Currently Defenseless: Why Self Defense Needs to be Taught in Schools

As I was running down Mission Road at the start of my workout, I could barely conceal my smile — I was in my zone. My then-freshman self was overjoyed to finally be a part of the cross country team I had admired since elementary school. But then a blaring honk paired with a man in a truck staring at me snapped me out of my trance.

For most people, the scariest part of running is having their lungs burn from effort. For me, it’s getting abducted.

As a female, I get whistled or yelled at on almost every run I go on. I’ve even had cars flash on their turn signals to follow me as soon as they see me turn a corner, and we need universal self defense training in order to combat these potential dangers.

It’s a good start that the freshman girls are getting taught self defense during Senior Service day, but it needs to be available and mandatory for the whole student body, including boys.

Whistles aren’t harmless, either. In 2016, Vanessa Marcotte left for a run and never came back. In July, Mollie Tibbets was kidnapped and murdered while out on a jog by herself. Last month, Wendy Karina Martinez was stabbed and killed while on a quick run. Incidents like these stress the need for preparedness.

If I have to complete two gym classes before I can put on my cap and gown, I should at least be learning crucial — and potentially lifesaving — information during them. Instead of the second round of ultimate frisbee, why don’t we instead watch a video on the most critical points to land a punch? I get that I could do this on my own, but the school be more concerned about the safety of the student body instead of who can do the best forehand throw.

Not everyone would be able to take an individual class like I could. They are pricey, and some students wouldn’t have time after school, so having them during the day would alleviate these barriers.

To those who tell me to “run in a group”: I run in a group, but that doesn’t change the fact that when running, no one in the group carries their phone because of the lack of pockets. We couldn’t threaten to call 911 and we certainly couldn’t call fast enough to save us. I don’t have anything other than my tired body to protect myself, and I wouldn’t have much energy to run away quickly.

When I’m by myself, I always tell my family when I leave and what my route is, but by the time my “safety group” could know something was wrong, I would likely be long gone. 74 percent of kidnapping victims are dead within three hours of the abduction, according to the FBI.

Lack of safety on runs isn’t just an issue for women, but it does affect us at a higher rate. In a poll conducted by Runner’s World, 41 percent of women are more likely to choose a route where they feel like they won’t get harassed or leered at, compared to just 9 percent of men.

When running alone, I chose routes that stay close to my house, and loop around the same busy streets multiple times. It may be boring to run by CVS three times in one jog, but it’s worth the security of knowing I’m only a half mile from being able to call the police.

That “dance” unit in Foundations of P.E. where most people just end up clapping their hands to One Direction could easily be replaced with a karate demo because it’s a shame that “Miss Congeniality” taught me more about self defense than P.E. has.

If schools aren’t teaching self defense because of the cost, I’m sure parents would rather have their child prepared for a life-or-death incident more than they would want another sports jersey. According to Thumbtack.com, each self defense class is about $30. $30 times seven coaches is $210: about the profits of an average bake sale. And I’ll gladly make all the cookies.

Even if most of the student body won’t be put in situations like the ones above, the classes would give many a safe outlet to relieve stress. Self defense and martial arts classes can actually decrease violence among adolescents and boost self esteem, according to a study from the Journal of Sports and Medicine Science.

I’d love to go on runs where the only thing I was worried about was how many miles were left, but that’s not realistic. Measures need to be taken to ensure that every excited freshman could feel safer than I did on their first run.