Hi Miriam,
Good post here, especially for a hot summer like this one.
I'm going to put a local spin on this one. I have noticed a marked increase
recently in swimming incidents that lead to either drownings or near drownings
here in the Boston area. I thus began to ponder how sad it is that inner-city
kids are not learning to swim. I sure do agree with the author of this piece
that swimming is a basic life skill. This article helps to explain the history
that has created this sad stae of affairs. IMHO, kids should be taught to swim
just as they are taught to read and write. Incidentally, those of us who
attended Perkins school for the Blind had that right as Perkins has an indoor
swimming pool.
It would be interesting to know the percentage of drowning and near drowning
incidents by race or ethnicity.
Last year, I returned to Walden Pond which is a local state park to which I'd
not been in over ten years. IT used to be a pretty good long swim from shore
out to the rope that marked the limit of the swimming area. Now, it doesn't
take many strokes for me to reach that rope and I’m pretty sure it's related to
the drowning incidents. Here's yet another aspect of our society (and others as
well) is pretty messed up.
Bob Hachey
