h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Got talking with a colleague about cycling the other day. He's in his forties and is interested in getting fit and taking some exercise but he never learned to ride a bike, something I found very surprising.

How to read a map

Writing:
How to use a pen and not a phone.
How to write legibly.
How to spell
How to use grammar (I wasn't taught grammar at school, but wish I had been)
How not to use text-speak when writing a dissertation

<BB<

{Sadly, the pool I learned to swim in has now been pulled down}

Don't you mean 'filled in'?

Perhaps it was in the air?

<BB<

Maybe the Morlocks made off with it!

We had swimming lessons in elementary school, I think there were only very few children who were not able to swim. They were separated from the others and got basic lessons while the rest of us did the already mentioned things like diving for bricks. We were also allowed to jump off the 5m tower. At the end everyone did a 'test' and got a badge.
We also did some cycling in elementary school.

I also remember we went to the local pool a few times later, when I was about 13.

Sports lessons here stop when you graduate from school at 18. There are no sports at university, unless you join some club for sports in your free time. I think my own university had a football/soccer club for instance. But you don't get any advantages from doing that. When people here graduate from university they are usually about 25. It would be a bit silly to have them pass a swimming test I think.

Last night I went to see the film "Kon-Tiki." How is that relevant to this thread? Here's how: Thor Heyerdahl nearly drowns at least twice in the film. After the second narrow escape, he mentions to a member of his crew that he can't swim. "Yes. We all know that," the crew member mentions. Here's a guy that sails a raft across 5,000 miles of ocean, and he can't swim. Well, nobody's perfect.

There are plenty of sports that I'm not good at, and they all require good balance. Once I rented a bicycle and tried to ride it on the bike paths along the Charles River in Boston. I fell off many times, and was no better at he end than I was at the beginning. I was okay on tricycles when I was a kid, but it would seem embarrassing to ride on one as an adult . There were several skiing enthusiasts in my family, and I went skiing with them a few times. I wasn't much good at that. Cross-country skiing was a bit better for me, but it was still exhausting to stay erect. Ice skating? Forget it!

Are we allowed to quotes out of context for qotd?

'Cross-country skiing was a bit better for me, but it was still exhausting to stay erect. Ice skating? Forget it!'

by paulh

It's probably all right, Peanut.

Now that's a good point. Ice skating and skiing may be skills that some would consider equivalent to walking, and just as necessary. Or riding a horse . I think we're getting into the optional extras here, though. And also, like Paul, I would probably end up swimming in freezing water for want of being able to even stand on ice skates.

Changing a baby's nappy?
Doing a tracheotomy?
Spelling tracheotomy?

My mother has a good story about ice skating. The first time she brought my little sister onto the ice, they went slowly around the edge of the rink, my mother holding the side with one hand, and her young daughter with the other. After a few times round the circuit, Elena looked up and said, "Do you think you can manage on your own now, Mammy?" Then she took off.



I've heard before that black children in the USA are unlikely to learn to swim. There are quite possibly cultural reasons for that: swimming pools were one of the places where segregation lasted for longest. There are still pools owned by "country clubs" which are white only. (I believe a couple of them are actually officially white only, which is perfectly legal for private clubs, and many more of them are effectively white only.)

"The municipal swimming pool became ground zero for Jim Crow": http://www.racialicious.com/2012/02/29/debunking-the-stereotype-that-blacks-dont-swim/. Also http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11172054

There was the case in Philadelphia a few years ago: an inner-city (and yes, that means primarily black and Hispanic) day camp for children went to a swimming club: http://www.bet.com/news/news/2009/07/14/newsraceinamericaphillyswimclubasksblackkidstoreturn.html. "Several children reported hearing racial comments and some swim club members pulled their children out of the pool." The swimming club went bankrupt after that. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/16/1121058/-Remember-Phila-s-racist-swim-club-Here-s-how-the-story-ends.

And there's still racism around it. Even kids playing in fountains on hot days: white kids do it and there are cute photos published in the newspapers; black kids get arrested. Or so I'm sure I recall reading; but searches find me only news stories about drinking fountains, not the type you play in on a warm day. You know, this sort of fountain: http://www.knoxnews.com/photos/2011/may/31/123214/.

TRiG.

There are always a few people who would like to be able to swim, but they aren't buoyant enough. There are others who have a deep-seated phobia about the water. I just wish that children could learn some basic strokes that would keep them alive in the water. Nothing fancy, just instruction on floating, dog-paddle, side stroke. Easy stuff. It seems to me that a lot of effort is devoted to teaching correctness in one or two competitive strokes. Even an incorrect stroke can get you out of danger. I did the crawl incorrectly for many years, and nothing bad ever happened to me.

I've never learnt how to ski or ice skate, but I grew up on the coast in one of the warmest parts of the UK, and saw snow settle in 1984, 1985 and 1991. It wasn't really a priority.

<BB<

That's understandable, Bluebottle. Weather conditions where you live have a way of shaping the kinds of sports you choose. But sometimes people go elsewhere to try things they couldn't have done at home. Would Jamaica get much snow? I wouldn't think so, but there was a Jamaican Bobsledding team.

I think it is stupid that we don't ensure that every child learns to read,spell,maths and how to swim in the infants.The earlier the better.Sadly it doesn't happen so I paid a small sum each weekend for my two to learn from the age of 3 onwards.As we lived by the sea I regarded it as a vital skill.

>>I think it is stupid that we don't ensure that every child learns to read,spell,maths and how to swim in the infants.

In Sweden they don't teach the first 3 until age 6 or 7, and yet they end up more literate than kids in the UK.

I couldn't believe my ears when this very topic came up on the news yesterday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22615032

h2g2 - ahead of the world's problems.

I was thinking that when I saw it on the news yesterday evening

Just waiting to see it announced on News at Ten that Thursday is to be re-named "Thing"