Can't see where Eddie the Eagle comes into this. He is a white man with ginger hair who competed in ski jumping.
Why don't black Americans swim?
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speedy1234
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i was all ways led to believe its down to the bone structure.cant remember were i heard this .cant say av seen many black americans swimming in the olympics!!
Bit difficult for my parents to teach me as they don't swim. I send my kids to swim school but that is not an option available to everyone.
As for the school option, the national guideline is that a child leaving primary school (11 years old/year six) should be able to swim 10m though these are guidelines and no extra money is provided for this specifically. Most schools charge for this and if a parent can't pay then the school can't claim for them off the goverment.
yes, which is why i do both with all 3 of my kids - i also know i don't know EVERYTHING about both subjects so let the professionals teach them properly.
my kids do less at school than i did (only 20 or so years ago) and get more to do at home with parents than i ever did - i feel there's a lot more put onto parents than in my day and i just wonder why how it was done when i was at school (only in the 80's) was so wrong? i turned out ok, felt loved by my parents, did lots of after school things AND still owned at Chase HQ on the Speccy
I don't think kids have less or more homework. They have different type of homework. I can remember back in the 70's/80's a lot of school work was sit down at your desk, copy this down and learn these 'facts'. Now a days there seems to be more focus on how to learn and then let you get on with doing the research and learning for yourself.
There is also a hell of a lot more pressure on parents to be part of their kids lives. I was pretty much bought up by my grandparents who lived with us. I saw my parents for a few hours a day at most during weekdays and both quiet often worked weekends as well.
Utopie
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Never been to America but from what media I has seen over my lifetime, it seems that there is still a VERY strong divide between races over there. If a black person does something considered 'white' then they seem to be seen as a some sort of social climber, disloyal to their roots.
There is a lot of pressure on black Americans to appease their peers and communites, careful not to be labled a 'whitey-wanna-be', which is a disgrace and total shame as it is just reinforcing the divide and stereotypes stopping people from trying new things and bettering themselves through fear of been seen as a race traitor. The world is mad I tells ya...
There is a lot of pressure on black Americans to appease their peers and communites, careful not to be labled a 'whitey-wanna-be', which is a disgrace and total shame as it is just reinforcing the divide and stereotypes stopping people from trying new things and bettering themselves through fear of been seen as a race traitor. The world is mad I tells ya...
But they have a black president now, lol
That kind of social pressure exists everywhere, even in this country. My parents didn't exactly encourage mixing with the 'whities'. Its taken 20 / 30 years to break down the barries and they definately still exist.
Utopie
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Lol, he's half white! Having a none white president might make a difference, but only in time to come. Personally, I don't think the black / white divide over here is anywhere near as bad as it is in America. The white / Asian divide though, that's a different matter, but I' not prepaired to get into that one, lol
pmoore31
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MikeS
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same in this country
the english people are tolerant but we havent got the specialist skills to understand poor English from illiterate Somalians & Asians
the english people are tolerant but we havent got the specialist skills to understand poor English from illiterate Somalians & Asians
nilrem
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I think the poster meant 'Eric the Eel' he competed in the 2000 Olympics in the 100m freestyle , despite only learning to swim 8 months before the competition setting a record for the slowest time in Olympic history, have a look on youtube what a laugh
Whats with all the racial stereotypes in this thread?
I have heard all these reasons as to why Black people dont swim: Bone structure is supposedly denser, they have no achilies, there skin pigmentation stops them swimming.
Which are urban myths I aint sure. Probably all.
With regards to the swimming lessons stuff, I totally agree that kids should have swimming lessons, although I had them and still cannot swim. I am not scared of water, and have jumped off waterfalls, and tombstoned in rivers and such, but I cant swim more than 5 metres. The big thing is not to panic, and just relax and you will naturally float.
All my mates think I am nuts as I dont swim and aint scared of water, my mate took me 4 miles out on a jetski with no life jacket on, when I told him I couldnt swim, he quickly gave me the life jacket, and threw me off the jetski.
LMAO @ chicken song. I love chicken too, I must be half black somewhere.
I have heard all these reasons as to why Black people dont swim: Bone structure is supposedly denser, they have no achilies, there skin pigmentation stops them swimming.
Which are urban myths I aint sure. Probably all.
With regards to the swimming lessons stuff, I totally agree that kids should have swimming lessons, although I had them and still cannot swim. I am not scared of water, and have jumped off waterfalls, and tombstoned in rivers and such, but I cant swim more than 5 metres. The big thing is not to panic, and just relax and you will naturally float.
All my mates think I am nuts as I dont swim and aint scared of water, my mate took me 4 miles out on a jetski with no life jacket on, when I told him I couldnt swim, he quickly gave me the life jacket, and threw me off the jetski.
LMAO @ chicken song. I love chicken too, I must be half black somewhere.
Cullen Jones is black and was at the last Olympics and won gold for the USA
speedy1234
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what i mean was you dont see many lol .mainly they run .and wow they do it in style
Utopie
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Read a while ago that black people can run faster than white becasue they have more elestic fibres in their muscles which is a genetic trait from certain areas in Africa... Same with long distance runners, most of them come from particular high altitude village(s) in Africa.
elniro
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simple answer is because swimmin is not priority for afro-american kids or their parents for that matter.
It's a fact a large proportion of the black american population live in poorer areas, think they'd have money to spend on swimming lessons? Their schools wont risk taking busloads of kids on field trips to pools, its a minefield for lawsuits.
It's a fact a large proportion of the black american population live in poorer areas, think they'd have money to spend on swimming lessons? Their schools wont risk taking busloads of kids on field trips to pools, its a minefield for lawsuits.
I think the report said even when cheap/free pools where opened in black areas, the take up was low. As somebody else mentioned I am sure there are a lot of factors that need to be taken into account. Even stuff like they were worried what it would do to their hair.
K
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We had swimming lessons in Junior school, It was great cause we went just after the register was taken in the morning, and we used to walk the 2 mile trip. I remember it was only me and my first girlfriend who where allowed in the deep end as we could already swim..
The it went down hill because hatthershaw baths got closed down and got knocked down to make room for a hindu temple which never happend for planning reasons.. The to make it worse Oldham swimming baths had a massive fire which left the town with no swimming baths..
Why black americans cant swim?? I cant answer that as im not american nor black.. But i will say that all the black people who i know who are british can swim.. so it kind of says something about the education and parenting system in america..
The it went down hill because hatthershaw baths got closed down and got knocked down to make room for a hindu temple which never happend for planning reasons.. The to make it worse Oldham swimming baths had a massive fire which left the town with no swimming baths..
Why black americans cant swim?? I cant answer that as im not american nor black.. But i will say that all the black people who i know who are british can swim.. so it kind of says something about the education and parenting system in america..
