The Importance of Self Defense: A Necessary Addition to High School Physical Education
All photos provided by Evi Quast.
Evi Quast
Self-defense is a legal term: The actions one takes in order to protect themself or stop another person from hurting you. It's not fancy; it's just survival. My friends and I had the opportunity of taking a short self-defense course at MK Protection Strategies, and while we only had a few hours to learn potential life saving skills, we were taught all the baseline strategies on how to defend yourself in a serious situation. Our instructor, William Stedman, opened our eyes to the dangers we can all face in the real world—sharing personal stories and real situations he has responded to as a firefighter/paramedic that were a wake-up call to say the least. His goal was not to encourage us to go start trouble with our new “fighting” skills, but it was to prepare us with strategies to de-escalate potential danger and for worst case scenarios in which we needed to stop someone from hurting us.
At the end of the lessons, Mr. Stedman brought up a very interesting idea that sparked the idea in this article. As a result the question arose: Should self-defense be put into public high school gym classes?
One thing often overlooked or brushed off is an idea most people have: “This could never happen to me.” The unfortunate part about crimes like this is that it can happen to anyone. Forms of violence include verbal, emotional, sexual, psychological, financial, etc. According to FBI statistics on crime rates, around every 24.6 seconds a violent crime is committed, but specifics are often hard to collect because around 50% of violent crimes aren’t even reported. It does matter who you are, where you are, or what you're doing, which is why it is important to be alert.
There are two different main types of violence. First is social violence. Social violence is two people getting into an argument over something minimal. Most of the time you can diffuse the situation through verbal strategies, and the person probably doesn’t want something from you. Verbal strategies involve being nice until it's not time to be nice, not challenging the person, not threatening the person, not telling them they are wrong or what to do, etc. Anti-social violence, however, is someone picking and choosing you as their victim. Unfortunately, most of the time it's someone you know; in fact, 50% of victims report they knew their attacker. The main difference with anti-social violence is that you're less likely to diffuse the situation because the person wants something from you. This could be your valuables, your body, or your life. This is when, if needed, you use physical action to stop someone from hurting you, like gross motor skills and most importantly, your mindset. Remember you have something or someone to go home to and you are worth fighting for.
Although it is important to inform people on how to possibly stop a dangerous situation from escalating, there is more to this story. I took surveys and polls from Hamilton students to see how many students are actually affected by these situations and to measure their own opinions on implementing self-defense classes in an actual high school curriculum. The responses were eye opening. Over 60 Hamilton students were asked if they have ever been in a situation where they felt in possible physical danger and 53% answered ‘yes.’ This question alone was scary to think about, but the next one was even more shocking. The following question was: “Have you ever witnessed, been through, or heard about a violent situation or crime?” to which 70% of students said ‘yes.’ Here are some stories that were anonymously shared:
“We have a stalker at my work (a pool) who has been banned from all public pools in the area, and he found our pool. He was stalking several of my friends going in and out of work, and I've seen him once in the hallways while I was in my swimsuit. It was scary knowing that I don't know how to properly defend myself should someone like that try to assault me.”
“A good friend of my mom was assaulted in her own driveway in Tosa; a man came up behind her and tried to kidnap her and steal her car, which was running. She was able to chuck her keys over the fence into her neighbor’s yard so her car wasn't stolen, but she says it was absolutely terrifying. She says she still questions her safety to this day, considering she lives in an affluent neighborhood and it still happened anyway.”
“My mom's friend's 15-16 year old daughter got kidnapped all the way to Myanmar through online friends that wanted to meet up. They eventually called the parents and demanded three million dollars in three days, threatening their daughter's life. I am unsure of what happened after that.”
Even though for some this is scary and alarming to think about, I believe the statistics and knowledge is important. It’s better to be somewhat scared but prepared than to be walking around with a blind eye. Ultimately, I wanted to see how students would feel if the courses were incorporated into gym class. A crucial question asked was, “Do you think high school kids would benefit from being taught self-defense in a high school gym class?” to which 85.7% of students said, “Yes, it would be beneficial,” and 93.7% said their parents would support the idea. Finally, I asked if students would prefer it incorporated or as a separate gym elective. 73% said they would prefer it incorporated into required freshman and sophomore year gym classes, and 27% said they would take it as a separate elective. What was most helpful is the comments regarding the final thoughts students had.
“I think it is super important, especially now when we live in a world that isn't as safe as it once was, to get safety training. Even if it is just a short class, it can help you if you ever get into a situation where you are in danger.”
“I think that is a great idea. There have been many times throughout my life where I have felt in possible danger. I feel like with a class, I would be able to feel less fear and more confidence during scary and uncomfortable situations.”
“Beyond just the practical advantages of teaching self defense, as someone who did martial arts for about six years, it also teaches a lot about control and awareness of one's own body, which I personally think is quite helpful at a teenage age.”
Overall, there were very positive reactions that showed through the student answers, with multiple supporters of implementing a self-defense class in a curriculum. Obviously, there are tweaks and specifics that would need to be addressed and worked with, but overall, could be a fun and engaging learning experience as well as a step to a positive change. It can really make a difference in saving someone's life, giving them more confidence and awareness to hopefully never fall victim to the dangers in the real world.
If you want to learn more on your own or look at self-defense classes to take, check out MK Protection Strategies in Menomonee Falls or the following websites: www.studyofviolence.com and www.safeinternational.biz.
