<p>cornell, columbia, u of c, probably some others...why would they require a swimming test or physical education classes? it's just weird...has nothing to do with higher education at all.</p>
<p>i mean, i don't mind taking p.e. classes, but it just seems weird for a college to require it.</p>
<p>Answer: mens sana in corpore sano</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>P.S.We Americans are losing our appreciation of the value of eccentricity.</p>
<p>Be grateful they don’t still require posture pictures.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee as well. It goes back to the days of college being like a formation farm…the whole person…and many also required chapel attendance, even the Ivy League did decades ago. </p>
<p>Also, it harkens back to when many schools were single gender schools. Rah-rah!</p>
<p>At Cornell, if you flunk the test, all it means is that you have to take swimming as part of your required PE credit. With all the lakes and streams in the area, it does seem like a good requirement. I agree with the idea that it goes back to the days when college was more concerned with “well-roundedness.” At U of C, I’ve heard that the requirement was based on an undergraduate’s drowning, not uncommon when swimming in Lake Michigan, which is close to campus.</p>
<p>If you’ve seen photos of what people wore while swimming 80 years ago, you’ll realize that it took a strong swimmer to keep those heavy suits afloat. They were made of wool, and often rented for the day(!)</p>
<p>MIT has one of these too, we were amused to learn on a recent visit. The metric for the length of the test is wonderful – half the width of the adjacent Charles River. Those bright folks at MIT reason that if you can swim that length you can fall into the river at any point and still get to shore. </p>
<p>They told us that there are a goodly number of MIT students who take the test on the morning of commencement. :)</p>
<p>A long time ago, a very wealthy Columbia alumnus’ son drowned because he didn’t know how to swim. He made a very substantial gift to Columbia on the condition that they require all students to learn to swim before graduating.</p>
<p>but the swimming tests don’t really require that you know how swim WELL, do they? like one can doggy paddle the whole time and still pass? so it doesn’t really help prevent them from drowning or anything…i mean, if someone really really didn’t know how to swim AT ALL, why the hell would they go into cornell’s gorges or lake michigan unless they were REALLY drunk i guess or if someone pushed them in…but if they were really drunk, chances are good that it wasn’t ONLY a lack of swimming knowledge that caused them to drown.</p>
<p>At Swarthmore you are required to swim 2 lengths of the pool and then stay afloat for a total of 10 or 15 minutes. Style or stroke do not matter at all.</p>
<p>wow interesting stuff…I’ve never even heard of colleges having a swimming requirement</p>
<p>Given how much water there is on this planet though, I do think that swimming is a basic skill that everyone should have.</p>
<p>
This is a common [urban</a> legend](<a href=“http://www.snopes.com/college/admin/swimtest.asp]urban”>The Swim Test | Snopes.com), which is widespread at schools that still have swim tests. A number of well-known schools do, such as Notre Dame, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Williams, Hamilton, Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Washington & Lee, USNA, USMA, and USCGA.</p>
<p>In North Carolina its the law. I think it’s great that students should have to pass a swimming test… kind of. Having to take a whole class does stink, but the fact remains that learning how to swim is very important (okay, probably more important in MD than MO). Swimming is, perhaps surprisingly to some, not as easy as jumping in and floating. Floating is a technique, and treading water takes practice. It seems easy, but it’s not - particularly in a river or the ocean (in which case, I bid you high stamina and good luck). What sucks is taking PE classes in COLLEGE. This is frustrating for me because it is kind of a waste of time. I work out, but let’s face it, I’m no skinny-minny. I was so over PE tests in front of a group of people in middle school, so I’m not even taking the test. Looks like I’m taking another excruciating year of gym classes. One quarter or two at Chicago would be fine, but three is a little over the top. Someone’s paying big bucks to take gym at UChicago. They should just ship us to the nearest high school.</p>
<p>why are you not taking the test? are you taking the swimming class instead?</p>
<p>If I go to the University of Chicago, you have to take and pass a PE test. First of all I’m 75% positive I wouldn’t pass, and second of all I’d rather not. And if I’m going to have to take three PE classes, one of them mightaswell be swimming… that’s useful and it’s a great workout. And then I don’t have to take the swimming test.</p>
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<p>Three PE classes and one swimming class if you don’t pass out of anything. That said, it is quite easy to pass out of at least one PE class, if not two, and the swimming test isn’t so hard. You can literally back-float the entire length of the pool. (Haha, says the person who waived the test. Yup, I’ll be taking the swimming class . . .)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure, but obviously not positive, that one of your PE credits can double as the swimming test. If not, it looks like I’m wasting four quarters on gym. Good thing Chicago isn’t at the top of my list.</p>
<p>The PE credit doesn’t double as the swimming test. I should know, because if it could double, I’d only be taking the swimming class and not swimming and archery. :)</p>
<p>p.e. at Columbia is pass/fail and pretty much every class is a joke. You just need to show up for the allotted time and pretend like you’re doing something. Many people actually love p.e. and get really into it, because it’s guaranteed exercise time and coaching twice a week. the swim test is also a joke, but it gets people who can’t swim worried and they practice and learn a pretty basic life-skill. I feel like p.e. will be a joke in most schools as it should be. It’s still good to have a little balance a few semesters.</p>
<p>is swimming really a necessary life skill? i mean, I know how to swim. but my uncle doesn’t and he’s never had a problem in his life just cuz he doesn’t know how to swim. and he’s 60 years old. so i dunno if its really a basic life skill or not.</p>
<p>A swim test is required at S2’s state u. According to history, the first chancellor of the university lost a step-daughter due to drowning. He was so grief stricken that he declared that no student would grad. from the university without learning to swim.
Swimming two lengths of the pool and treading water for a prescribed # of minutes (can’t remember exactly) is req. to pass. Students who don’t pass have to take swimming for a sem. to fulfill PE req. </p>
<p>S2 is taking kayaking next sem. for his P.E.<br>
S1 took canoeing, swim conditioning and scuba diving at his state u.
All skills that they can enjoy using for years to come.
Swim conditioning (long distance swimming) and Scuba diving(national certification) were difficult…definitely not a joke.</p>