What are good questions to ask for a black belt testing?

Question

I am a 4th Degree in American Karate. The dojo I have recently become a part of has a number of Black Belt candidates, and I will be serving on the panel. I don't have much experience attending black belt testings outside of my own, so I'm not sure what type of questions I should ask the candidates during the interview portion of their test. I would like some input from the martial arts community about what kinds of questions you have encountered, or what a few good questions for the candidates may be.

Answer 1

Many of the other answers are good.

At my test I was asked questions about the lineage of my style - who the founder of the style was, who my teacher learned from, basic stuff like that.

You might also want to ask questions about what techniques, forms, etc. the student feels are his or her best - it'll give you an idea of what to look for during the testing, and whether the student has an accurate view of his or her own abilities.

Answer 2

Some good suggestions here. I would like to add:

• What are your thoughts about why we have these tests in general, and black belt test in particular?

• What would you like to improve?

• You are away/travelling/on vacation: Can you mention (and show?) some good exercises to do?

Answer 3

The most common question I've heard asked at my school is "what does being a black belt mean to you?"

This question is very broad and open ended. It provides insight into how a person has evaluated oneself up to that point in time, and potentially what a person will do upon receiving one.

Answer 4

"What does a black belt mean to you?"

"What would it mean if you did not receive your black belt today?"

"Are you ready to wear a black belt?"

"What is the difference between you wearing a white belt and you wearing a black belt?"

"Imagine you are in a fist fight - the other person has just started throwing the first strike, and you haven't started moving yet. What are all the things you may have done wrong to get you in that situation?"

Answer 5

This is an interesting question, there isn't really any one right answer.

Asking them questions regarding their character is not really appropriate. They should have been training at a particular dojo for some time, and a lot should already be known about their character before they are invited to grade. Therefore asking character oriented questions at the grading is mostly redundant.

This leaves philosophical and theoretical questions. Philosophical questions can give you insight into their understanding of the spiritual and moral side of the art, and show any gaps (or negative leanings) in their understanding. Philosophical questions should be quite open ended, i.e.:

• what is the meaning of the way of the open hand?
• how will your responsibilities change once you have received your black belt?
• how do you deal with someone who pesters you to show them some of those cool black belt moves?
• you have mastered a particular technique; what do you do next?
• some people want you to set up a dojo of your own, what are your thoughts on that?

These questions don't necessarily have a definitively right answer, but they certainly do have wrong answers.

The theoretical questions could include testing the candidates knowledge of the history of the dojo and/or style, or questioning them on applications of techniques which haven't been covered during the practical side of the grading.

Traditionally shodan gradings push the candidate to their physical limit, there is no reason why you shouldn't test their mental limits as well :)