Swim Tests Don’t Belong in College Graduation

I recently read an article titled “Making waves on campus: A once-proud tradition is becoming awkward for elite universities” in The Economist about swim test requirements at some U.S. universities as a condition for graduation. I didn’t know that this was a requirement at institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell University, and Columbia University in order to receive a diploma. When I first read about it, I immediately thought it was some kind of military-related requirement to ensure students were fit for duty, and at least I got that part right. But apparently, some leaders also believed it contributed to a well-rounded education. 

Here is some background information about the reasons for the requirement, found on the Cornell University website:

“Male – 1905 – In the fall of 1905 Colonel Frank Barton (Yes, that Frank Barton) instituted the test. He stated: ‘In view of the fact that recent wars have conclusively demonstrated that a soldier who cannot swim is so much dead timber in the command, and the United States now refuses to graduate from West Point or Annapolis cadets who are unable to swim, no student will be credited with a passing mark for spring term’s drill who has not previously passed an examination in swimming satisfactory to the Professor of Physical Culture.’ This practically made swimming a requirement for graduation since military drill was required of all male four-year students. (Oswego Daily Palladium, Nov 28, 1905). Cornell was the first college in the country (other than the service academies) to require a swim test.

Female – 1920 – Al Gantert (Director of Physical Education, 1978–2009) had a number of discussions with Dorothy Bateman (First Director of Sports and Physical Education, 1920–1962) before she passed away. Dorothy instituted the women’s swimming test in 1920. She stated that she felt it was an important part of a well-rounded education for a young woman.”1

The Economist article explains that colleges are eliminating long-standing swimming requirements for graduation. These tests, introduced in the early 20th century, were originally tied to physical fitness and even military preparedness. Over time, most universities dropped the requirement due to cost, inconvenience, and changing priorities. More recently, the main reason for abandoning swim tests has shifted toward concerns about racial equity. Data shows significant disparities in swimming ability in the U.S., with Black Americans far less likely to know how to swim. At some schools, a disproportionate number of students failing swim tests were students of color, leading administrators to view the requirement as unfair or exclusionary.

Knowing how to swim is a good thing, but I agree with the article’s concerns about racial equity, and I would add economic factors as well. The chart published with the article shows that all races are affected when household income is low and community pools are not always available. Even when pools are accessible, the challenge often lies in teaching people how to swim.

Chart: The Economist

In my case, I learned how to swim the hard way when I was a kid. I remember that day clearly. When we were young, we did a lot of exploring, and one of our favorite spots was near a lake. Typically, we stayed in waist-deep water just to cool off. But one day, one of the kids pushed me from a higher point that kids used to jump into the lake, and I landed in the deep end. I struggled to reach the shore and barely made it. I thought I was about to drown, but instinct kicked in and I made it. The kid who pushed me was terrified and apologized. After that incident, I started working on my swimming by watching what other kids were doing. There weren’t any public pools where I grew up, and we didn’t have money for swimming classes.

I became a strong swimmer by the time I got to college. Once there, I was more concerned about passing Physical Chemistry, which was a key class for graduation, so I had no interest in taking advanced swimming classes on campus. All my spare time was focused on the prerequisites for Physical Chemistry—Physics (which required Calculus I) and Calculus III. Of course, General Chemistry was also required, but I had taken that as a freshman, so I just needed to focus on the others, and it took me a while. So I’m glad there wasn’t a swim test requirement at my university.

Once I joined the Army, things were different. As a young lieutenant attending the Infantry Officer School at Fort Benning, a swim test was required, and we had to pass it at the start of the course in order to continue. For infantry officers, swimming with equipment and weapons is essential, as amphibious operations and water landings can be part of the mission. The instructors spent significant time teaching us the necessary techniques, including how to make a flotation device using our pants. We received instruction in the afternoons after regular classes. It was a lot of fun, and I survived all of it.

After graduating and reporting to my first assignment with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, I went through another swim test during in-processing. It included jumping from a platform about five meters high in uniform and treading water for about five minutes. We also had to swim 50 meters in uniform. During my time in Hawaii, I participated in a couple of helocast missions, where we jumped from a helicopter into the water and then swam to shore for follow-on operations. Super fun, to say the least.

With all that said, I don’t think a swim test should be a requirement for college graduation. It’s already challenging enough for young adults who are struggling financially to make it through college without having to worry about passing a swim test. A personal finance class would probably be more helpful, since 100% of students will deal with financial issues at some point, versus the smaller percentage who will ever need to rely on swimming skills. To me, this is an unnecessary burden, one that places yet another obstacle in front of students trying to improve their lives. I’m glad to see that many schools are eliminating this requirement, and hopefully the remaining colleges will follow suit in the near future.

