Choose,Skill or Rank. Which would you rather have?

Question

If you could either have great skill in your choosen art and be unranked and unknown. Or you cold have rank and title that would be respected? You could not have both. If you picked skill you would not be respected or be ranked by belt, you'd be considered, and treated, less than a white belt, forever. Or you could be ranked as a high level black belt and treated as such, but with no true skills. Which ?
Don't start with all the if you had rank you'd have skill. The question is simple and to the point, if you want to evade just get your two points and move on, just write "thanks for the points" and keep move'n. Be honest, please.
Any who read my posts know what I think but if not I'll tell you right now I pick skill without a doubt. In fact the question is kinda how I feel I live in the martial arts world.
Me choosing a winner isn't about agreeing with me, so don't feel that is what I want here, cause it isn't.

Answer 1

Skill all the way. I never cared about achieving the next rank. I didn't chase belts, but they came along the way sort of as a by-product of my fight training. All I wanted to do was fight! To do that effectively it doesn't matter what color the belt is around your waist, only that you have the necessary skills and heart to compete.

Answer 2

No question, Skill, since I've never gained any "rank" above white belt to begin with. I've trained in different styles, don't get me wrong, but all were taught to me outside of the usual conventions of dojos and schools. I have the benefit of having family and friends of my family in alot of major martial arts. As such, I was never part of an "accredited", if there is such a thing, school or dojo that gave out rank. Your rank was measured by your ability to complete movements, techniques, and maneuvers proficiently, not by an obi or sash.

Skill should mean more to every martial artist on earth, as true skill was the point of creating ranking systems to begin with. Now, of course, McDojos and Bullshido artforms will give rank for money, this is true, but even the students of such places like to believe they have skill in their artform, whether they do or not. So, I'd hazard the only "rank" answer you'll get will be from someone who is not a martial artist, or someone looking to make alot of money from their artform, instead of bettering themselves and others.

Answer 3

Easy for me to answer, SKILL any day. Who cares about rank except the ego. Sure I have rank and degrees, but those mean nothing without the skill and knowledge to support it.

Yes i know if you see a BB on some one it usually means they can handle themselves, but some people need to realize MA is not all about fighting and being a BB is not all about who the better fighter is.

Learning awareness and compassion, control, respect and such are as much important as being able to defend yourself in the MA.

so Skill means more, and it should reflect appropriately in a rank if it does not then it was a McDojo probably, and that is when skill will outshine a bought and purchased BB.

A real BB is earned not bought or purchased in a program. You get it when you deserve it. SImple as that.

Hope that answers your question. Id rather have skill, wisdom, knowledge etc anyday over having a 20th degree bb in 50 styles to the moon and back with MA HOF awards out my butt anyday. it doesnt mean that someone WITH those awards is not skillfull though they well very well be as skilled as the awards ands rank state.

Answer 4

Wow, good question.
I've actually thought on this for a while. I would rather have the skill then the rank. Rank does mean something to me. Thats probably because I'm old enough to remember when you had to actually earn your rank. I don't care about anothers rank, I've seen complete idiots buy their rank, when I had to earn it. It does come back to what I tell my students though." Rank means nothing if you can't defend yourself." I'll take skill, a belt is just a piece of cloth.

Answer 5

SKILL, mostly because it rhymes with 'kill', no just kidding. but seriously, i would rather have skill than a rank. In a perfect world, it would be the skill that got you that rank anyways, not if you have rank then you naturally have skill. However, it's not a perfect world and many people with "rank" in a certain system doesn't always mean that they have skill compared to a 'lesser' rank from another system. Trust me, the rank doesn't earn you the respect, it your skill and usually you humility that earns you the respect. I don't care if you have a black belt or what ever if your technique sucks and you still think your 'The SH*T'. That really ticks me off.

To be as blunt as possible, i would rather have true skill, and learn it from a small no name instructor/class etc, than have a fake rank from a big well known school/ system, possibly a McDojo etc.

Answer 6

skill.

isn't this like asking someone:

"would you rather pork a fat ugly chick or a hot chick?"

the term "no-brainer" comes to mind.

See this philosophy is also what I apply when answering questions.

Would you rather tell them something they want to hear for some points (which to me don't really matter since I'll probably be banned again by the end of the day for trampling some overly sensative person's sacred cows on this board, the diet and fitness board or the religion board).

Or would you rather give someone good info that can actually guide them on the right path so they don't get hurt.

As far as your take on what is going on in MA today, this is certainly true.

However, I also see with the increasing popularity of the UFC and other MMA leagues and competitions that there is a rise of legitimate training tactics and techniques so there is actually light at the end of the tunnel and I think we can all see it, it just might be far away.

Maybe I'm optimistic, but I see the days of "skilless black belts" and "aishida kim ninja LARPers" coming to a close. We have MMA leagues and competitions to thank for that. Providing they dont' tone them down to appease politicians of course.

Personally, I think they should do away with ALL ranks in every system except:
student-teacher
coach-fighter
etc.

I come from a series of non-ranked systems, ironically the only fighting systems i ever took that had ranks were the sword systems. Although the WMA didn't really care or push them and no one wore belts or rank indicators to my knowledge.

Answer 7

That's easy, skill over rank. That's usually my rule of thumb. I usually show more respect for skilled people than for people with rank, and this is not limited to martial arts only, I apply the same rule in life. My measuring standard for respect is usually skill and experience, if you have both, you have my respect. Blame it on my childhood, I was raised in the traditional confucian way of respecting elders and deferring to them regardless of whether they were right or wrong, so I kinda developed a problem with authority. Anyway, back to the subject, I have actually experienced this first hand, I had moved back to my hometown and wanted to keep practicing, but there was no local branch of my school in the area, so I joined a local club of another affiliation and went back to being ranked a beginner although I was already proficient in the art. I didn't let the instructor know bout it or complain since I was just in it for the workout to keep from getting rusty and i didn't wanna create any problems, especially with their club being of different affiliation. But he soon found out about it from someone and I ended up being paired with the senior students to help them prepare for their promotion exams, but I was still ranked a beginner in that class, up until the time I quit a year later, not because of the rank, but because they were slowing me down, I felt I was putting on more rust in that class instead of getting rid of it.

Answer 8

I'll take rank. I was only a mediocre fighter in my prime and have no delusions that at 34 I could compete at any level. But I will take the rank without the skill. You didn't say that just because I don't have the skill that I don't have the knowledge to teach the skills. I would use my rank and knowledge to turn out the best students possible and really contribute to martial arts in ways that your most skilled fighter never could.

Answer 9

This is implausible.

The only way that you could have a belt w/ no skill is to be a fraud. You would not be able to keep the high level of respect that you have chosen, if you have no skill.

To be treated as some one with no skill would be short lived once someone laid eyes upon your skill.

It is kind of like asking would you rather lift weights all of the time and have no one think that you do, or have everyone think you pump iron all of the time but you actually don't. I think that it would be clear to everyone who does and who does not.

Answer 10

For any true martial artist - the answer is skill. Pretty colored belts are fine for children and those who want to brag about their "status", but for true martial artists then skill wins hands down.

I could care less for rank, if I had the skills that enabled me to defend myself and my family, that's more important. The only time rank really comes into play is if you want to open a school of your own.