On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 2:46 PM, Rich Kulawiec <rsk_at_rockandwater.net> wrote: > > > My conclusion is that education is entirely worthwhile with the > former, but almost entirely wasted effort on the latter. We need > something else. Or...we can just accept the status quo and stop > worrying about it. > It's certainly true that, for a certain percentage of people (almost all of whom are male), education is a complete waste of time. In fact, for a small but significant minority of males - especially those who are accompanied by an attractive female - even rescue attempts can be a waste of time. I can tell you that educating children is also (mostly) a waste of time but we continue to plunge ahead willy-nilly with the results seemingly getting worse every year. Maybe we should require a forehead tattoo on everyone who is un-educable. The problem with that is that we've all been un-educable at some point or another in our lives. And tattoos are, I understand, difficult to remove. One thing I've noticed is that the free children's PFDs that you now find at so many boat launches seems to be successful. People understand the risks to their children. They just don't think those same risks apply to them. But 50 years ago virtually no one bothered to put a "life jacket" on their kids (or even carry them in a boat since it wasn't required by law back then). And every kid I watch go by here in a boat has a PFD on. So at least some education works. Amazingly enough my (entirely unscientific) study of jet ski operators (who outnumber boat operators on my lake by about 4 to 1) reveals that virtually 100% of them wear PFDs (versus zero% for boat operators). This result would have been counter-intuitive. It's even more surprising because there is essentially zero enforcement on my lake. So... what has the jet ski community managed to do that the kayak community hasn't? Education or just fear? Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Aug 03 2010 - 08:33:58 PDT
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