Yes, the law requires that life guards MUST be certified. You cannot get hired without certification, and the article said the potential life-guards must pass the test. The test cannot be "dumbed down" because it's a national level test, and the standards are set.
I think it's important to add that lifeguarding at a swimming pool is not like lifeguarding at the beach. You don't even need to be a strong swimmer at a swimming pool because lifeguards don't go into the water. If someone is having difficulties, you end a pole to them and pull them in. It's only in ocean/beach situations that someone needs to be a fast strong swimmer - to get to the victim quickly.
Lifeguarding at a swimming pool involves enforcing the rules - no running on the deck, no jumping on other swimmers, no swimming too close to the diving boards, and keeping kids in the right part of the pool. It's just a giant discipline and babysitting job, and yes, having lifeguards of the same ethnic persuasion would be a help in getting the kids to listen.
Not once ever in four years of working at the pool, did I every witness anyone who needed to be "rescued" in the classic "swim out and pull him to shore" way. I did, on more than one occasion, get the pole and pull some kid out of the deep end who shouldn't have been there in the first place. And in most cases, the kid didn't want to come out but it was obvious that he couldn't swim well enough for the deep end.
I think it's important to add that lifeguarding at a swimming pool is not like lifeguarding at the beach. You don't even need to be a strong swimmer at a swimming pool because lifeguards don't go into the water. If someone is having difficulties, you end a pole to them and pull them in. It's only in ocean/beach situations that someone needs to be a fast strong swimmer - to get to the victim quickly.
Lifeguarding at a swimming pool involves enforcing the rules - no running on the deck, no jumping on other swimmers, no swimming too close to the diving boards, and keeping kids in the right part of the pool. It's just a giant discipline and babysitting job, and yes, having lifeguards of the same ethnic persuasion would be a help in getting the kids to listen.
Not once ever in four years of working at the pool, did I every witness anyone who needed to be "rescued" in the classic "swim out and pull him to shore" way. I did, on more than one occasion, get the pole and pull some kid out of the deep end who shouldn't have been there in the first place. And in most cases, the kid didn't want to come out but it was obvious that he couldn't swim well enough for the deep end.