Good afternoon.
The grading took place as planned on Sunday with students from both the Bromley and Dulwich Schools being examined. I am happy to say that this time every student was able to pass their respective grades. This is no mean feat, and if I am not mistaken, this is the first time that this has occurred in 2008. The exam in fact lasted 5 hours, not finishing until well after 8.30pm. Combined with 15 hours of previous training it had been a long and productive 4 days.
I should make it clear I do not have a particular time limit for exams, nor do I watch the clock. The exam finishes only when I am satisfied that every point has been checked and each part, from the forms and principles to the fighting techniques, is of the appropriate standard. It is always the case the Technician levels have more to be examined on, but all students should be aware of this when they are arranging the evening of a grading.
Every student, from the beginner grades until the Technician levels, was tested on the theory and understanding of the basic principles that make up the Chinese Wing Tsun system. This not just includes fighting principles, but those about the spiritual and developmental side of the art. One point I have always been clear on is that I do not want robots as students; I expect my students to be able to think for themselves. This is particularly true at the advanced levels where I do not expect to have to tell them what to do all the time, but expect them to be able to act accordingly and take responsibility for their own actions – inside and outside the school. Thus when I test the principles I am not looking for a text-book answer (although they clearly must give the response in the correct way) but rather what the principles mean to them and how they apply them. You cannot develop through Chinese Kung Fu without knowledge, but knowledge without understanding is useless. This knowledge then needs to be applied otherwise it is equally specious.
A particular mention is warranted about the Advanced levels; their standard was some of the highest I have seen everywhere. This is particularly the case given that they worked hard on the corrections that I gave two weeks previously – points that they would otherwise have failed upon. There understanding of the etiquette was good and I expect this to develop even further as they continue their training. Credit should also be given to the teachers for this; they have worked tirelessly and selflessly over the last few months to make the high standard possible and hope the students appreciate how lucky they are to have this.
My message to the students that passed the Advanced and Technician levels is this – remember what you promised, I will hold you to it. You have only now started your journey into the depths of the Chinese art and only the top conduct will be acceptable.
I do expect to see the students that graded in classes over the next two weeks – do not waste all the time, energy and dedication you have recently put in by failing to cement this. I know you are tired, but take my word on this; this is the most important time to train.
Further to my last post on the grading, I am also most happy to say the students present clearly understood both the seriousness of what they were undertaking, and later, their achievement in successfully doing so. Extremely tired and pushed to the limit - some students even finding it hard to stand up straight - the elation and look on the students faces at the end said it all. It was one of those moments that happen rarely in the journey of a kung fu student, but when it does you are well advised to hold onto it…
Sifu
Ps as I mentioned earlier the certificates will be presented at the Graduation on 12th December. Please let the teachers know how many tickets you would like by the end of this week as arrangements do need to be made by then. For those few students who were unable to attend the grading I will be running a final catch-up grading session next week. Again, you need to let the teachers know of your involvement in this as soon as possible.