That might not be a great idea, not because of the violence involved, but because that twists the training. If the kid lucks out, he'd find a training group wil

That might not be a great idea, not because of the violence involved, but because that twists the training. If the kid lucks out, he'd find a training group willing to work out whatever it is that is attracting bullies to him. If he doesn't luck out, he ends up being the guy getting beaten up in the dojo. I actually know of a guy who didn't luck out. His father forced the guy to go learn karate as a kid. Because he was getting picked on. His father yelled at him when he sucked. I imagine his teachers then yelled at him too. The worst part of it was that after he grew up, he is still taking some form of martial arts. He is still getting picked on by his training group, even though he switched to a different art, twice. He is so desperate for friends, he whines about the verbal abuse of his current teacher yet refuses to quit because the training group and the teacher are the only friends he has. These are not the reasons to go learn a martial art. That's not to say Karate won't work. The main thing is to get him around people who act like sane, socially-healthy adults -- people who takes initiative in a civilized society yet have not lost touch with their survival instincts. That may or may not be karate.