Mandatory swimming in middle school

[Anonymous]

Every kid we know whose private school had pool time for PE loved it.

My inner city public school has it in high school once or twice as a unit. Some kids could not swim and walked around, tried to learn some strokes. Other kids who had taken lessons or American Red Cross swim class plus the PE teachers helped them.

As for puberty stopping all activity - this attitude should not be coddled to nor created in children. Know your facts and only if truly in pain then get help from a doctor. Don’t stop your schooling every month or for 2-4 years. billions of people have gone through puberty and still functioned pretty well. Stop the snowflake attitude.

[Anonymous]

It’s very mandatory in FL, TX and CA where there are tons of bodies of water and public and private pools everywhere.

Where is OP from or based?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh swimming is such a necessary skill, but so awkward in MS/HS.

Typical case where most people are only worried about themselves and what they look like, not out scoping someones boobs or muscles.

Anyways, OP is in luck, most private and public schools in the DMV do NOT have swimming pools within them as the outdoor community pool network existed first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A school could mandate a student pass a swim safety test that is administered outside of school or school hours. This could be a graduation requirement or an annual requirement that kids upload to their portals like other health and safety documents. There is zero need to have enforced swimming at school if the sole aim is to make sure all kids are able to swim enough to avoid drowning.

And who will pay for the swimming classes? Why not do the same with PE or any other skill for that matter?

There’s a medical consensus that’s it’s important for kids to be active and exercise each day (ideally outside). There is no rest that exercise needs to be swimming (which is indoors and at a different location and creates its own set of stresses for kids this age).

As for paying for it, arranging for students to be able to take a one-time swim test with an existing swimming facility (or supervising a one-time swim test yourself with your own existing PE/swim faculty) would be much cheaper than renting a pool from another facility and busing kids to and from there daily (which is what this particular school is currently doing).

[Anonymous]

Nude swimming? That was really a thing?? Why couldn’t people wear bathing suits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every kid we know whose private school had pool time for PE loved it.

My inner city public school has it in high school once or twice as a unit. Some kids could not swim and walked around, tried to learn some strokes. Other kids who had taken lessons or American Red Cross swim class plus the PE teachers helped them.

As for puberty stopping all activity - this attitude should not be coddled to nor created in children. Know your facts and only if truly in pain then get help from a doctor. Don’t stop your schooling every month or for 2-4 years. billions of people have gone through puberty and still functioned pretty well. Stop the snowflake attitude.

*Every* kid you know *loved* it? Either you don’t know a lot of kids, or that’s not accurate. And do you really think questioning the wisdom of mandatory pre-teen swim class is the same as “stopping all activities”? No one is advocating “stopping schooling” during puberty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A school could mandate a student pass a swim safety test that is administered outside of school or school hours. This could be a graduation requirement or an annual requirement that kids upload to their portals like other health and safety documents. There is zero need to have enforced swimming at school if the sole aim is to make sure all kids are able to swim enough to avoid drowning.

And who will pay for the swimming classes? Why not do the same with PE or any other skill for that matter?

There’s a medical consensus that’s it’s important for kids to be active and exercise each day (ideally outside). There is no rest that exercise needs to be swimming (which is indoors and at a different location and creates its own set of stresses for kids this age).

As for paying for it, arranging for students to be able to take a one-time swim test with an existing swimming facility (or supervising a one-time swim test yourself with your own existing PE/swim faculty) would be much cheaper than renting a pool from another facility and busing kids to and from there daily (which is what this particular school is currently doing).

I'm not talking about paying for the swim test, but the actual classes. The kids who need this the most are the ones whose parents don't necessarily have the means to pay for swimming classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A school could mandate a student pass a swim safety test that is administered outside of school or school hours. This could be a graduation requirement or an annual requirement that kids upload to their portals like other health and safety documents. There is zero need to have enforced swimming at school if the sole aim is to make sure all kids are able to swim enough to avoid drowning.

And who will pay for the swimming classes? Why not do the same with PE or any other skill for that matter?

There’s a medical consensus that’s it’s important for kids to be active and exercise each day (ideally outside). There is no rest that exercise needs to be swimming (which is indoors and at a different location and creates its own set of stresses for kids this age).

As for paying for it, arranging for students to be able to take a one-time swim test with an existing swimming facility (or supervising a one-time swim test yourself with your own existing PE/swim faculty) would be much cheaper than renting a pool from another facility and busing kids to and from there daily (which is what this particular school is currently doing).

And how would children pass this test without swimming lessons or at least some experience? Who pays for those lessons/pool access outside of school?

[Anonymous]

I agree with OP 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A school could mandate a student pass a swim safety test that is administered outside of school or school hours. This could be a graduation requirement or an annual requirement that kids upload to their portals like other health and safety documents. There is zero need to have enforced swimming at school if the sole aim is to make sure all kids are able to swim enough to avoid drowning.

And who will pay for the swimming classes? Why not do the same with PE or any other skill for that matter?

There’s a medical consensus that’s it’s important for kids to be active and exercise each day (ideally outside). There is no rest that exercise needs to be swimming (which is indoors and at a different location and creates its own set of stresses for kids this age).

As for paying for it, arranging for students to be able to take a one-time swim test with an existing swimming facility (or supervising a one-time swim test yourself with your own existing PE/swim faculty) would be much cheaper than renting a pool from another facility and busing kids to and from there daily (which is what this particular school is currently doing).

And how would children pass this test without swimming lessons or at least some experience? Who pays for those lessons/pool access outside of school?

This is a very valid point. I guess I’m having trouble imagining that kids who really can’t swim at all will be able to learn in this relatively short exposure given the overall circumstances of what this class is. But maybe I’m wrong. If a kid needed more swim support, maybe the cost could be folded into the existing tuition (given that eliminating swimming in general would save the school money). I might also be wrong in thinking that families with resources so limited that swim lessons would pose a hardship are probably facing other substantial entry-barriers at these exceedingly expensive private schools. I would very much like to think that very limited resource families are at my child’s school. I tried to investigate economic diversity when we were looking at different schools, but it was difficult to find much direct information. I was left with the impression that expensive privates give aid to middle class and sometimes working class families but that families experiencing genuine poverty are underrepresented at these schools. I hope that’s wrong.

[Anonymous]

First and foremost water safety is huge and I wish it was accessible to every child in America. Second, fitness. PE gives kids exposure to a range of physical skills and opportunities. My child hates the basketball unit but loves the swimming and running units for example.

I remember swimming as a requirement at my own private school and I hated changing among the other girls, but it worked out. Personally I preferred the field hockey to the swimming but it was good that I learned how to swim laps beyond basic water safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://gr8erdays.com/2017/10/03/the-naked-truth-about-nude-swimming-at-school/

OMG! in the 80's, we wore t-shirts over our swimsuits in mandatory HS swimming. Why? IDK...

[Anonymous]

We now line out of state and our school district has swimming as a required part of gym. The best part is that it is in 4th and 5th grade. The rational is that the majority of kids have not hit puberty so there is less awkwardness than doing it in middle school. This also aligns with the local pool that requires children to be with an adult up through the age of 12. The goal is to have all public school kids water safe before that age so that it is safer at the pool over the summer. The 5th grade teachers say that the added benifit is that the kids get "cleaner" at least twice a week so their rooms smell better.

[Anonymous]

My DH grew up in the city of Boston and attended a boys club as after school activity. This was in the 1970’s. They swam in the nude. I know, shocking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The leading cause of death for teens and pre-teens is “unintentional injury.” Namely motor vehicle accidents and drowning. Swimming is an important life skill and is worth overcoming discomfort.

+1