not sure how i feel about this ...

Good idea, but not for the self defense. It will teach him how to get along with a bully better, and avoid the confrontations in the first place.

Ken;

If you're looking for a martial arts instructor (the actual art isn't important), make sure you watch a class or two. How the instructor teaches is far more important than the martial art he teaches.

I had a long conversation with my second Kung Fu instructor. I had already been training for over 20 years. Here is the gist of that conversation;

The best benefit of serious martial arts training, is that you avoid confrontation in the first place. Why don't you get into fights? Because the other person isn't a threat.

Have you ever seen two animals fight? They see each other as a threat. Do you see lions fight with foxes? No. Why? Because the fox isn't a threat to the lion.

With advanced training, you gain the confidence that a confrontation isn't necessary. You have nothing to prove. You don't raise your voice in anger, because the other person isn't a threat to you.

And the most profitable thing a martial arts instructor can teach you, is how to avoid confrontations in the first place. Don't go where they occur. Never threaten another person. Never talk louder than they do (you'll be perceived as the aggressor) .
Learn to talk your way out of fights. Nobody ever wins a fight. The winner is the one less damaged. And later in life, the one who goes to jail. Yea.

This may all be too sophisticated for a little kid. But one way to guarantee that you'll get beat up, is ...after 4 lessons in karate....showing other kids what you can do.

A lot of bullies do. And their dad is usually a bully. It is sad.

I hadn't thought of that. Yeah, what kid is going to tell his parent "I was threatening this little kid, if he didn't give me his lunch money, and he just hauled off and hit me"?

Every kid is going to be the victim when he tells the story. Or the Hero.