I will give my short list for the cons of separating classes, but first congratulations to our students who got stripes, and to Matt for his promotion to purple belt- congrats Matt!
Anyway, back to the cons of teaching classes that have been separated by rank. I don’t think there are very many, but here’s the short list I came up with. I very much favor having classes separated, but in an attempt to be fair I’m going to keep my mouth…er, fingers… shut and not argue against these points.
Lower ranks don’t have as much interaction with higher ranks- lamentable, but true: if they are kept with their white belt brethren, there’s less of a chance to mingle with the higher ranks
Lower ranks have less of an opportunity to drill or train with a higher rank- someone mentioned their game improved immensely when they trained with a higher rank when they were a white belt, which I could understand.
Lower ranks don’t have as many opportunities to see the more advanced stuff- I could argue they don’t really need to see anything too fancy and get overwhelmed at such an early stage, but for some people I’m sure they would love to see what lies ahead for them in their jiu jitsu career.
So there you have it: personally I think the pros outweigh the cons, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
What do you guys think?
**UPDATE: Sorry, I didn’t make myself very clear; I am in favor of separating some of the classes, not all of them. Carry on!**
Another point is that it is beneficial for higher ranked students to partner with white belts during technique and have to help them through and teach on a one-on-one basis. I think there is mutual benefit because the white belts aren’t totally lost (which can happen if they are paired with another white belt), and the more experienced get practice teaching which can give them a better understanding of the technique overall because they have to be able to explain it to someone else rather than just going through the motions. There were blue and purple belts there for me when I was a lost white belt, so think of it as giving back.
Also, the higher ranked people don’t get the opportunity to test new techniques against the less experienced first if classes are separated. It helps to practice new moves you are interested in on white belts to solidify the technique before working up to people your rank, especially if you are one of the smaller students already lacking a strength advantage.
I vote for separating classes 2-3 times a week and combining the other days!
As a tiny female, if I had not been able to work with colored belts my first year, I probably would have quit. Nothing but spazzy, muscling whites? If I didn’t quit out of frustration, I’d have been spending all my time on the injured bench.
Also- higher belts can get lazy about working basics because all they’re drilling is quadruple flying inversed superplatas, but everybody always needs more work on basics.
White belts never get to see/experience what relaxed, technique focused BJJ is like. They need that positive example, in their faces every day, or I think they would never grow out of the spazz.
White belts would have less opportunity to get mentored, and colored belts would have less opportunity to *be* mentors. I think this is a beneficial learning relationship for both sides, and also builds team spirit.
White belts would be more fixated on stripe-chasing and belt-chasing, so they could get into the “REAL” classes.
White belts would be spazzier and rougher with one another, trying to prove their manliness to get promoted into the Real Classes.
Colored belts (especially us small, weak ones) would have less opportunity to practice techniques live on people that we might actually be able to HIT them on once in a while.
Sometimes I’ve had a long day and my brain is tired, and I just don’t feel up to working on quadruple flying inversed superplatas. I’d rather go to a basics class and just work on armbars from guard.
I think having *some* segregated classes is good, but I don’t think there should be forced segregation. I think it would be really bad for the development and retention of white belts (esp small ones, older ones and women), and there are also things that the colored belts would miss out on that are important for their own development. Also, I think the team spirit of the school as a whole would really suffer.
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Sometimes, I just want to smash white belts. It’s good for me mentally and it’s good for their ego. Don’t take that away from me