Story referred to tactics not used in martial arts studios

I read Stephanie Bertholdo's article on Dawn Barnes' Karate Kids school with great interest.

My sons and I currently study American Tang Soo Do in Westlake, and positive news about the benefits of martial arts training is always welcome.

Unfortunately, I believe that Ms. Bertholdo highlighted the positive aspects of Karate Kids by emphasizing misconceptions and rather negative views of a more traditional training environment.

Most students of the martial arts use it as a path to selfdiscipline, focus, perseverance, selfcontrol and patience. These are skills that you must develop to advance in the martial arts and are also integral components in personal development and success in life. Many schools and studios provide their students with the means of achieving these goals.

In more than 20 years of personal experience with various martial arts styles, I've never encountered a school or studio that taught children with "much reprimand" and "an emphasis on fear." Nor have I witnessed a children's class where the instructor's methods included "shouting and using fear to drill lessons into young minds and bodies."

In our community, karate is a business. A school or studio with a negative, fear-based approach to training children wouldn't last.

While I understand the point of the article is to showcase the Karate Kids' approach to teaching children in a comfortable environment, the implication that "scaring children into learning" and that shouting at them is the normal training method elsewhere is a disservice to other martial arts studios.
Ellenina Gaston
Thousand Oaks