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This is terrible because everyone knows minorites can't learn to swim or strenghten their swimming skills...Yikes.
You think that swimming is the only requirement to be a lifeguard? If that's the case, everyone in the pool who is there to go "swimming" would qualify to be a lifeguard.
Seems like outrage over nothing. If a person applies and truly cannot learn to swim (heck, toddlers can learn to swim) then they would not be retained as a lifeguard.
Anyway, I do agree: if you live in Ohio, stay out of Arizona pools. One can't take the chance. A parent should feel perfectly save in tossing his or her toddler into a public pool, and then head over to the bar, without having to worry if Junior is safe.
I read the article, and then I read the link within the article that your link is supposedly based on, and they're not saying that they're going to hire under qualified life guards--the goal is to strengthen the swimming skills of kids in the inner city so that they can get into a life guard training and certification program to begin with. I'm not sure how that got translated into the article you linked to. Here's the link.
My two oldest boys work as life guards at our local pool during the summer. You HAVE to be certified to work, and the certification requirements are standard. Before you can even begin life guard training, you have to pass a swimming pre-test that shows that you're a strong swimmer with specific skills. Kids who haven't had advanced swim lessons may not have rotary breathing skills, they may not kick effectively, or know how to dive, etc. The scholarships are to bring kids up to speed on THOSE skills so they can meet the criteria to take the life guard training to gain certification. It makes sense to me that kids from affluent areas are more likely to continue on with swimming lessons to gain those skills, vs. kids from poorer areas--most poorer areas don't offer a summer swim team, where most kids gain those skills.
Why discriminate against White kids that aren't strong swimmers ?
Being in the water and able to swim shouldn't depend on your skin color.
But it does.....
Most middle class areas have swim teams, often free, and that's where kids get the skills. They're just doing the same thing now in the inner city--teaching kids the same higher level skills they'd learn on swim team. This is a good thing.
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