Less than 1 in 1000 BJJ students get their black belt so jot that down I’m likely to get my black belt in a few months
But more constructively, I saw an interesting conversation regarding the fidelity and information communicated by belts. It was the idea that you have a badge system for people who have been in the sport for a long time without competition results. So you still celebrate long time contribution to the art but you don’t make a claim about their martial competency. Maybe you could have gilded belts for universally recognized competition results. So you have 5+ stripes for competency in different sections of the art, gilded lining for comp results, and the normal ranking. It would be more complicated and flashy, so there’s pros and cons.
Less than 1 in 1000 BJJ students get their black belt so jot that down
I’m likely to get my black belt in a few months 
But more constructively, I saw an interesting conversation regarding the fidelity and information communicated by belts. It was the idea that you have a badge system for people who have been in the sport for a long time without competition results. So you still celebrate long time contribution to the art but you don’t make a claim about their martial competency. Maybe you could have gilded belts for universally recognized competition results. So you have 5+ stripes for competency in different sections of the art, gilded lining for comp results, and the normal ranking. It would be more complicated and flashy, so there’s pros and cons.