Some Professional Milestones
- Education
- Experience
- Fellowship of Colleagues
- Craftsmanship
- Serving the Community
- Certification
ATA Tae Kwan Do
"If the Songahm style can be thought of as the heart of our Taekwondo, then our over 1,500 independently owned and operated licensed schools and clubs (world-wide) are the life blood. Without them, we could not count over 300,000 men, women, and children among our members! "Mt. Tamalpais Aikido Dojo
Aikido of Tamalpais held its first class October 22, 1976. Thirty-six students were on the mat that night. Since then, except for Sundays and "sitting down and eating holidays," Tam Dojo has held at least one class every day. Wendy, George, and Richard have continued practicing and now hold godan (fifth-degrees black belt) ranks. The school has graduated some forty yudansha, some of whom have gone on to start their own schools, and has become a way station for visiting masters from Japan and elsewhere who give seminars attended by aikidoka from miles around.http://www.tam-aikido.org/history.php
George Leonard, in about 20 years at Mt. Tamalpais Aikido Dojo produced only about 40 black belts out of thousands of students. In San Jose, at a single ATA “Black Belt School” of the American Tae Kwan Do Association they churn out that many in a single year!
So what does a black belt mean to the general public? What can be expected of the two black belts? Would the Aikido black belt defeat the ATA black belt? Could 20 ATA black belts beat one Aikido black belt? Which has a greater impact on society? Consider the impact on the individual obtaining the certification! Does this make any sense to compare these very different certifications for something called by the same name?
What is a meaningful certification?
A Social, skills and experience-based grading system: Aikikai Grading System
Consists of minimum amounts of time spent training plus demonstration of specific techniques. At the higher levels, social interaction and publications are required.
http://www.aikikai.or.jp/eng/gradingsystem.htm
So what’s the purpose of certification? To get more clients?
A Sufi Story about consulting:
Two mothers talk about their sons.
One says, “And how is your boy getting on as a guru?”
“Just fine,” replies the second. “He has so many pupils that he can afford to get rid of some of the old ones.”
“That’s great,” says the first. “My son is getting on so well that he can afford NOT to take on everyone who applies to him!”
http://www.katinkahesselink.net/sufi/stories.html
My Certification
My first agile certification was ScrumMaster. Attending the class opened me up to a whole new world of agile practitioners. Before that I was mostly reading books on my own and talking up a storm to my non-agile and mostly baffled and skeptical peers. I doubled my excitement and commitment to learning agile. It also helped me get my first agile gig at HP where I learned by immersion sometimes in hot oil! I didn’t stop there, taking the Concept to Cash Poppendieck’s course to supplement my knowledge of agile with lean transformational practices. The end result was greatly accelerated experience in and understanding of lean and agile principles and practices.
Your Certification?
What’s your story? How did you feel when you got your various certifications? Did it change you how you feel about yourself? Did it win you praise or perhaps better, income? What did you learn on your way to earning it? Was it worth it? If you have no certification, do you feel left out? Has it been a disadvantage? Are you planning on certain certifications?
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