<p>What do people with physical disabilities do about some of these PE requirements?</p>
<p>^^At D’s school there is a personalized PE section where coaches/trainer work out an individual program. Of course it depends on level of disability but they offer classes such as yoga which might be appropriate. Even in D’s weight training, it was basically a workout designed for what each student wanted to achieve so could probably be modified.</p>
<p>Bay - as a very competitive person, I was the highest scorer by the end of week. Yes, I have bowled since - I took my girls bowling twice. They wanted to know why I was so good. I told them that without bowling they wouldn’t have had such a nice life style.:)</p>
<p>A swim test at high or college is a great idea. It was not required but I took a swimming class in college.</p>
<p>Seeing as how my daughter is on her pool club swim team and the fact that Virginia requires all rowing team members to pass swim and treading water tests (both with clothes on) plus she is a Red Cross certified lifeguard - I don’t think she’ll have much trouble passing a test when she gets to college.</p>
<p>UChicago abolished it’s swim test requirement for freshmen one week before orientation this past September. My son, a swimmer, was actually looking forward to it and was sorry to not have needed to take it.</p>
<p>I think the situation that you described would be the reason there absolutely should be swim tests. If you can’t swim during a swim test, there is going to be some one there trained to help you. If you find yourself near or in deep water or even not so deep water and panic, with no trained individual to help you, the odds are you will drown and perhaps even bring down with you anyone that jumps in and tries to help.</p>
<p>My dad grew up in a poor community near a river where only he and one sister (of 4) learned to swim. His mother was petrified of water and wouldn’t let the kids near deep water, and although she never told them the family always assumed someone close to her as a child had drown. My dad told us when he was a kid he and his sister were swimming and his mother saw them in the water. She almost jumped in out of blind fear to save her kids as any parent would, but she would have drown! Fortunately my Grandfather, who grew up around boats and could swim, calmed her down and said they were fine. </p>
<p>My father and his sister some how learned to swim in the river. Friends taught them! I hate
to think what could have happened! My father later became a medical professional and saw first hand what happens everyday to those that can’t swim. He (in the mid 60’s) led a drive to have a community pool put in and swim lessons instituted at a nominal cost. They provided busing in the summer so that all kids that wished to could attend. </p>
<p>Because really everybody should know how to swim as early as possible!</p>
<p>People used to ask my dad what they should take in HS. He used to say if you can balance your check book every month, write me a decent business letter, took driver’s
education and can SWIM you’ve gotten what you need out of HS! Of course there’s more but he thought these were the overlooked necessities of life!</p>
<p>I do know what you mean about swimming as a privilege, not only through my father’s experience but because, as an example, when we were at Disney a few years back, an inner-city basketball team of 7th and 8th graders was there, having made a championship game. Some of the kids were nearly 6’ tall and got into 4’ of water to cool off. My 12 year old was in the pool and I was sitting on the side. One if the very tall boys slipped and started to go under. He grabbed onto the closest thing around him, which was my daughter, and they both went under. We have a pool and my DD’s have been put through years of lessons, so she knew to steady herself and this boy and help them to just both stand up. Neither had been prepared to go under so there was a lot of coughing having swallowed a little bit of water but everything was fine. The boy was so sorry, my daughter understood he had just fallen over. But you can see when you’re not used to water what can happen. I was glad these kids from Ohio (I don’t know what city) were given $50,000 from their city to attend the basketball tournament, but I wish cities, schools, wherever should realize how important learning to swim is. (As someone said 3rd leading cause of death worldwide.)</p>
<p>Sorry I know this is CC and not “Swimmers Confidential” 
but it’s a really important issue.</p>
<p>redeye, I couldn’t agree more. I’m glad my D’s school has the swimming requirement. There are a couple lakes on campus, and I figured the requirement must’ve been put into place after an unfortunate accident. Didn’t realize there were so many other schools that have it. That’s great. It’s an important life skill.</p>
<p>Now, if only they would add a cooking requirement, and perhaps a “basic housekeeping” requirement (for girls AND boys, of course!). Those are important skills that many kids are deficient in… at least mine are!</p>
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<p>The colleges adapt the requirements for people with physical disabilities, religious issues, or other legitimate problems. </p>
<p>Students who want to apply to a particular college but are concerned that they may be unable to meet a swimming or PE requirement should talk to the admissions office. Don’t just cross the college off your list.</p>
