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.").
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:
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:
