Fuck testing

I'm mildly irked this week due to my Kung Fu test. More accurately the Kung Fu test that I just couldn't bring myself to go endure. I hate tests. Part of why I hated all my school career is tests. Tests don't actually accomplish anything. All they do is set up a high stress scenario to see how people perform what they may or may not have learned in a class. Thus far as a working professional I have yet to see a single test. Why? Because no one gives a shit. Why would you waste time testing someone when they're busy working? And if they're not doing their job, you fire them. Where is a test useful in there? Tests are a waste of time and energy that could be spent on more learning or working depending on where you are in life.

I especially hate martial arts tests. Why? Because I've had almost 20 tests in my martial arts career and I've passed every single one. Some I performed better than others, but in the past say 8 years, I've passed every single test with flying colors. And I hated every one. They're boring, long, and frankly insulting. Every day I went to class I worked hard and proved I knew what I was doing and was capable of learning just fine. As far as I'm concerned if the instructors don't know already who's going to pass their tests, then they're failing as instructors. Maybe my ego is out of control here, but ever since I got to 2nd Dan (that's second degree black belt), I've had a real problem with taking the piddling little tests for low level sashes. Sorry, different art or not, getting to 2nd Dan is beyond proof that I am capable of any stupid little test in any other school.

Now, you could easily and correctly point out that I'm being stubborn and more than slightly pig-headed here by not just sucking it up and going and taking the stupid test and just getting it over with. But I think part of this is that I've finally and totally lost patience with being treated like a lesser martial artist by the other students at this school because of taking Karate and not wanting to take Vijitsu. That just grinds on my nerves. What do these kids know about my style? Do they know what Shuri-Tei means? I doubt they even know there's a significant difference between Japanese Karate and Okinawin Karate.

All this all means is that I'm going to have a fun little discusion with my instructors when I next appear in class. They're going to question why I didn't test and I'm gonna explain bluntly that I have no interest in testing whatsoever for the afforementioned reasons. On the one hand, my not testing is annoying to them, but I really think that they get why I don't care. I've been in the martial arts since I was 11; I work really hard, I demonstrate my skill every day, and they see both my phsyical dedication as well as my mental dedication. Both of them would probably feel the same frustrations if they were starting over as a white sash at a new school.

I don't know if any of this will actually get me out of testing, but it's worth a shot. Either way, I didn't have to test this week, and that's fine by me. We'll see what happens next week.