Martial Arts in the public school system.

[manuelito]

what are your thoughts on martial arts being taught in public school systems?

 

what do you think are the pro's and con's?

 

i am for it but i do see problems that could arise.

[Shorin Ryuu]

Pros: Increase in physical fitness, respect, discipline and an awareness of what the martial arts are.

 

Cons: Just like when karate (although it wasn't called that at the time) was introduced into the Japanese school system around the year 1905 from Okinawa, the techniques will have to be watered down and lose a great deal of their effectiveness due to the lack of competent instructors to teach that many children and the worry that kids will really hurt themselves or others by either using proper combat-effective techniques or improper technique in general.

 

I am against it. A good idea in theory, but too difficult to implement.

Edited August 19, 2004 by Shorin Ryuu

[SoulAssassin]

Good and Bad... Insurances probley wouldnt like it.. Not to mention over 1/2 the students in the school would probley abuse it one way or another.

 

I would have taken it though.

Edited August 19, 2004 by SoulAssassin

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I used to be a school teacher in another life and have worked in school systems for quite a few years. Personally, I would love to see the martial arts incorporated into the schools.

 

I've wished for years that beginning in about 7th grade, young women would be given either a required, or more likely, optional one year class in practical self-defense techniques. No kata, no proper stances, etc..just effective techniques that work against an attacker.

 

I feel that a martial arts class taught as an elective would be GREAT! Obviously, it would be for a PE credit, and if ALL schools had the program in their schools, tournaments of some sort, most likely light contact, would be similar to basketball or football games. Our team against yours. At the end of the "season", there would be tournaments for class/regional champs, which go on to state champs.

 

Insurance coverage isn't an issue really. Martial arts if far safer generally than football or wrestling...even basketball.

 

I see no problems at all in having to "water down" the techniques taught. If the class is being taught as a 50-60 minute class during school time, then obviously there won't be time for major conditioning drills or warm-ups. Just a few basics and stretching (max time 20 minutes) would be all that would be needed.

 

The biggest question is...what system would be chosen to be taught these people? Korean? Okinawan? Japanese? American? That, I think, would be the major flaw in this idea.

 

The principal of the local high school and I talked about this at length. He often came up to the gym and watched my adult classes 3 evenings /week. I was teaching, and often complemented me on my teaching methods and the quality of the students I was producing and the attitudes those students had towards others.

 

I had a club at the high school for 3 years (up to 75 students by myself...THAT was interesting!) with a member on the student council, President, Vice Pres, Secretary and Treasurer. We were active on the campus doing cleanup of the school, after basketball/football game cleanup, etc and it was well recieved. My class did a demonstration once at half-time of a basketball game..and boy,were we all nervous! but I thought it went pretty well.

 

The principal and I talked about offering it as an elective PE class under the (on paper anyway) teaching of the men's/women's PE instructors. I wasn't certified to teach high school PE, so I couldn't offer it myself for credit. The state didn't like it though, as it had never been done before. I left the school system before we had a really good try at it, and it's one of my regrets on leaving teaching.

[Drunken Monkey]

i think the only way to teach martial arts in a school is to have it under the all emcompassing 'self-defence' title.

 

the moment you start to teach a specifc style the whole politics issue will undoubtedly creep in,

 

which, in a school where teaching time is limited anyway,

 

would hamper what you can teach and how you would teach.

 

either keep it 'pure' so to speak and organise it around a 'limited' club or teach everyone and be general.

 

my worthless key tappings....

[battousai16]

^we did an "all encompassing self defense" unit in a gym class once^. it was absolutely worthless. the watering down thing became problematic, and most people thought it was enough to just go through the motions. it really just gave enough confidence to jump into a confrontation and lose. however, it was kind of nice being looked at as "the unit guru", especially considering how much i blow at all the other sports that said, i think i'm pretty well against it. maybe if a teacher held it as like an after school club or something, as that's more independant and will be less likely to raise the aforementioned political issues.

[Drunken Monkey]

well, it doesn't have to be watered down.

 

i mean, i can probably teach a bunch of guys basic defence ideas without actually teaching wing chun.

 

i mean, the real basics

 

getting used to an incoming attack

 

getting some sort of useful instinctive reaction

 

getting people to understand body structure

 

y'know, real basics that are actually useful in the long term for those that are actually interested who might want more (and are not afraid to bleed a bit)

 

basic techniques can be taught

 

i.e

 

intercepting, stepping, closing gaps, breaking away.

 

the problem i see in a lot of general self defence is that there is no concept of basics.

 

things are taught in little sets of techniques

 

i.e do this against that.

 

anyway,

 

the problem may be that you are in a country with very, if you'll excuse me, daft lawsuit problems.

 

i'm pretty sure you know better than i do about this and how it would affect what was taught in a school.

[AngelaG]

If you bruise a kid in school, even in the attempt to teach them self-defence to maybe save their life one day, you will be in the biggest pile of poo you have ever seen!

 

Sad but true!

[Drunken Monkey]

ahhh, you must've missed my little post about what to do against lawyers......

 

[aefibird]

When I was in Comprehensive School (equiv. to Junior High & High School) the girls were given a 'self-defence' course. it was taught by a TKD guy (whom I'm since good friends with) and a Ju-Jitsu guy, as his assistant. The school had to have 2 different martial arts teachers from 2 different systems, just in case anyone accused the school of teaching TKD instead of 'self-defence'.

 

Well, the classes were very basic and so watered down as to not offend anyone as to be almost ineffectual. It wasn't the fault of the TKD and the JJ instructors; they really knew their stuff, it was just that they basically had their hands tied by the law and the requirements of the school as to what they could and couldn't teach.

 

That was in the mid-'90's, before the crazy 'sue everyone for anything' culture really hit the UK.

 

The most worrying thing for me is the fact that some of those women will have done that SD course at school and will never have done anything similar again. Yet, they will be convinced that they 'know self-defence' and would be able to competently fend off a brutal atacker.