We have an island about a mile off shore of out town that you can walk to at low tide from the state park and every year there is at least one person drowns near it. It's not just the not being able to swim it's knowing what to do when caught in the currents and not panicking
They really should teach things like that to kids , swimming and water safety should be made compulsory during P.E IMO.
(Over here P.E is Physical Education , you probably have a different name for it over there )
We don't.
At last you've dropped the compulsive need to change our words
But anyway, P.E should have more important sports (like swimming) made compulsory , I mean , soccer / football are ok but it's not going to save your life.
(unless in certain situations)