A BJJ instructor has sparked widespread discussion after publicly demoting one of his students.
Andre Seabra, who runs Instituto Fazendo a Diferença no Jiu-Jitsu, shared a video showing the moment he removed student Igor’s brown belt and replaced it with a blue belt in front of teammates.
In the footage, Seabra explained the reasoning behind the decision:
If there’s one thing that makes us very sad, it’s when a student disobeys their teacher, right? There’s a great principle, it’s biblical, which is to honor your father and mother.
So we need to fulfill this principle.
According to Seabra, the situation extended beyond the academy.
He stated that Igor had disobeyed his mother and also failed to respond when the instructor tried to address the issue directly:
With that, the mistake was serious. He’s leaving the brown belt and going back to blue.
Seabra made it clear that the student would have an opportunity to earn his rank back:
When you regain trust again, you’ll return to your rank.
During the ceremony, Igor accepted responsibility for his actions:
I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.
In a follow-up post, Seabra elaborated on his philosophy:
Yesterday once again, I had to make a decision and this time with my champion Xerife, after disobeying his mother and me as well, as a consequence I demoted him so that he would understand the gravity of the mistake, of course it will be for a brief time, but enough for him to understand.
Teacher is synonymous with care, affection, commitment, empathy, kindness, guidance and transformation.
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