Fewer and fewer colleges requiring swimming test to graduate

associated press ^ | May 7, 2006 | JUSTIN POPE

[Air Force Brat]

Wow - I've never heard of requiring someone to learn to swim as a prequisite for a college degree.

And I graduated from a state university.

Huh.

[umgud]

If Teddy had been born a few decades later............

[Behind Liberal Lines]

When I went to Cornell it was mandatory.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

From the AP I note (Ya kaint spiel krAP widoubt teh AP). But I'm sure that it's for the chilldruun since swimming and guns and bicycles are all so very dangerous. Heck, I just noticed a caution on a paint bucket that chilldruun may fallin and drown. Darwin is a harsh master...tagline.

[peyton randolph]

If Teddy had been born a few decades later............

---

He never needed to swim because sh*t floats.

[gondramB]

>>Wow - I've never heard of requiring someone to learn to swim as a prequisite for a college degree.

And I graduated from a state university. <<

We had a requirement like that at Georgia Tech but it was always explained as a legacy left over from the days when ROTC was mandatory and NAv ROTC was particularly strong.

My graduating class in 1987 was the last to have to do this

We even have a Wikipedia entry :)

>>Drownproofing
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Drownproofing is a method for surviving in water disaster scenarios without sinking or drowning. It is also infamous as a class once offered at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Drownproofing was developed by swimming coach Fred Lanoue, known to students as Crankshaft because of his limping gait. His method was so successful that it gained national recognition, and Georgia Tech soon made it a requirement for graduation. The US Navy also took interest, and adopted it as part of their standard training. It is claimed that during Lanoue's time teaching at Tech from 1936 to 1964, he taught drownproofing to some 20,000 students.

Once they had mastered the Drownproofing technique, students learned how to stay afloat with their wrists and ankles bound, swim 50 yards (46 m) underwater, and retrieve diving rings from the bottom of the pool using their teeth.

Lanoue published a book called Drownproofing, a New Technique for Water Safety in 1963.

Georgia Tech dropped the course from its curriculum in 1987, as part of a downsizing of its physical education and athletics department.<<

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drownproofing

[Dog Gone]

[leda]

i took swimming in college as my p.e. credit.
it wasn't required but i loved the class.

[joylyn]

I/m glad to see Swarthmore still requires swimming. The way things are going, I'm sure they'll drop this test soon, though. I knew students who were still worrying about this test during the last semester of senior year, but never heard of anyone being denied a diploma. Absent some physical disability, anyone can learn.

[Eagles6]

4/5s of the world is covered by water. This should be one of the first things a parent teaches a child.

[MineralMan]

It was a requirement in the California state Universities and colleges, at least through the 1960s.

[Myrddin]

I had already earned a swimming merit badge, lifesaving merit badge and mile swim patch by the time I was 13 years old.

I don't go swimming very often. When I stepped into the pool at the aviation survival school in June 2005, it was my first time in a pool since July 1984. Everyone had to do the 5 minutes of treading water (or drown proofing float) and swim the width of the pool under water before being permitted to continue the class. Swimming 15 yards under water in a flight suit, helmet and steel toe boots was a requirement to complete.

I wonder how many people drown because they never took the time to learn how to swim. It's a shame to see the swimming test dropped in favor of "diversity" and other crapola mentioned in the article. Being able to swim is a critical life skill that may become a life or death issue.

[eastsider]

The holdouts now include Notre Dame, MIT, Cornell, Columbia, Hamilton, Dartmouth, Swarthmore, and Washington & Lee, plus the service academies.

Man alive, does this ever bring back memories.

[eastsider]

The earth is 7/8 air, so we should learn to fly?

[gondramB]

>>4/5s of the world is covered by water. This should be one of the first things a parent teaches a child.<<

My Grand daddy used say 3/4 of the world was water and that meant the Lord meant for us to spend three times as much time fishing as farming.

[Cobra64]

Still, Clayton maintains the test shouldn't be a graduation requirement. A CPR or first aid requirement would be more likely to save a life, he said. In the middle of the ocean, how much good would a back float do?

This guy is a dunce. Clayton, after you're found floating face down for five minutes, I'll administer CPR. (rolling eyes)

[elfman2]

Not in the 90s...

[Marysecretary]

For years they have at the university for which I worked so many years. Now they've also cut the phys ed requirements from four to two classes. Too bad in a way.

[SteveMcKing]

It likely comes down to:

• cost-cutting (due only to rampant hiring, building, and inflated teacher salary)
• the legal liability of keeping a drowning pool- er.. swimming pool