I guess I just think that something like this should be more left to the control of the parents, not government.
The article says, "If a parent couldn't swim, as was far more likely in minority families than white families, or if the parent felt swimming was dangerous, then the child was far less likely to learn how to swim."
Something's got to give. There are parents who may have witnessed a drowning and, in an unrational response, are keeping their children from learning skills that may reduce the likelihood of a drowning.
It's not like children don't want to learn how to swim. There are barriers keeping them from learning, and this study is trying to shake out those factors.
The article says, "The study also found that swimming ability, regardless of race, increased in relation to parents' income and education." So it is a class issue. That is something that would not have been known had the study not been done.
USA Swimming merely commissioned the study. I don't see how this is an example of "nanny government".
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-02 05:01 am (UTC)I guess I just think that something like this should be more left to the control of the parents, not government.
The article says, "If a parent couldn't swim, as was far more likely in minority families than white families, or if the parent felt swimming was dangerous, then the child was far less likely to learn how to swim."
Something's got to give. There are parents who may have witnessed a drowning and, in an unrational response, are keeping their children from learning skills that may reduce the likelihood of a drowning.
It's not like children don't want to learn how to swim. There are barriers keeping them from learning, and this study is trying to shake out those factors.
The article says, "The study also found that swimming ability, regardless of race, increased in relation to parents' income and education." So it is a class issue. That is something that would not have been known had the study not been done.
USA Swimming merely commissioned the study. I don't see how this is an example of "nanny government".