The Associated Press reports that the final holdout colleges and universities are finally getting rid of their swim tests.
Swim tests are an early 20th century anachronism when a wave of interest in physical fitness combined with the two World Wars, etc., led many colleges and universities to require students to demonstrate that they could swim before being granted their degrees.
And, like anything, once something is institutionalized it is damn hard to get rid of. So Notre Dame, MIT and other institutions of higher learning still require students to pass a swim test to graduate.
Along with the sheer silliness of it all (I’d require students to pass an advanced critical thinking test, but then again that’s not a skill necessarily encouraged at all institutions of higher learning), the swim test has run into very contemporary problems. According to the AP,
There are administrative hassles finding instructors and accommodating students with chlorine allergies or religious objections to being seen in bathing suits. But mostly, it’s just a headache getting hundreds of college students to show up for any one event at an appointed time and place.
Are they kidding? Getting college students to show up on time for an event is trivially easy to accomplish — simply add beer (presumably, after the swimming test has been successfully administered).
I wonder what traditions and practices that we take for granted will be considered antiquated in the early 22nd century. Perhaps institutions that still require basic introductory computer courses? (Those have been an anachronism for a couple years now).