Dateline: nineteen seventy-mumble. School swimming lesson, small town rural Australia. Me, aged seven, evidently having a mild but irritating panic attack about having to go into the water. Swimming instructor gets sick of my shit and throws me in. Oddly, this does not reduce my panic attack! He pulls me back out again and yells at me for disrupting the class.
... And learns an important lesson: if you're going to lose your cool and throw a kid in the pool because he's misbehaving, don't choose the school principal's son.
We got a new swimming instructor... but I never did learn to swim worth a damn. I make a point of living inland.
What a pity. The ocean is a wonderful place, being able to swim in it is one of the very best aspects of my life, also having learned to swim while growing up in rural Australia.
I had the exact same experience while taking swimming lessons as a young child in the west of Ireland. The instructor just chucked me in. She still works there.
I didn't swim for years afterwards but eventually went back to lessons when I was around 12. Strangely enough, I now love the sea. I am an avid surfer and scuba diver.
Throwing a seven-year-old kid into the water because they're having a panic attack is absolutely grounds for firing. It's putting their life in danger. That instructor had no business teaching children how to swim if he doesn't understand basic water safety.
It's unfortunate that not everyone may have been able to rectify the situation the way that etfb could, but it's not like (s)he was abusing that power.
He got himself fired for being an idiot. My Dad would have done the same regardless of who it was; the only difference is that some other kids (or parents) might have been too timid to approach him about it.
But yeah, thanks for your interpretation, that's good too. Pat-pat-pat.
... And learns an important lesson: if you're going to lose your cool and throw a kid in the pool because he's misbehaving, don't choose the school principal's son.
We got a new swimming instructor... but I never did learn to swim worth a damn. I make a point of living inland.