How many years should be practiced to earn black belt in Taekwondo?
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Answer by Darwin J. Eisenhart , Taekwondo Sr. Master 7th Dan Chung Do Kwan - 50 years experience (began training 1965) Also, 1st Dan Judo, 2nd Dan Aikido, 3rd Dan Karate-do
How many years does a tree take to produce its first fruit or seed? Orange trees take from 5 to 7 years. A pecan tree might take 15 years. An oak tree can take 20 to 30 years to drop its first acorn. There is no single answer because each tree is different, but none of them will produce their fruit before their time.
In the Martial Art, each individual person is different. The quality of instruction (or lack thereof) can keep things on track with good instruction and a good student, or delay them with poor instruction, or a student lacking in something. However, labeling someone a "Black Belt" and giving them a certificate before they are qualified (in a relatively short time — like 1 or 2 years), is like attaching fake fruit to a tree, and saying it is ready for harvest.
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Promotion to a Black Belt is not as much about time as it is about three main criterion: Knowledge, Skill, & Character. Basically, it is about what you know, what you can do, and what kind of person you are (how well you control your actions and attitude). A student can learn knowledge at an accelerated rate, or take an exceptionally long time. Skill comes when it comes, but usually takes months to develop reflex, years to hone and refine, and decades to master.
A Black Belt is merely a beginner of the mastery, and is qualified as being an "expert at the basics." This is a determination at the sole discretion of the teacher, but a teacher must have absolute integrity to be honest about promotions and certification of rank to accurately reflect the knowledge, skill and character of the student. The teacher should either be a Grandmaster, with 40 or 50 years of authentic expertise (not a paper dragon), or be a junior instructor or master under the supervision of a Grandmaster who can establish and enforce a minimum level of competency and criteria for becoming a Black Belt.
The time it takes from white belt (beginner) to Black Belt (expert) will vary greatly depending on many factors, including the number hours in daily class, the number of days per week attending training, the frequency in which a student is corrected by a competent Instructor, the amount of time practicing outside of class, the quality of Instruction and the quality of daily practice at home. In Taekwondo, it is likely that a dedicated student will be eligible to test for a 1st Degree Black Belt (Il Dan) after 3 to 5 years (at my Dojang, the minimum time is 4 years).
Students can fail a Taekwondo test, and I have seen it happen many times over my decades in this art. However, if a step-by-step curriculum is well-established and taught properly, a student should have no problem being ready at pre-determined intervals for progress checks and promotion. If the student is not ready, for some reason, then they are not eligible to test, and should simply train until the Instructor determines they are ready to move on. The test becomes a formality to verify what an Instructor already knows about their student, but can be failed if the student struggles under the pressure of a test, and they perform on that day to a degree that is not satisfactory. It should be rare, as it is the Instructor's job, and responsibility to prepare the student, but failing a test can happen.
If a school holds rank exams, and promotes students in grade with no consideration for their skill or "passing a test," then they are not a legitimate Martial Art educational program. Giving ranks and belts just for money is well-known in this industry as fraud, and regardless of the number of schools that do business this way, they must be placed in a category separate from a legitimate school. Yet, even legitimate Instructors might have good intentions by providing challenging tests, but the test might be poorly executed if standards are low, and Instructors are ill-equipped to teach and/or judge student's progress.
This is why there is a necessity for a chain of command to an upper echelon of senior masters and Grandmasters, and a lineage to an authentic Taekwondo Kwan (original family of Korean Taekwondo schools) or an international association with accountability for quality and reputation. Minimum standards must be met before a rank should be awarded, yet regardless of ability, every student must take time to mature in their art before being distinguished as a Black Belt. A good, honest instructor will know when that time is, and that is what really matters.