I mean.... Encouraging problem solving is a good thing but

I don't understand the whole mentality of throwing kids in deep end water to teach them how to swim

That happened to my grandma's on both sides of my family and both of them went through the same scenario after that:

1. Nearly drowned
2. Never actually learned to swim
3. Had a life long fear of large bodies of water

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The concept applies to other things too, not just learning to swim.
But yeah, it was the only analogy I could think of, lol