  1.  https://scl.cornell.edu/pe/swim-requirement/history-swim-requirement#:~:text=Male ,Daily Palladium, Nov 28, 1905 ↩︎

76 thoughts on “Swim Tests Don’t Belong in College Graduation”

  1. I was unaware of this, however, like you wrote, “requirements at some U.S. universities” makes this more exclusive than mainstream. 🏊🏻‍♀️ Logistically difficult or impossible to manage but knowing how to swim should be a requirement for all students at an early age. Too many drownings.

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  2. Fascinating! I had no idea about college swim tests. The racial disparity makes so much sense – thank you for included that data.

    Wow, your army ones sound intense! Five minutes in full uniform – whew! Such an interesting post, my friend!

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  3. Unless I scanned too quickly, I didn’t see mention of the Ancient Greece. philosophy of developing a balanced individual, which aimed to harmonise intellectual, physical, and moral capabilities to create an effective citizen. Given concern for the health of democracies around the world, I can’t help but wonder about the best response to the equity problem.

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    1. I didn’t mention those things in this particular post. I think universities have completely shifted their focus from being philosophy-centered to training individuals for specific jobs. From this new perspective, adding a swim test to determine whether someone graduates seems unfair in today’s environment.

      Regarding health, people are so protective of individual rights that they often ignore recommendations about eating right, exercising, or getting vaccinations, just to name a few. That’s why most are framed as “recommended” and left up to individual choice. Some people choose to keep eating ultra-processed foods and are okay with the potential consequences, like heart attacks. Which I don’t understand, but I’ve actually heard people say things like that.

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      1. The same move against a well-rounded education and well-rounded person (excluding diet, of course, as you note) applies here and I think all the ‘liberal’ democracies.

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  4. I had no clue about this — a swimming requirement still in existence today! Kinda nutty, for sure. As I read your post, though, I found myself smiling. I love hearing about your distinguished service, Edward, and how accomplished you are. Achieving…being a true leader. Mad respect to you…always! ❤️😉❤️

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    1. Yeah, it was incredible, and for a moment I thought it was some kind of joke. I had to Google it to get the backstory. It’s amazing how many things we’re still doing and calling “tradition,” even when they don’t make sense anymore. Thank you, my friend. 🙏🏼

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  5. I think swimming is an important life skill but it shouldn’t be required for college graduation. What a strange requirement!

    I agree with you on a financial literacy test, although I’d argue that college is too late. This needs to be part of the high school curriculum because bad money habits could be entrenched by the time someone gets to the end of college. With the high cost of education, students need financial literacy skills to manage their money when they get to college.

    My daughter is a residence life manager in a university residence and it’s amazing how these young people are lacking in so many essential life skills. Our education system is clearly missing the mark.

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    1. Absolutely! The sooner, the better. High school is probably a good place to start teaching financial literacy. Most young people definitely lack essential life skills. I remember back in college how my roommates struggled with the basics: cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping. It was incredible.

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  6. It’s very fortunate you were able to swim after being pushed into the lake. I jumped into the deep end of a swimming pool as a little girl, and my ‘natural instinct’ did not kick in. I sunk to the bottom, looking up at the sun shining on the water. Fortunately, the foster parent jumped in to save me. I tried taking swimming lessons in my 40’s but my teacher said I swam like ‘Nemo’ the little cartoon fish with the deformed fin. I’d still love to learn, but for some reason I don’t have a ‘natural skill’. I’m so thankful none of the colleges I attended required it, I may not have passed, and my entire future would’ve went down the drain…

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    1. We were definitely lucky. Your last point is what concerns me about this requirement. What if someone is unable to learn—are those four or five years in college lost because the student can’t pass the test? It’s a ridiculous requirement, and there are other ways to teach the basics.

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  7. I never knew about any of these swimming tests, Edward. I can understand if it became a requirement to *teach* swimming, but not to have to pass it. The whole thing sounds as bizarre as… well it might as well be a Saturday Night Live sketch. To get a decent job, one needs a college degree. Obtaining that necessity shouldn’t depend on any athletic ability or talent.
    I was never taught. My parents didn’t swim. Although if my dad had been a swimmer, he doubtless would have thrown me in and made me learn that way or drown. That was his method for driving. “Okay. We’re here, now you get us home.” Anyway, two times I took swimming lessons as an adult. I wasn’t afraid of the water at all… I just couldn’t get the hang of it. But then, I was never good at any other sport either. Hugs.

