37 percent of adults cannot swim the length of a 25-yard pool

Re:37 percent of adults cannot swim the length of a 25-yard ... by waterlesscloud on Saturday May 03, 2014 @09:50AM (#7690724)

They should have gone to Georgia Tech. At least until sometime around 1990. Before then, every Tech grad was required to take a course in "survival swimming". We had to learn to float for something like 45 minutes, swim the length of the pool underwater, swim with weights attached.

I guess a lot of engineers found themselves shipwrecked or something.

Actually, the concepts were developed by a Techie back in days of yore, as I recall it. Still, it was a fun class.

EDIT- of course there's wiki entry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drownproofing

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Re:37 percent of adults cannot swim the length of a 25-yard ... by fozzieBoston on Saturday May 03, 2014 @09:52AM (#7690733)

At MIT they still force every undergrad to either pass a swim test or take a swimming class. If I recall correctly, the test included both several laps and 10 minutes of treading water (which is harder than it looks).

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Re:37 percent of adults cannot swim the length of a 25-yard ... by vvvnnnnvvv on Saturday May 03, 2014 @09:57AM (#7690756)

I believe the treading is only required for the "boating test", if you plan to sail or row.

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Re:37 percent of adults cannot swim the length of a 25-yard ... by minikites on Saturday May 03, 2014 @09:58AM (#7690758)

I believe Cornell does the same thing.

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