ENGLEWOOD, CO—After months of being taught to develop courage, inner strength, and other values of the martial arts, Daniel Finkelstein finally achieved the self-confidence necessary to stand up to his parents and quit taking karate lessons, the area sixth-grader reported Monday.
Finkelstein, 11, who was bullied into beginner’s classes at Dragon Karate and Tae Kwon Do Academy by his father in July, reportedly drew on a number of recently acquired skills, including poise and self-assurance, when confronting his parents about how much he despised karate.
“Before karate, I used to let everyone—my mom, my dad, even my grandma—push me around,” Finkelstein said. “They would tell me what to do and I would just roll over and do it, because they were bigger than me and I was scared.”
“If it wasn’t for the focus and determination I learned in karate, I would still be in karate right now,” he added.
News story continued at The Onion. Hat tip to Skeptical Personal Development.
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3 responses so far ↓
1
Get Confidence
// Jun 10, 2010
Great one
Can’t be any better than that.
Thank’s
2
Matt Klein
// Jun 13, 2010
I see this story replayed every day. Forcing a kid to to karate benefits no one. The kid hates it, the parents have to beg and threaten every week, and the sensei hates teaching kids that don’t want to be there. On the other side of the coin I’ve heard many of my black belts say they were forced to go as young kids, but they are now so glad their parents pushed them. I don’t know the answer to this one.
Why Black Belts Never Quit // Sep 1, 2009
[...] such circumstances, the wise and virtuous response is to quit. To quit is to create time and space for a more worthwhile endeavor, inside or outside the world of [...]
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