Swimming Elitest?!

[Sukerkin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11172054

I was amazed to read this article on the BBC. The comments below the article add depth to the narrative and also made me think that it is years, decades in fact, since I last went swimming myself .

 

[Carol]

Wow. That is eye-opening, and I am a swimmer, at least in the winter months.

The racial segregation in the 1930s is especially poignant, as that is when many, many community pools were built, as part of the WPA during the great depression. The community pool that I swam in as a child is a pool that was built during that era. The park is still operational and enjoyed by the community, I found this photo on the town's Facebook page.

Here is another comment I'll throw out there.

Some decades ago, many colleges had requirements that all undergrads must learn how to swim. That requirement has fallen by the wayside....at a time when college attendance has become far more diverse.

The comments were very insightful, I found it interesting that the British-born gent of Pakistani lineage commented that it was not common in his culture either.

Kudos to the BBC, as well as the readers, for addressing a delicate subject with such poise :asian:

 

[xJOHNx]

It's part of the curriculum here.
As a physiotherapist I can even teach children to swim as one of my examns was swimming on a university level (and I succeeded).

 

[Bruno@MT]

It depends on the school how much effort is put into it, but most schools have weekly swimming practice at one point (depending on which year you are in as a student). My wife and I aren't waiting for that, we have put the oldest in swimming class 2 years ago, and the youngest will be starting this season.

They can do any sport they want, AFTER they pass the first swimming exam.
We want them to be able to swim asap.

 

[girlbug2]

When you're poor and living in areas without easy access to pools, it is hard to learn to swim. However where there's a will there's a way. I was really determined that my kids learn to swim at as early an age as possible, because that's how it's always been in my family. There was never any question that we would all be swimmers, just like there was no question that we would learn to ride bicycles.

If you don't have a pool, there's always classes at the local college, YMCA, or community parks and recreation progams that use high school pools. That's what my kids and I ended up doing. It was not convenient to go out of our way across town to get to lessons but we did because I felt it was a priority. Now I'm glad that we can all go to the beach and body surf without fear.

 

[Omar B]

Wow, that article was a bit shocking. There's always something new to learn about my adopted country every day. Segregation as a root of people not knowing how to swim, it didn't even enter my mind.

As a kid in Jamaica we all swam. After school when we didn't have karate my friends and I would go to the river, sometimes even caught fish. Sundays our parents took us to the beach, it's just how things were done there. I guess that's one of the reasons I made the swim team in college, I spent my whole life swimming in natural bodies of water with a current, a pool was pretty easy because it offered no resistance.

 

[Makalakumu]

I've seen this personally. I ran a wilderness canoe trip program for poor students and this was the major issue preventing black students from participating. The sad thing is that a fraction of the US defense budget could put a pool in every school in the nation. This is one of the many prices we pay for militarism.

 

[Omar B]

This little article has been floating around my head all afternoon and I still find it shocking. What about the kids who live near bodies of water? What is their excuse? Sea, rivers, lakes? How come they and their parents never learned? There's more going on here than segregation, though it does play a part.

Reminds me of this time when I was a kid, my friends and I cut school and left through the back fence during lunch. We went swimming at the river and completely lost track of time, 3:00 came and the school bus drove by with all our classmates and teachers in it. We had some serious explaining to do the next day. lol. Good times.

 

[Big Don]

This little article has been floating around my head all afternoon and I still find it shocking. What about the kids who live near bodies of water? What is their excuse? Sea, rivers, lakes? How come they and their parents never learned? There's more going on here than segregation, though it does play a part.

My grandfather grew up in rural Missouri, surrounded by creeks and ponds, yet, he never learned to swim somehow. One of our Black Belts is 19 and can't swim, I told her she HAS to learn.

Reminds me of this time when I was a kid, my friends and I cut school and left through the back fence during lunch. We went swimming at the river and completely lost track of time, 3:00 came and the school bus drove by with all our classmates and teachers in it. We had some serious explaining to do the next day. lol. Good times.

I never cut school to swim, but, the days I didn't swim during the summer were few and far between.

 

[Steve]

I think it definitely depends on where you grew up. Growing up in Texas, I was in a pool all the time. Loved to swim all the way into high school.

My kids, growing up in the PacNW, where we never see the sun, just do different things in the Summer. While they both know how to swim, my daughter just flat out doesn't like it.

 

[Big Don]

I just don't understand how someone wouldn't want to do something so fun.

