37 percent of adults cannot swim the length of a 25-yard pool

Post by mongol » Sat, May 03, 2014, 1:55 PM UTC

gk1 wrote: post #7

mkempe wrote: post #2

With regard to swimming, there are huge differences between ethnic groups in the US: about 70 percent of African-American children, 60 percent of Latino children and 40 percent of white children are non-swimmers . [1] [2] A few years ago, my wife worked on an ethnographic research project about the lack of swimming skills in the African-American population. One thing that was striking was the difference with other mu…

> I consider it a basic life skill, as important as knowing how to cross a road. Why? As a horrible swimmer myself, I've gotten by just fine. Even went through a merchant mariner college (which is kind of like a watered-down Naval Academy) and earned a seaman license.

Post by vvvnnnnvvv » Sat, May 03, 2014, 1:57 PM UTC

fozzieBoston wrote: post #11

waterlesscloud wrote: post #9

They should have gone to Georgia Tech. At least until sometime around 1990. Before then, every Tech grad was required to take a course in "survival swimming". We had to learn to float for something like 45 minutes, swim the length of the pool underwater, swim with weights attached. I guess a lot of engineers found themselves shipwrecked or something. Actually, the concepts were developed by a Techie back in days of y…

At MIT they still force every undergrad to either pass a swim test or take a swimming class. If I recall correctly, the test included both several laps and 10 minutes of treading water (which is harder than it looks).

Post by aspidistra » Sat, May 03, 2014, 1:58 PM UTC

gk1 wrote: post #7

mkempe wrote: post #2

With regard to swimming, there are huge differences between ethnic groups in the US: about 70 percent of African-American children, 60 percent of Latino children and 40 percent of white children are non-swimmers . [1] [2] A few years ago, my wife worked on an ethnographic research project about the lack of swimming skills in the African-American population. One thing that was striking was the difference with other mu…

> I consider it a basic life skill, as important as knowing how to cross a road. Why? As a horrible swimmer myself, I've gotten by just fine. Even went through a merchant mariner college (which is kind of like a watered-down Naval Academy) and earned a seaman license.

Post by mgkimsal » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:03 PM UTC

mkempe wrote: post #2

With regard to swimming, there are huge differences between ethnic groups in the US: about 70 percent of African-American children, 60 percent of Latino children and 40 percent of white children are non-swimmers . [1] [2] A few years ago, my wife worked on an ethnographic research project about the lack of swimming skills in the African-American population. One thing that was striking was the difference with other mu…

Post by Intermernet » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:05 PM UTC