self defense should be a part of every schools curriculum.?

Question

should schools teach students to defend themselves when an
intruder go beserk on campus and start hurting folks. i know
a lot of folks will say that studants don't have guns. i agree but a class where most studants have books they can throw and lap tops that would make a heck of a knot on a head and hundreds of other items they can use to defend them selves with. I dont advocate violence but, is self defense now a thing
of the past?

Answer 1

To your Question: Hell Yes!

Look....in Japanese public schools, both *judo* and *kendo* at least have been a part of the public school system, in their P.E. classes, since day *one* (at least since the 1950s). You don't hear of any school shootings there, do you? Likewise, France has taught *judo*, or at least its basics, as a part of the physical education/public school curriculum for decades and they don't have shootings either.

And no, it isn't just the gun control either. It's about giving *ordinary kids*, not the jocks mind you, the *rest of them*, tools to use in self-defense against bullies, methods of physical stress relief, and *self* control. Breaking that down:

--Tools to use in self-defense against bullies. Any more these days in American schools, your bullies either *are* the jocks or are well-connected to them. Meaning, ordinary kids in school get picked at for "not fitting in" or "not being a jock", by punks and thugs who on average, end up with an *adult* level of muscle some three to five *years* ahead of their peers....and these jocks/bullies are also taught that bullying others is an *entitlement* or a right that they have. That it's all good clean "competition" to make other people feel worthless by threatening them and harrassing them endlessly in the hallways.

So with most kids, they go in at a disadvantage anyway. The game is rigged already since the bullies start out bigger and stronger than they are and *expand on* that lead. Never mind the hostile, predatory attitude that begs the jock/bully to be aggressive. So you'd think that the school system, the adults who are supposed to be in charge, would help ordinary kids, right?

Nope. Most schools in America have policies that can be summed up in one sentence: Curl up in a ball and pray you don't die. If you try to fight back, the system refuses to help you against Johnny the Sociopathic and Biff, His Jock Buddy. Because they have *parents* too, who insist that their little *football* freaks and thugged-out *ballers* can do no wrong (when the truth is more like, "they can read no English", but hey).

This needs to change....and in order to change that, kids need to be *allowed* to stand up for themselves, within reason. I'm not talking about letting young people beat each other down, but there needs to be a sense of, "If a bully hits you, this is what you *can* do to protect yourself..."

Which is where self-defense training comes in. You teach kids something like Judo, Aikido, or Russian sambo, where the emphasis is on *grab and control* tactics, and where you re-build some sense of control and confidence in kids by telling them, for example, "Ok, if Johnny hits you, you *are* allowed to snag his arm, and lock it up in an armbar to keep him from mauling you. But you have to *hold* him and not break the arm....that would get *you* in trouble."

Am I saying that everyone *not* on the football team needs to be a UFC-caliber hardass? No. But as it stands right now, the current system gives non-bully students *nothing* to work with and *no* right to stand up for themselves. That is enough to eventually drive *anyone* crazy. Kids can be trusted, as they are in Japan and France, with some basic, defensive fighting skills. Teenagers can even be trusted with some of the nastier submission holds such as chokeholds with proper training.

The real question is: Do we want to spend the time and money needed to give ordinary, non-jock kids, especially *other people's kids*, something they can work with so they don't *have to* take endless abuse from the bully/jock in the halls?

--Methods of stress relief. This one is real simple. A martial artist in training is going to be at least a *little bit* closer to being in decent physical condition than someone who just sits on the couch munching nachos and cold cereal all day.

The kids, if they are allowed to train hard, will be in better shape--without having to learn a damned lousy team sport, oh heavens no!--and will be more able to handle stress....

And if some degree of contact sparring and/or contact training on heavy bags is allowed, this gives kids in training the opportunity to also vent frustrations out physically without having to hurt anyone. This is one of the most important aspects of any training: separating the venting of anger from acts of direct violence. It allows kids to see the two are different and that you can *release* tension and anger physically without having to step over the line and maim and kill folks.

--*Self* control, not just gun control. Training in a fighting method teaches people that violence has real consequences. That concussions suck. That broken jaws don't heal right sometimes. That scar tissue isn't cool really, it's disfiguring, it makes you ugly.

That being shot with a gun, with live ammo, kills people DEAD, as in forever gone from our world.

And in general, on the more positive, less creepy/scary side, it teaches that *people matter*, that causes have effects, that the things people do *matter* and have consequences. And I'd humbly submit that this lesson needs to be learned solidly *well before* any "sex education" ever takes place....if you don't think your actions are relevant and can change (or RUIN) lives forever, you have no business moving on to "the birds and the bees".

But I digress. Point is it teaches people to take their behavior towards other humans around them a bit more seriously, to look at the bigger picture. It deprograms them out of their first-person shooter mindset and clues them in that hey, maybe they need to look for other answers that *don't* involve killing people DEAD, as in forever gone from this earth.

And perspective like that, when it is learned as a way to cope with pain and distress from the get-go....is implicitly going to improve one's composure in the face of pain and emotional distress, right?

So what would I advocate? A little something called P.E. version 2.0. Let the 10-20 percent minority that excels in team sports *do so*, track them out and away from the rest of the kids....

And for the rest....they get remedial training. First, they get cardio, either in the forms of jumping rope, or stair-climbing (with a backup plan: recumbent exercise bikes for those who can't take high impact cardio). Then they get some basic floor work with pilates and plyometrics (medicine ball and jump work). The idea is to go easy, keep it simple so kids stay in class, if need be, run the class without grades, just base a pass-fail grade entirely on attendance and *doing* the workout (if you show up and try, you pass) in a non-competitive way.

Then, once the remedials are out of the way....start teaching a streamlined, simplified form of both Parkour and Aikido. The emphasis on this stuff should be not so much about *fighting* per se, but about assuming that *any* violence that occurrs in a school is going to involve weapons of some sort, so....

Control the attacker long enough to escape, then *run like hell* to the nearest safe cover. Focus on Disarm and Drop skills (if someone attacks you with a closed fist, the fist is itself the "weapon"....you have done the disarm when the fist opens and stays that way), such that the student learns how to avoid being maimed, and can drop an attacker to an all-fours position and disarm him in seconds.

And once Drop and Disarm works, you go to the "run like hell" part, or Tactical Sprints. Similar to Parkour, but in fast-forward over shorter distances to *cover*, mainly to keep from being *shot at*.

Either way, the idea is *protection*....protect yourself, then escape. It should work, even in this lawsuit-happy mess we call America...

Thanks *so* much for your time and patience, this really is a good Question! ^_^

Answer 2

I don't think so. If you teach EVERYBODY self-defence, then for all practical purposes, nothing has changed. The only way learning self-defence can give you an edge is if your enemy is not learning the same thing.

It reminds me of a line off of The Incredibles. "Everybody can be special! And if everybody is special, then nobody is." Or something like that.