Oh yeah, I make no claim that any of my experiences are anywhere near universal. Basically no part of the American experience is.
Or driving in general. As an American who didn't get a driver's license until I was 21 (gasp! so old) due to some reasons, I can attest that many, many people here simply can't comprehend the idea of someone over 17 or so not having one. I got turned away from a hotel once because they didn't know how to use a passport as an ID.
The only other people I've met with this problem were immigrants. And we were always able to bond over lamentations of how difficult it is to solve this problem... the entire system to get a license here is built around the assumption that everyone does it in high school, so every step of the way is some roadblock like "simply drive to your driving test appointment"...
Yeah, a small village. It would have been a half-hour bus ride to the town of ~5000, but they couldn't compel all students to get a passport, and the nearest pool in the US would have been about an hour and a half away, so it was never part of the curriculum. Some kids had their parents drive them to Canada after school for private (expensive?) swimming lessons, but it wasn't standard.
American here. The nearest swimming pool to my hometown was in Canada. So no.
Edit: I don't think this is normal