Challenging The Test.

Is it easily discernable to you, in your training, what goals you should be striving for at each level of 'attainment?'
Is this something that is touched upon in any way, shape, or form in your school or are belts just presented as mile-markers for your journey through the halls of rank-and-file Budoka?
You pay whatever amount you pay for each belt and certificate, but is anything you are learning pertinent to any goals you can easily discern? Does it feel any 'different,' is there any more 'substance?'

The way I look at it, there are no 'advanced' techniques, there are no 'advanced' forms, the only thing that really changes is understanding of the same basic stuff, the fundamentals, and therefor, the mindset, and the focus - at least this is how I feel it should be.
It should also be challenged along those lines, pushing the student ever deeper into these fundamentals, perhaps even coincide with whatever personal goals they have in mind, or not, either way, the goals for each should be spelled out.
What do you feel is adequate for such-and-such a level as opposed to a different level, and how is this displayed? How does one represent this?

A Black Belt is supposed to be a symbol of something, instead, it is more or less given out when money is dished out, at least in the majority of schools - some will make you earn it, and some will challenge it.
If you cannot represent that well, accordingly, you may not have lost the right to represent that, perhaps you were not ready for it to begin with. Understanding is key, it does not matter what you know, but how deep that understanding of what you know truly goes.

You know 100 Kata and 1000 techniques? Great! Want to test them out? THAT should stand up to the pressure, it is not something that you can buy. You may buy that belt, but you cannot represent what it means, you cannot buy the understanding.
So I ask again, are the goals clearly discernable? If so, what are they, and how comfortable are you in representing them at your current level of understanding?