STORY BY SARAH GROSSMAN
“The Drake Ninjas,” “Kung-Foo Bulldogs” or maybe even “The Assassins”
Personally, I think these all sound pretty awful, but imagine a school where everyone could fend off an attack. As a first-year, what if each student was required to take a course in self-defense? It could be a great idea to consider.
Drake does, in fact, offer self-defense classes, but the attendance rates are rather low.
This may be surprising considering the increasing awareness of sexual assault and violence on college campuses.
Now, while martial arts may not help against guns too well, they do encourage the body to react while also instructing self-discipline.
As a student, self-discipline is a great area of study. If there is a choice between going out or staying in for homework, it takes a lot of dedication to make the best choice for yourself. This is where self-discipline is key.
Not only this, but the additional workout increases flexibility, decreases depression and fights off the freshman 15.
Instances of sexual assault decrease as a result because people could learn to defend themselves from any potential attackers.
Campus safety could dramatically increase because people would learn how to be more pro-active about their safety. Due to muscle memory, the lessons learned in this class would remain useful for many years. There are many beneficial possibilities here.
This could also be a way to make Drake an even more impressive university. Maybe a trend could start a trend across the nation. Not to mention, it could be quite interesting to watch some people trying to attack or defend from one another.
There might also be some pitfalls with this idea however. Those who have taken martial arts in the past would be very advanced and quite possibly bored, and those who suffer from a lack of coordination (such as myself) might struggle to a depressing degree.
However, there is the benefit of being an incredibly prepared campus in case of a zombie apocalypse or you know, just an apocalypse in general.
If all hell breaks loose, students will be trained and ready to defend against attack. You really never know about these things (that is a joke people).
So, after years of trying to convince myself to sign up for a martial arts course, the idea that one could be mandatory sounds like a great time.
I love forced workouts and physical activity, somewhat. Okay, well, not really, but what’s good for my safety is good for me, and that might just be a solid enough reason.
Overall, requiring this should be considered or maybe people should think about taking the optional course more often.
The more I think about it, the better “The Drake Ninjas” sounds. And really, who doesn’t want to be a ninja?