 

[xJOHNx]

This little article has been floating around my head all afternoon and I still find it shocking. What about the kids who live near bodies of water? What is their excuse? Sea, rivers, lakes? How come they and their parents never learned? There's more going on here than segregation, though it does play a part.

Not every sea, river or lake is that clean.. I personally would never swim in a river like the Zenne, basically because everybody already calls it the open sewer.
And having been surfin along the coast of Barcelona, I can say that learning how to swim in waves that top over 1 meter won't be going that easy.

Remember it's not the swimming that is the hardest, it's getting in the water that scares the most.

 

[Makalakumu]

I grew up in the land of ten thousand lakes, so swimming was just part of what every kid learned. Of course, we also were home to Lake Woebegan where, "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

We had so many lakes, river, and streams to swim in that no parent in their right mind could let their children roam and NOT know how to swim. Yeah, we also learned in school, but I already knew how to swim, so that was a waste of time for me.

The hardest part was seeing all of the girls that I had the hots for in swim suits. Gotta love junior high.

 

[Blindside]

I think it definitely depends on where you grew up. Growing up in Texas, I was in a pool all the time. Loved to swim all the way into high school.

My kids, growing up in the PacNW, where we never see the sun, just do different things in the Summer. While they both know how to swim, my daughter just flat out doesn't like it.

I grew up in Wasilla, AK and Seattle, WA. I learned in a Alaska lake and then spent much of my off time swimming in Lake Washington. I can't imagine a childhood without swimming.

My son (almost 4) and I go swimming weekly now.

 

[Omar B]

Not every sea, river or lake is that clean.. I personally would never swim in a river like the Zenne, basically because everybody already calls it the open sewer.
And having been surfin along the coast of Barcelona, I can say that learning how to swim in waves that top over 1 meter won't be going that easy.

Remember it's not the swimming that is the hardest, it's getting in the water that scares the most.

You make a good point, but I don't think every body of water within striking distance will be too polluted or too choppy. For every choppy seaside we had there was a calmer cove.

 

[mook jong man]

Here in Australia we love going to the beach for a swim , only problem is so do the Noah's and sometimes they want to do lunch.


(Noah's Arks = Shark's)

 

[David43515]

I grew up in Ohio and learned to swim sometime in Elementary school at the pool in the local park. I think my folks paid for lessons, but since it was a public pool I doubt they paid much.

Now I teach English to Jr high kids in Japan, and they just finished water saftey classes last week. All the kids learn basic swimming in Gym class from the elementary level, and once they hit Jr high they add water safety (what to do if you fall into a river or off of a boat etc.) I don`t think the problem is not having money in the budget. It`s more a case of not making it a priority.

 

[Bruno@MT]

I just don't understand how someone wouldn't want to do something so fun.

A couple of reasons.
First of all there is the weather. The number of days in Belgium when the weather would be fit for swimming outdoors are not many.
And then there is the matter of finding suitable places to swim. Where I grew up, most bodies of water were either privately owned and fenced off, or polluted, or both.

Where I grew up, we were actively discouraged from growing our own vegetables because of the high levels of heavy metals in the soil water table.
So I really don't think that swimming in it would be a great idea.

But to get back to the topic: there are a couple of canals / streams close to my house so I want my kids to be able to get out, should they ever fall in. A former colleague of mine lost his youngest son on a holiday in Italy. He was out of sight for a minute, and then they couldn't find him anymore. He was the one to find him in the end... drowned because he had stumbled into a deeper part of the lake and he couldn't get out.

 

[Tez3]

Here in Australia we love going to the beach for a swim , only problem is so do the Noah's and sometimes they want to do lunch.


(Noah's Arks = Shark's)

I read that in Australia too that if you have a swimming pool in your garden it has to be fenced off safely to stop the children falling in? We don't have that here and there's often reports of children drowning in family swimming pools.

I've been watching the series on the Bondi life guards, great programmes! They do seem to spend a lot of time pulling foreigners out, lots of Asians who say they can't swim and get out of their depth.

 

[Carol]

I read that in Australia too that if you have a swimming pool in your garden it has to be fenced off safely to stop the children falling in? We don't have that here and there's often reports of children drowning in family swimming pools.

I've been watching the series on the Bondi life guards, great programmes! They do seem to spend a lot of time pulling foreigners out, lots of Asians who say they can't swim and get out of their depth.

We have that here in the States. It is not a law, but if you have a pool, you have to have a certain amount of fencing around it otherwise your homeowner's insurance goes through the roof!