“Will my son become more violent for learning karate, jiu-jitsu, or another martial art?”
In a word, “No.” Children learn self-control by practicing martial arts; and the code of conduct that is applied, within the study, is carried outside to daily life. The average martial arts school works with academic parents and teachers toward the goal of optimal student success.
When you see a Karate demonstration team perform, that is not an indicator of the life skills that are taught within the Karate class. It is the most “flashy” component of karate training, presented to capture the public’s attention. Ten minutes of kids using antique guns, breaking and working on a synchronized choreography, is more interesting to the audience than a lecture, by me, on how to deal with bullies without violence.
However, let’s take a closer look at the ten minute flash. The next time you see a martial arts demonstration team, remember that those kids have to practice those techniques over and over again. This requires self-discipline, goal setting, perseverance, and each child being a team player.
There is no place for a “one-way” personality on any martial arts demonstration team. Such a personality would go against good public performance. In a typical Karate class, you learn all the life skills mentioned above and much more.
Children learn much more about violence on television, playing video games, and how to deal with everyday life than they will ever learn in a karate class. Even if a Karate master was the classic “evil sensei”, which he may have seen in the Karate Kid movie or Kung Fu Theater, most children can think of much worse violence.
All you have to do is watch the news, cartoons, listen to the radio, or read a newspaper, to see things worse than unsupervised hand-to-hand combat. So the self-defense methods taught to children actually pale in comparison to school shootings, bombings, wars, and vehicle shootings.
Karate was created by unarmed civilians on the island of Okinawa and was secretly taught among family members for their personal protection. The philosophy, within a martial arts school, will not always be the same, but the seeds of violence are not sown within a martial arts environment.
All you have to do is look around for more, and much worse, violence than learning to defend yourself, integrated with constructive life skills. The fact is that a martial artist is not a “street fighter”. If that was a requirement, we would recruit the toughest kids in North Providence.
As I explain to children in my Karate and Jujitsu classes, “Never forget the word ‘artist’, it means to be creative, to be an innovator and to think for yourself.” Children who learn martial arts are more likely to adapt to and defuse a potentially violent situation.
On top of that, most kids who study karate, or any other martial art, will not be “troublemakers.” The children we teach in the Greater Providence, Rhode Island area have learned enough about leadership in our Karate and Jujitsu classes to think for themselves.
For parents, the gift of martial arts training to their children has many rewards, now and in the future.