37 percent of adults cannot swim the length of a 25-yard pool • Hacker News Board

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

#21

Post by Strilanc » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:06 PM UTC

My father is/was a fisher and I come from a community that has a high proportion of people who fish generally. You'd be surprised how many fishers can't swim, despite spending their working lives out on the water.

The justification I heard was usually along the lines of "If you fall out of a boat in the middle of the sea then you're either wearing a survival suit and it floats for you... or you're not and you're dead anyways.".

(My father even fell in once, but he was wearing a survival suit.)

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

#22

Post by noir_lord » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:06 PM UTC

I'm in the UK we where taught to swim at primary school and one of my secondary schools had a pool and it was part of PE.

Saved my life when I was in my late teens and screwing about on some rowing boats on a local lake and fell in.

I also pulled a kid out of a local boating lake though that was mostly shallow enough to wade (which I didn't know till I'd dropped in and might not have done if I wasn't a reasonable swimmer).

It is definitely a skill that should be taught at school (not to mention it's fantastic exercise).

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

#23

Post by kaitai » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:08 PM UTC

aspidistra wrote: post #4

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…

> In the UK, learning to swim is part of the national curriculum, unlike the US. More details on exactly what kids in the UK are taught: Swimming and water safety: All schools must provide swimming instruction either in key stage 1 or key stage 2. In particular, pupils should be taught to: - swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres - use a range of strokes effectively [for…

In the US even when there are swimming lessons in schools, they're often dramatically understaffed (from my point of view) -- one teacher, no lifeguard, for 30 students. There are several recent incidents in the US of immigrant kids drowning in school lessons.

How was the staffing done at your school or elsewhere in the UK?

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

#24

Post by noir_lord » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:08 PM UTC

daliusd wrote: post #19

mongol wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To improve your chances of survival if you fall into the water? Pretty important skill to have I think.

How many times have you felt into the water involuntary in your life? I can't count single time.

Once and another time I went in voluntarily to pull someone else out, in both cases had I not been a decent swimmer someone might have died.

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

#25

Post by dalke » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:11 PM UTC

daliusd wrote: post #19

mongol wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To improve your chances of survival if you fall into the water? Pretty important skill to have I think.

How many times have you felt into the water involuntary in your life? I can't count single time.

Perhaps a dozen? Roughhousing by a pool or on a dock can lead to that.

Even leaving that out, the last time I fell into the water involuntary was a couple of years ago in my first kayak lesson. I did a stroke wrong, rolled over, and ended up in the lake.

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

#26

Post by etfb » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:12 PM UTC

Dateline: nineteen seventy-mumble. School swimming lesson, small town rural Australia. Me, aged seven, evidently having a mild but irritating panic attack about having to go into the water. Swimming instructor gets sick of my shit and throws me in. Oddly, this does not reduce my panic attack! He pulls me back out again and yells at me for disrupting the class.

... And learns an important lesson: if you're going to lose your cool and throw a kid in the pool because he's misbehaving, don't choose the school principal's son.

We got a new swimming instructor... but I never did learn to swim worth a damn. I make a point of living inland.

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

#27

Post by bithush » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:13 PM UTC

As a regular white 30 year old guy from the UK I find it so strange that so many people don't know how to swim. I know it is a common (American-centric) stereotype that black persons do not know how to swim and generally hate water but all of my black friends swim just fine and find the stereotype kind of strange too. Seriously swimming isn't that hard people and it is a skill that could very easily safe your life.

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

#28

Post by ptr » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:14 PM UTC

Intermernet wrote: post #20

In Australia (80+% of population living on the coastline) it's common to see schools providing the "Bronze Medallion" ( http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/training/bronze-medallion ) as a recommended course for students. I'm not sure how applicable this would be to the USA, but I can't see that it would hurt (it also provides basic first-aid training and CPR practice which have saved some lives as an incidental side e…

Same in Sweden, but it's for pupils in secondary school and it also covers stuff like getting yourself out of ice holes and swimming in cold water with lots of clothing.

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

#29

Post by etfb » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:17 PM UTC

ptr wrote: post #28

Intermernet wrote: post #20

In Australia (80+% of population living on the coastline) it's common to see schools providing the "Bronze Medallion" ( http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/training/bronze-medallion ) as a recommended course for students. I'm not sure how applicable this would be to the USA, but I can't see that it would hurt (it also provides basic first-aid training and CPR practice which have saved some lives as an incidental side e…

Same in Sweden, but it's for pupils in secondary school and it also covers stuff like getting yourself out of ice holes and swimming in cold water with lots of clothing.

Not a lot of call for that in Australia. Brilliant mental image though. "Now it's time for your 'Avoiding Hypothermia In A Hole In The Ice Whilst Being Stalked By Polar Bears' Lesson, children! Line up quickly please!"

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

#30

Post by skue » Sat, May 03, 2014, 2:17 PM UTC

So maybe it's a good thing Americans are becoming more buoyant?

I'm joking of course, although the number of unintentional drownings in the US has been dropping steadily since the 80s, and researchers have not been able to fully explain the cause...[1]

[1]: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=190416