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    1. It’s definitely a weird requirement, and I think it was meant to identify potential candidates for military service. The idea of “creating well-rounded citizens” feels like a justification added later just to hide the main purpose. I’ve read that many were concerned about kids drowning, but if that’s the case, why make it a college requirement instead of addressing it in public schools?

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    1. It was definitely surprising to me when I started reading the article. It didn’t provide much background information, so I had to Google it to learn more. I couldn’t find how many students have their graduation delayed due to failing the test, but it’s probably devastating for someone who completed all their academic requirements not to graduate on time because of a swim test.

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  9. so awesome to read about your professional work Edward. but that memory of the first swim; wow, that would be traumatizing for a lot of folks. I’m glad that person apologized.

    that being said, I too am surprised there is a swim proficiency requirement at these institutions. Mike

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    1. Yeah, that was a tough one. My mom probably would have given that boy a beating if she knew what happened.

      It makes me wonder how many other “requirements” universities have that are discriminatory and we don’t know about.

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  10. If this was such an important aspect of a ‘balanced education’ at these Universities, why not tack on a required semester of Swimming 101 (or equivalent) as part of the basic academic requirement Freshman year and be done with it? Kind of like the generic ‘English for Engineering Majors’ semester offered to fulfill part of the basic core Humanities requirement back in the day. That way, those who don’t know how to swim have the opportunity to learn a good skill included in their tuition and those who already know are introduced to more advanced skills as part of their own enrichment. However, I admit my first thought was thinking this akin to IQ tests (don’t know if this is still true, but it was a big deal back when I was a kid) – culturally skewed, yet approved, ways of eliminating ‘unwanteds’…

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    1. Adding it as a freshman class makes sense so students can earn credits. To me, this sounds like an old military-era requirement used to identify prospects for service during World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. Some universities may have kept it as a tradition, but the practice feels obsolete, and schools should find other ways to teach students how to swim.

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  11. I’m an American Sign Language-English interpreter, and sometimes I fill in at public schools. If the school is in a wealthy district, they likely have an entire aquatic center. The racial disparity likely boils down to an income disparity. One author whom I think you would find fascinating is Jonathan Kozol, who has been one of the premier authorities on income disparity in public schooling, which affects racial divides, which affects, jobs, income, etc.

    I went to grad school at the University of Notre Dame and learned that had had a swimming requirement for decades. I had heard stories that the swimming was required because a donor, who endowed a large sum to the university, stipulated that all students learn to swim because their own child had drowned. Thanks to your post, I looked up that story:

    “Before Notre Dame began admitting women in the early 1970s, students did indeed take the test in the buff. But there’s apparently no solid evidence behind any of the oddly similar stories that circulate on many campuses about how the test started: A wealthy donor whose son drowns gives money for the pool on the condition that the college require a swim test.”—from The Gainesville Sun

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    1. I have heard similar stories. I understand the rationale, and the stipulation makes sense on the surface, but changing college requirements because of one donor is crazy. That’s how universities get into trouble, and you can see it now with how the government is injecting itself into school policies. It would probably be better to offer swimming classes for free and give students extra credit. I’m sure the pool would be packed.

      It’s definitely connected to income disparities, which is one reason universities are getting rid of the requirement. Thank you for the recommendation. I’m going to check him out.

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        1. Weird! Yesterday, I read a story on Dr. Stein’s blog about Chicago schools doing the same thing back in the day. Having a bunch of boys swimming naked is just strange, especially at a Catholic school.

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  12. i concur. and some pple are naturally afraid of the water. i grew up in a state of over 10,000 lakes and i had access to them but i preferred swimming in a pool because the lakes had a bunch of gross things in there too

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    1. Yeah, some people are terrified of water, so that’s a great point. It can take a long time for them to work through that fear. The bottoms of lakes can be pretty nasty, so you have to stay near the surface if you want to avoid being grossed out.

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  13. It is news to me that in the US you used to have to pass swimming to graduate! Some people are just terrified of going anyway near pools or open water. Definitely personal finance would be better option I agree to not mismanage income and stay out of debt. I do wish there were public baths in every town in UK, sadly many have shut down. Not everyone can afford private gym memberships.

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    1. It would be a game changer if more people learned how to manage their income and stay out of debt. That’s a crisis that affects governments everywhere. A swim class starts at $30 (a little over £22), which is a lot of money for low income families. Most of the time, that cost is in addition to gym memberships. We’re lucky that our area has enough public pools to support the community, but there are cities with none, so many kids are at a disadvantage.

