of Rationale self-defense instructor training workshops
Dr. Gong Chen Crimes of violence are a part of society, and perpetrators of violent crimes are a part of the human population. Violent crimes can happen to people anywhere at any time, and the risk of becoming a victim is a part of daily life of everybody, including school students. Based on 19962006 Uniform Crime Reports, more than one million Americans became victims of violent crimes every year. School age students are the most vulnerable group to the threat of violent crimes. To parents, the safety of their children, free of the threat of violent crimes, is the highest priority in school and in everyday life. Therefore self-defense education should be a top priority of education objectives in schools since self-defense education is the main force that carries on the mission. High quality self-defense education plays a critical role in teaching school students to protect their lives. High quality self-defense education is based on both the quality of the curricula and the instructors. A high quality instructor training and certificate program is the only way that can ensure the quality of self-defense education in schools. If we don't teach them well, students will pay the price of their lives in real life-threatening situations. All public schools nationwide require certified teachers, and many sports and activities such as swimming, weight training, and aerobic dance require certification. However, there is no such training and certificate program for self-defense instructors in California or in the nation. Even though self-defense and martial arts are required subjects at seventh and tenth grades in the California Physical Education Standards, there are no standard curricula on self-defense education at all and there is no training program for teachers. A recent study by Young (2008) indicated that 50% of California schools can not offer self-defense classes due to the lack of instructor training. Compared to other subjects and sports, teaching self-defense has more reasons require to certification of instructors to ensure the best quality of instruction and avoid liability issues. It is critical and urgent to start a self-defense instructor training and certificate program that can carry on the required self-defense education in the existing California Physical Education Standards. Major self-defense activities at San Jose State University
1993. Invented the seven-pattern physical skill system of the SmarTough Self-defense and was commended at 1993 National Basic Instructional Program Convention. 1996. Invented mental system for the SmarTough Self-defense and was commended as the first scientific selfdefense curriculum. 1996. Conducted self-defense instructor training workshop for school physical educator in Shenyang, China. 1998. Published "A new concept of self-defense", one of the two books in U.S., and conducted a national study. 1999. Published Counter violent crimes--the first self-defense book in China. 1999. Published a series of article "Teaching self-defense" through physical education at Strategies. 2002. Trained self-defense instructors for Gilroy High School, and Bay PHEP program. 2002. Introduced SmarTough self-defense to 280 university department chairs in China. 2002. Introduced SmarTough self-defense at World Physical Education Conference. 2002. Brought the first self-defense class to Beijing University. 2004. Conducted the first national university self-defense professors training project in China. Spoke at China's Central TV and Dalian TV on self-defense. 2004. Published book Comprehensive Self-defense and book Safety for Chinese university students. 2005. Conducted self-defense instructor training workshop for school physical educators and started self-defense classes in middle schools in Zhejiang Province in China. 2006. Invited by vice minister of China's Ministry of Education to present self-defense curricula for public schools in China. 2007. Spoke at Northwestern Polytechnic University in China. 2008. Completing over 60 firsthand researches on self-defense.