School swimming classes

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I don't know what kind of a tradition it is but I had swimming classes in second grade and now my daughter has them, too.
Parents are required to help - two at a time for the whole class. I avoided it as long as I could but finally I had to go.
It was... retraumatizing. I was smart enough to get noise canceling earmuffs but otherwise - chlorine smell, heat, noise, teachers yelling at poor kids who are afraid and unable to do what they are told... the only thing that was better now than in my times was light. Glow tubes have improved during the last two decades.
My daughter had a face like she was about to cry but she didn't cry. She learned that much self control.
She was afraid of jumping into the pool. When the teacher didn't look, she slipped into the water instead. She has learned to cheat... I guess if she didn't, the teacher would just yell at her more, ending up in a meltdown. She has learned to cheat to avoid meltdown triggers... I guess it's a survival skill.

It's good I took the earmuffs and some puzzles to keep my eyes and mind somewhere else. Even with them, I'm a mess now. But now I understand one thing about myself that has puzzled me for some time. I didn't remember fearing water when I spent vacations at seaside or lakeside as a preschool child. But during and after the second grade swimming classes, every time I got to water deeper than waist, I got paralyzed with fear to the point I couldn't breathe.
I readapted to water at the age of 14 and now I'm quite a good swimmer. I'm not afraid of water any more. But those teachers yelling at kids unable to swim made my stomach jump upside down.