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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by aard to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I was thinking about that when I was dropping my 6 year old off at some hobbies earlier - it's pretty much expected to have learned how to ride a bicycle before starting school, and it massively expands the area you can go to by yourself. When she went to school by bicycle she can easily make a detour via a shop to spend some pocket money before coming home, while by foot that'd be rather time consuming.

Quite a lot of friends from outside of Europe either can't ride a bicycle, or were learning it as adult after moving here, though.

edit: the high number of replies mentioning "swimming" made me realize that I had that filed as a basic skill pretty much everybody has - probably due to swimming lessons being a mandatory part of school education here.

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[-] Mudface@lemmy.world 81 points 1 year ago

In Ontario, it’s often swimming.

Lots of lakes here, children need to be taught to swim

[-] Pea666@feddit.nl 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Dutchy here.

Most, if not all, children learn to swim when they reach age five. Lots of water here, it’s pretty much a basic life/survival skill.

[-] aard 14 points 1 year ago

That leads to a follow up question to people from different areas: Is swimming a regular part of school sports?

I grew up in Germany with pretty much no lakes, and we had blocks of sports classes in the swimming pool from first grade - didn't make me a great swimmer, but I can go swim a bit in a lake without having to worry.

Now we're in Finland (lots of lakes here), and also swimming classes take place from first grade.

[-] SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

It’s generally not taught by default in US schools, but some schools offer it as an elective and/or as a competitive sport. Maintaining a swimming pool is an expense that many schools, especially in poorer districts, cannot afford. Outside of schools, there are sometimes community swim classes at places like the YMCA, but those require the parents to be actively involved (like with many extracurricular activities) and usually are an additional expense.

Physical education is usually a mandatory part of US schools through high school (where students graduate at around age 18), and schools often offer students a selection of sports for PE - I did fencing one year and wrestling, gymnastics, and archery other years - but swimming requires more infrastructure than a basketball court and some padded mats.

Maintaining a swimming pool is an expense that many schools, especially in poorer districts can't afford.

German here: the solution for most of the schools I went to and heard of (elementary) was to get a bus to drive to the next public swimming pool and they'd let us use it for a few hours. The government is funding that. And that solution worked for most of them, although I only managed to get do my swim test after swimming classes in school because I was anxious about it.

[-] Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

NL here. It's similar here. I remember the bus, our school would hire a coach to take group 3 (think six-year-olds) to swimming at the pool on the other side of town. And until you had at least one diploma, you were required to come along. By group five, everyone had at least a basic swimming diploma.

When I was a kid in Florida in elementary school, that's what most elementary schools did, mine was next door to a swimming pool so we just walked. At the time I think it actually was mandated by the state - swimming pools in backyards are extremely common there and it was an upsettingly common occurrence for kids to drown in them, so they took a week to make sure we all knew how to tread water. I don't know if Florida kids still learn how to tread water or if swimming lessons are now woke somehow.

[-] aard 4 points 1 year ago

Physical education is usually a mandatory part of US schools through high school

In Germany the same - but swimming classes are mandated by law from grade 3 onwards, though we started going from grade 1 back then.

[-] tortoise@tortoisewrath.com 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

American here. The nearest swimming pool to my hometown was in Canada. So no.

Edit: I don't think this is normal

[-] Fosheze@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Also american here and I learned to swim before I started preschool. But I also live in the land of 10,000 lakes so it's basically a requirement here. So this is another one of those things that is going to depend on which state you're in.

[-] tortoise@tortoisewrath.com 3 points 1 year ago

Oh yeah, I make no claim that any of my experiences are anywhere near universal. Basically no part of the American experience is.

[-] aard 3 points 1 year ago

How big distances / population are we talking here?

I was growing up in a small village, so in elementary school we went by bus to a nearby village with 7000 inhabitants and a swimming pool.

Now we're living in a town with a population of 46000 with its own swimming pool.

[-] tortoise@tortoisewrath.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, a small village. It would have been a half-hour bus ride to the town of ~5000, but they couldn't compel all students to get a passport, and the nearest pool in the US would have been about an hour and a half away, so it was never part of the curriculum. Some kids had their parents drive them to Canada after school for private (expensive?) swimming lessons, but it wasn't standard.

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Not where I am. It never came up, despite water technically being everywhere. People just assume I guess. Still not something I can do.

[-] TwanHE@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

I had swimming as a subject from 7 years old in school here in NL.

[-] Pea666@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago

It used to be part of the school curriculum but it was often after most children had at least learned the basics in swimming classes.

There’s dedicated swimming schools, run by swimming pools and overseen by the government.

[-] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 4 points 1 year ago

Same for Swiss. It's not normal that you can't swim here.

this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
584 points (98.3% liked)

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