Should swimming instruction be mandatory as part of physical education/gym classes in public schools?
The idea for this question arose from a comment made by someone else last week in another thread that had gone off topic, and was reinforced for me personally this past weekend when the 9-year old nephew (non-swimmer) of a close friend of mine nearly drowned (but for his observant and fast acting uncle) and again this morning with tragic news reported in a local newspaper of the drowning of a child in a neighbor’s back yard pool.
I believe there was a time when swimming instruction was fairly common in PE in public schools. Although there was no swimming instruction as part of gym classes when I was in school, we had a free swim (recreation, but no instruction) as part of gym class in Jr. High (a generation ago). Moreover, the university I attended required all students regardless of major to pass a very basic swimming test in order to get their bachelor's degree. That requirement went the way of the dinosaurs about the time I graduated. (I read somewhere that Harvard imposed the requirement (now abandoned, I believe) after one of its students (Widener, for whom the library is named) drowned when the Titanic sank). I am not aware of any colleges that require this today, and I haven’t heard of any local school districts (at least in the metropolitan Boston area) that require students to learn to swim. (I think a few of the more affluent Massachusetts towns that have pools may offer swimming, but as an elective only).
So, what do you think? Does your school district offer or require swimming instruction today? Should it be required? (The utopian/libertarian side of me recoils at the thought of mandating anything, but the pragmatic/utilitarian side often prevails). I imagine the cost of constructing pools would be the major issue, but with all the money that gets wasted on everything else it would not be out of the realm of possibilities if the will were there.
Thinking back on of all time wasted on the marginally useful activities they had us do in PE/gym class in school, the idea seems even more attractive. Teaching swimming would be an opportunity to teach something really, really useful--not only something that could be life-saving, but that could also provide a life time of healthy activity. (I'm reminded of Paul Simon's lyrics (dating myself): "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can even think at all.").
My daughter had to pass one at UNC-CH, but she graduated in 2006 and they've removed the requirement as of that year.
And if I remember correctly, there was a class one could take in order to pass the swim test (at the time -- I graduated in 1986 -- there was also a requirement to take two PE classes).
I wish we did have this requirement. A young man who just graduated from the high school where I teach just drowned in a back-yard pool when he slipped into the deep end and couldn't get out. Tragic. And so avoidable.
In my town we have 4 comprehensive high schools, a technical high school and several smaller alternative schools - none of them have pools. Every single one of the city pools has been shut down due to lack of funds. I take that back - one of them was rebuilt and reopened. We have two state pools in town that are booked solid for swim lessons within the first five minutes of the sign-up table opening.
We also have at least 4 private/parochial high schools - only one of them (a pricy boarding school) has a pool.
The private facilities/clubs are priced far far beyond what a working class parent could afford.
If there were to be a requirement for high school graduation, I'm not sure how we would implement it.
That said, I'm still shocked at how few of my students know how to swim - we have a beautiful Boys & GIrls Club that costs $20 a year to join and it offers free swimming lessons from September to June. The downtown Y is free for our students through the city health initiative.
We have at least one drowning a year and it's just so heart-breaking.
So no we don't have mandatory swim classes in our schools but I desperately wish we did - I don't want to go to another funeral for a former student ever again.
Should swimming instruction be mandatory as part of physical education/gym classes in public schools?
I believe there was a time when swimming instruction was fairly common in PE in public schools. Although we received no swimming instruction as part of gym classes when I was in school, we had a free swim (no instruction) as part of gym class in Jr. High (a generation ago). Moreover, the university I attended required all students regardless of major to pass a very basic swimming test in order to get their bachelor's degree. That requirement went the way of the dinosaurs about the time I graduated. (I read that Harvard imposed the requirement (now abandoned, I believe) after one of its students (Widener, for whom the library is named) drowned when the Titanic sank). I am not aware of any colleges that require this today, and I haven’t heard of any local school districts (at least in the metropolitan Boston area) that require students to learn to swim. (I think a few of the more affluent towns that have pools may offer swimming, but as an elective only).
Urban legend. Here's Snopes on it:
www.snopes.com/.../swimtest.asp
The article mentions he died from immersion: he didn't have anywhere to swim to.
I fear the implementation of any such well-intentioned program as Required Swimming.
There will be a pass rate that must be achieved.
Instructors will be hired who are inexperienced in handling the myriad problems youngsters and teens may face in connection with water.
Some children will fail. Then what?
(Further, state funding for Parks and Recreation has been slashed across the nation. Facilities are unused, locked.)
I think the group most at risk for drowning is ages 1-5 and it's usually in pools.
You are correct. Here are some stats about drownings:
www.cdc.gov/.../
Should swimming instruction be mandatory as part of physical education/gym classes in public schools?
I think it should be part of the curriculum of any school on the shore or in lake country. Possibly every school.
A couple of generations ago, it was still a remnant of some class thing: the upper classes learned to swim. At some point, maybe late 19th century, the entry to the upper class in this sense was high school (You also had to learn a foreign language to graduate at that point,. Just a reference point.)
In some places and times in European hisotry there was a requirement for knights to swim. I ahve even read of a requirement to swim a certain distance - short presumably- in armour. I'm guessing that would be in seriously maritime districts and when armour was somewhat minimal, can't imagine trying to swim even a few feet in a full suit of armour.
www.trymca.org/.../
3rd & 4th Grade Water Safety Program
In collaboration with Craven County Schools, 4th Graders in the Spring and 3rd Graders in the Fall learn lifesaving ifelong skills such as wearing a PFD, swim instruction, general water safety instruction.
Over 1000 children served annually and supported by the Twin Rivers YMCA Annual Scholarship Support Program.
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There is no pass or fail, just good information for kids in this area of two rivers, 40 miles from the ocean. This is a community effort, in which a number of USMS members spend time every year as volunteer teachers. Every child in the county is involved at some point.
As a practical matter, I think you are correct. Kids need to be taught when they are young, and swimming pools are largely unknown at elementary schools
The pool doesn't have to be onsite. Kids could be bussed to local pools.
I don't think swimming lessons should be mandatory--there are just too many areas where the facilities wouldn't be available--but in cases where pools are available it should be highly encouraged. Yes, it would be expensive, but it would absolutely save lives.
In some places and times in European hisotry there was a requirement for knights to swim. I ahve even read of a requirement to swim a certain distance - short presumably- in armour. I'm guessing that would be in seriously maritime districts and when armour was somewhat minimal, can't imagine trying to swim even a few feet in a full suit of armour.
Wasn't breaststroke the stroke to do? The freestyle crawl was "barbaric".
I would like to see swimming instruction required at schools that already have a pool on campus or where a community pool is located nearby. For schools with that kind of access to a pool, the cost of administering a swim program would be worth it, considering the lives that could potentially be saved. For students who already know how to swim, passing a swim test would excuse them from the program.
It seems to me that swimming instruction would be much more important than some of the sports we had to learn back in school (70's), such as gymnastics. Nothing against gymnastics (I love watching it in the Olympics), but a balance beam isn't exactly something kids have easy access to, once they graduate. (That was one of the things I was required in PE to learn how to do...) And, how life-threatening would it be if I had never learned how to do a routine on the uneven parallel bars? But, growing up in California, I couldn't imagine not knowing how to swim, as much as I was around water. Thankfully, the American Red Cross taught free lessons down at the bay; myfirst introduction to learning how to swim.
Kudos to Cullen Jones for his involvement with Make a Splash! :applaud:To think where he has come, since almost drowning, because he didn't know how to swim as a child... :bow:
