To See

Best MA for SD?
Bullies
Commercialized MA
Cults in the MA
Evaluating a MA
Fighting Facts
Fighting vs. Self Defense
Four Focuses of MA Training
Grappling
Know Your Tools
Lethal Force and MA Training
MA and SD
MA Biz
MA Lies
MA Marketing
MA Pirates
MA Short Cuts, et all
MA Subculture
McDojo
Mental Preparation
Mixed Martial Arts
Real Fighting
Sanity in MA/SD
Self-Defense
Sports Martial Arts
Strike Enhancers
Technique, Don't Dismiss It
Threat Displays
Traditional MA/Self-Defense
Tough Enough?
Walking the Talk
What Do You Want From MA?
What If Monkeys
Why We Do It
MA Training Hub
Self Defense Hub
Streetfighting Hub
NNSD Home Page

Search the Site


Marc MacYoung?
Dianna Gordon MacYoung?
Animal E-list
Crime Avoidance Lectures
Crime Blog
Colorado Classes
Contact Us
FAQs
Hosting A Seminar
   Crime Prevention
   Expert Witness
   Knife Defense
   Law Enforcement
   Martial Arts
   Military
   Movie Consulting
   Women's Self-Defense
Links
Our Linking Policy
On-line Store
Train with MacYoung
Testimonials
Terms of Use
Topics of Interest

A man sufficiently gifted with humor is in
small danger of succumbing to flattering delusions
about himself, because he cannot help perceiving what a
pompous ass he would become if he did
               Konrad Lorenz

Rank Inflation and Grand & Glorious Titles

On this page:
Great and Glorious Titles

We picked up the term "rank inflation" from Bob Orlando in his thought-provoking book Martial Arts America. In it he discusses how, because of marketing pressures, merely having a black belt is no longer sufficient status to compete in an often cut-throat market.

In many ways, this is a self-inflicted wound. By cheapening the rank of black belt by handing it out like candy, it became  necessary for instructors to inflate their own rank to maintain their superior positions. Extra -- and more grandiose -- titles have become commonplace. It is not just enough to be a teacher anymore. Complex hierarchies have developed within organizations to specifically define the pecking order among high ranking individuals. Since most of these terms are from other languages and cultures, it is difficult to tell which are legitimate terms and what are made up -- much less what the exact qualifications would be for such a title.

It is in this that we finally come back to the third form of padding information. Combining it with fast advancement and lower standards, we encounter people who have been advanced to black belt prematurely. In fact, the black belts in many commercial schools have the same physical aptitude of mid-level students in more traditional and stricter schools. In such schools, the black belt has functionally become just another mid-level belt. The scramble then becomes for dan ranking and how high up that totem pole you can climb. Unfortunately, by the time someone has achieved 3rd, 4th or -- sad to say -- even 5th degree dan ranking in such schools, they are reaching an equivalent skill level required for a mere black belt, 1st dan, 20 or so years ago.

The problem with padded information at this level is that is is probably still substandard. Instructors who wildly advance people (and themselves) seldom have mastered the depths of their art. So they cannot teach you anything except information they have pirated. The instructor cannot teach that which he does not know himself. And this really should make you seriously re-examine the high belt teachings to see if they really are new depths or just the same information dressed up with fool's gold.

 

Great and Glorious Titles
This part is under construction...

Return to top


Martial Arts America
Learn More >
Order Now!


Martial Arts Instruction
Learn More >
Order Now!


Surviving Armed Assaults
Learn More >
Order Now!


The Way of Kata
Learn More >
Order Now!

 
Way To Black Belt
Learn More >


 

About navigating this site | Animal List | Bibliography | Bullies | Burglary while on vacation | Classes in Colorado | Car Jacking | Children and Martial Arts | Child Safety | Criminal Mindset | Cults in MA/SD | De-Escalation | E-mail Dianna | E-mail Marc| FAQs | Have MacYoung speak about crime avoidance | Home Page | Home Defense | Hosting a Seminar | Fear | Five Stages of Crime | Knife Fighting | Legal Issues | LEO/Correctional Officer/EMS | Linking policy | Links | Martial Arts | Photo Gallery | Property Crime | Psychology | Rape | Robbery | Safe Dating | Self-Defense Training | Selling your books/DVDs on NNSD | Seminar Schedule | Stalking/Domestic Violence | Street Fighting | Terms of Use | Testimonials | Train with Marc MacYoung | Who is Dianna Gordon MacYoung? | Who is Marc "Animal" MacYoung? | Victimhood | Workplace Problems | Zero Tolerance