What is the proper form for a Taekwondo white belt?

Taekwondo white belts are not expected to have any prior knowledge when first joining a class. While studying as a white belt, a student is expected to learn the horse rider stance, up to five studio fighting techniques and basic ground techniques.

In taekwondo, the white belt symbolizes innocence or purity, reflecting a novice student's inexperience. It is followed by yellow, orange, green, blue or purple, brown, red and black. Each belt represents a step up in rank. To earn a belt, stripes have to be earned by performing certain moves, distinguishing taekwondo from karate, tai chi and other forms of martial arts. During the testing for a belt, the instructor requires a student to demonstrate forms and use those to determine if a student is ready to progress to the next level.

Somewhat confusingly for new students, taekwondo does not have a uniform curriculum. Thus, a student at one school may know different kicks than a student at another. Even the order of the belt colors can vary from school to school; only the black belt, symbolizing mastery, has been standardized. The belt system is based on a system introduced by Kano Jigoro, the Japanese founder of judo who organized students into six grades and black belts into nine ranks.