<p>For example, at Cornell, which has both a swim test and a PE requirement, accommodations are routinely made for students with physical disabilities. See [Physical</a> Education, Phys Ed, Cornell University](<a href=“Physical Education | Cornell University”>Physical Education | Cornell University) . I have heard from past students that accommodations are also made for people with religious issues (for example, those whose religious beliefs prohibit wearing a bathing suit in front of members of the opposite sex).</p>
<p>seems stupid to me</p>
<p>^^^ I agree. While it seems to make sense that anyone on the rowing/crew or swim teams be able to swim, for most everyone else I don’t see this has anything to do with graduating from the typical college. Even the article indicates it is an either/or situation.</p>
<p>“Cornell students must take the plunge in order to graduate, either by passing a swim test OR enrolling in a beginner’s swim class.”</p>
<p>Seems a bit like requiring everyone to take home ecnonomics so they know how to cook if living on their own…LOL.</p>
<p>My D’s high school, as of this year, requires all students to take a course in financial literacy (aka balancing checkbook, credit cards, interest rates, credit reports/scores, etc) . The requirement can be met in a couple of different ways - a “normal” economics class for full credit, as part of a “home ec” type course (they do in fact cook…D and S did that in middle school), one or two other classes cover it. But not student can graduate without it now.</p>
<p>I taught both of my kids to swim when they were little. By 4 years old each one was on our pool’s swim team swimming 25 meter free and backstroke, later adding breast and butterfly. They can hold their own. What i wish I could have given them was more experience in the ocean…we have family on LI and when they swim there I always make sure they understand rip tides and what to do if swept out and so on. They think I’m overcautious but I almost drowned at Jones Beach when I was 12 and I know how the ocean can surprise you.</p>
<p>Emory’s Oxford College (located 35 miles away from the Atlanta campus) has a swim requirement, but the Atlanta campus does not. I jokingly respond to complaints with “Look: Someone is investing a quarter of a million dollars in your education–whether that’s the school, the government, or your parents. Now, we can’t have you wasting all of that by falling into a large puddle, now can we?”</p>
<p>I’m a Notre Dame freshman and we had to take a swim test at the start of the year! I can swim, but I’m not a fantastic swimmer and I have bad endurance, so I was very anxious about having to take it! Luckily, it went just fine, but leading up to it I was pretty nervous! We have a PE program which includes 4 activities of choice (normal stuff like soccer and volleyball- but also things like fencing, curling, skiing, yoga, and ballroom dance) and then 2 units of “Contemporary Topics” which is just general information on health. If you fail your swim test or chose not to take it, you have to take beginning swimming for 2 of your activity units.</p>
<p>My school doesn’t require anything, except that you pay $400 per year to use their rec center/gym. Everyone tends to use it since they had no choice in paying for it. Not a bad idea. It would have cost me over $550 per year to use the much smaller YMCA.</p>
<p>My DDs private HS had a swim requirement to graduate. It was put in place by a long ago headmaster after a student drowned in the nearby river. Those who do not pass the test on entry have a trimester of mandatory swim lessons.</p>
<p>We were required to take “drown proofing” at Georgia Tech in the 80’s. </p>
<p>One requirement was to swim the length of the pool with our arms and legs bound. It was harder than calculus.</p>
<p>In the 70’s I took synchronized swimming for my pool credit…in the middle of a cold, snowy winter.</p>
<p>Glad IU didn’t have that requirement, or I’d still be there! </p>
<p>(and yes, before everyone says that I need to learn how to swim, etc etc.: I’ve taken private swim lessons, swim lessons from the swim team, and swim lessons from the swim coach. Nothing works. I can swim like a fish if you put flippers on me, but without those, I don’t float. I’ve even scuba dived! We had to take 2 pool rotations in gym class in HS and it was a nightmare. I got out of a B [b/c I technically ‘fail’ the standardized swim portion] by outrunning the wrestling coach’s wrestlers on the track)</p>
<p>Some of our high schools having swimming as a requirement (including the one on the other side of our town). Swimming is part of their regular PE program. A recent immigrant drowned in one of the school pools the day before Thanksgiving during PE class. Another drowned at the beginning of the year at a different school. I’m all for teaching kids to swim, but am wary of swimming as a PE requirement at either the HS or College level. I remember taking a swim test with my 4th grade class in our town pool. so they obviously started even earlier - maybe a good thing, because failing the test in front of your peers isn’t such a big deal when you’re younger.</p>
<p>At least in college, they can keep certain classes open only for the non-swimmers, but it HS they have them all together. I think that’s a recipe for disaster, as the instructors’ attention is likely to be divided.</p>
<p>Both my kids elementary schools had weekly swimming lessons- which was really great- afterwards they were very relaxed and focused.
Everyone was in same class, but had lots of pool staff & volunteer parents, which is critical, because it can be a dangerous situation.
I was insistent on my kids learning to swim, because both of my parents were poor swimmers & so nervous around water that they insisted I could learn in water that barely came up to my waist. I started river rafting as a young adult to get over that. Im not a great swimmer either, but perhaps that is because I float too well!</p>