<p>The college S2 will attend in Aug. (also where I attended) requires a swim test and a swim class if the test is not passed. I had never heard the story when I was a student but the tour guide on S2’s visit said that one of the first Chancellors of the college had a step-daughter who drowned at a young age. He was so distraught that he declared no student would ever graduate from that college without knowing how to swim. One hundred years later, they’re still taking the swim test.</p>
<p>My Mom had to learn to swim in college to graduate. She always had a fear of the water for personal reason I won’t go in to. She passed that on and I became a terrible adult swimmer.<br>
Both of my children took private lessons as very young children and both are good swimmers. If other parents out there don’t have this skill…please make sure your children do. I knew this was something I could not teach my children so I made sure to hire a good professional to do it. I taught them lots of other things, including the importance of learning to swim.</p>
<p>I live on an island that’s ninety percent black and most people here can’t swim.</p>
<p>I learned how to swim when I was 8, and my ex was an avid recreational swimmer, but my son was seriously phobic about the water when he was young (among other things – he went almost two years without ever setting foot in the kitchen), and simply refused to learn. It would not have been a good idea to force him. By the time he got over his phobia, in his early teens, he was too embarrassed to let anyone know that he couldn’t swim, and didn’t want to take lessons.</p>
<p>But now I guess he’ll finally have to learn, since he enters the University of Chicago this fall. Hopefully, once he explains during orientation week that he doesn’t know how to swim at all, they won’t force him to take the swimming test, and will just sign him up for the classes.</p>
<p>dntw8up…bang there goes my theory ;)</p>
<p>University of Chicago, I believe, just dropped the swimming requirement a few years ago or was it Northwestern. One of the local schools did drop the requirement.
The local high school had a learn to swim program which I went to when I was little.</p>
<p>My HS many years ago (in Colorado) required that all students take swim lessons at the school unless they had a medical excuse. Their belief was that everyone should know how to swim to some extent because you never know when you might need it even in a land-locked place like Colorado (but with pools, lakes, rivers, streams).</p>
<p>I took swim lessons from a kid onwards and ended up earning my lifesaving, water safety instructor, survival and advanced survival swimming, and taught swim to high schoolers while in HS. I also taught swim to adults and kids (at no cost to them). </p>
<p>And speaking of black kids who don’t swim, I can still remember teaching a young black girl to swim who despite her inability to swim at the beginning, paid attention, was eager to learn, and progressed rapidly - more than the rest of the kids. I had a lot of respect for that girl. I also remember teaching an adult to dive who was deathly afraid to dive. He was a middle-aged man who just had a fear of it. I worked with him though and was able to get him to dive. Once he did it he was beaming like a kid at his accomplishment. He then proceeded to dive over and over on his own (like a kid). It was fun to see even as a HS kid at the time. </p>
<p>Maybe when I retire I’ll find a way to teach swim again but I’ll only do it if it’s free to the students.</p>
<p>Davidson has a swimming requirement. I think it’s a cool idea, but that’s because I grew up around pools & lakes … and I can’t imagine not being able to swim.</p>
<p>I just read the other day that Washington and Lee has a swimming requirement also.</p>
<p>So does Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>I can’t believe so many colleges have a swimming requirement! I’m deathly afraid of water… :(</p>
<p>^^ Take some lessons - it’s never too late. Swimming is great exercise, good fun, and could someday save your life or that of someone else. Besides, you’ll feel more comfortable boogie-boarding if you know how to swim!</p>
<p>Nova10, University of Chicago still has the swim test.</p>
<p>“You had to pass the Red Cross advanced beginner test. … I cannot DIVE though. The test requires a dive.”</p>
<p>This almost drove me crazy when I went to summer camp. You had to pass this test to be allowed in the deep (read: fun) area of the lake. I could backstroke, breast stroke, crawl, tread water for 30+ minutes…I just couldn’t dive. So I never got to have any fun with the cool kids. Can someone explain to me why it is more dangerous to climb or jump into the water instead of diving? I respected the water safety rules in general, but to me this was total BS.</p>
<p>Hanna, I’m in the same boat. I’m a decent swimmer, but diving is a skill I have never been able to master. I guess it goes back to my childhood when summer swimming happened in the local lakes and rivers, and we were advised not to plunge into them head first to avoid head injuries from hitting an underwater object (rock, stump, log, etc.).</p>
<p>Being able to dive just means overcoming fear for some. By diving one can end up further underwater than they’re comfortable with. They might also fear getting a mouthful of water, doing a belly-flop, or panicking.</p>
<p>Here’s how to do it - </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Kneel on the edge of the pool. Put your arms out straight ahead while making sure they’re touching your ears (i.e. arms are stretched ahead). Tuck your chin and make sure not to ‘look up’ as you enter the water and flop forward into the water. If you ended up ‘looking up’ anyway and might have gotten a mouth full of water, do it over until you get it right. From a kneeling position you should know you’ll be okay.</p></li>
<li><p>Once step 1 is mastered, do it from a standing position. Do the same thing, keeping your chin tucked and not looking up, and point your arms into the pool and go in. Do it by leaning closer and closer to the water with your hands forward until you fall in (head first) if need be. Repeat until you’re comfortable with it.</p></li>
<li><p>Once step 2 is mastered, try doing a little jump from the standing position to launch yourself into the water.</p></li>
<li><p>By now you should be ready to try it from a diving board but start by walking to the end and then just doing the standing dive of step 2 albeit from the board. Remember to keep your chin tucked and don’t look up.</p></li>
<li><p>You’re now on your way to becoming a diving champion.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Keeping the chin down and not looking up is what most people who ‘can’t dive’ have the biggest issue with but it can be overcome if done in simple steps.</p>
<p>
I think climbing in is safest. I think learning to dive proves one is more capable in the water and helps to overcome some fears of the water and makes for a more confident swimmer.</p>