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  14. Getting pushed into deep water is a crazy way to learn to swim. I’m glad the culprit apologized! I was privileged and had many swim lessons as a kid. I became a lifeguard. It breaks my heart to hear of kids (usually from poorer communities) drowning every summer during heat waves. There must be a better way, but I agree that making it a college grad requirement is not it.

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    1. Yeah, that was crazy, and we definitely did some dumb things back in the day. But those were the days when kids were gone all day, and as long as you were home before dinner, everything was okay.

      I visited our public pools on a few occasions, and since cities are already paying lifeguards, usually high schoolers, I think they could also use them to teach basic swimming techniques to kids.

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  15. Interesting post, Edward. I had no idea about that requirement in the USA. I don’t believe it was ever a general factor in Canadian universities. I remember when and how I learned to swim. It was at bible camp when I was a young pre-teen. The other kids were all swimming, so I faked it until one day, I was accidentally propelling myself through the water without hopping along the bottom. I recall what a thrill that was. Our daughter was an excellent and fearless swimmer from the time she was four. It’s definitely a good skill to have. That said, I agree that it shouldn’t be mandatory in any educational curriculum unless it’s going to be a requirement of the end job.

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    1. Thank you, Terry. It shocked me that it’s still a requirement at a handful of universities. I hope they get rid of it soon because, like you said, if it’s not a requirement for a job, it shouldn’t be mandatory. There are many important life skills that aren’t required.

      That’s awesome that your daughter learned how to swim at four. My wife took our son to the pool when he was a baby, but I think he fully learned how to swim at five.

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  16. For a moment, the unreasonableness of this question almost felt hillarious! Swimming is a great sport and skill, but not a requirement to complete a degree (not even in my case, having graduated in marine biology). It may be necessary in some specific occupations, but making it a general requirement sounds kind of absurd. I guess it mirrors well the state of things in these wild times, where unreasonable and even uncapable people rule over the rest. Thank you, Edward, for this intriguing piece. It certainly helps us to better consider the ways of our “modern” society. Lots of light and blessings to you, my friend, always! ✨🙏🍀

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    1. You’re absolutely right. Just because we did something in the past doesn’t mean we need to keep doing it and call it tradition. There are practices and traditions we should move away from, and swim tests in college are definitely one of them. Having leaders stuck in the past is one reason we’re facing this global crisis. Thank you for reading and commenting, my friend. 🙏🏼

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  17. This is an interesting and important argument. While some may see swim tests as promoting safety or tradition, your point about fairness and relevance is hard to ignore.

    Should a non-academic skill determine whether a student graduates? That question alone challenges the logic behind such requirements. Perhaps institutions need to rethink whether these traditions truly serve students today.

    Thank you for opening up this conversation.

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    1. I hear you, and I think one option is for cities to offer classes for free. Classes can be expensive for people with limited resources. $30 is a lot when a family has to choose between groceries, gas, childcare, or swimming lessons. Swimming ends up at the bottom of the list every time.

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  20. This does require a level playing field, which there is not as the graph shows. If it is a requirement and part of the culture of the school, then the school is responsible for offering sufficient lessons for all to pass. Otherwise, it could be any skill; dancing, singing, art that may not have equal access. However, I think what is needed is more city pools. Here in Madison our city pool is a game changer for accessibility to all. That’s great, because we’re dotted with lakes.

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    1. I agree with you completely. I’m sure a lot of students are paying for additional classes with money they don’t have just to complete this requirement. We have a lot of public pools in our area, and kids love them during summer break. The key, as you said, is equal access. Like all these mandates, it’s the poor communities that end up suffering the consequences.

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    1. I agree with you about the physical fitness program. That’s easy to do, and there are many inexpensive ways to pursue it. Besides, it’s good for your overall health and will serve you well throughout your life.

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  22. If this English/Creative Writing major would have had to pass a swimming test to graduate, I wouldn’t have graduated. I took swim lessons three times as a kid, and they never took. My husband had no trouble passing any of the swim tests when he was in boot camp for the Navy.

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                1. Incredible! Those are the kinds of things we deal with in the military that many people don’t know about unless the service member is willing to share those stories. Most keep them to themselves.

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  23. We taught our kids how to swim at the city pool in a mom and me class when they were five months old. That’s because in Palm Springs there are pools in everyone’s backyard or apartment complex. Drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children. We wanted the public schools to have a swimming/water safety class so all kids would learn to swim. I am pro swimming tests at an earlier level than college.

    My daughter swam in college in the PAC 12. Simone Manuel who swam for Stanford and is an Olympic Gold medalist won several events at the PAC 12 Championships and broke records. I was interviewing an official for a magazine article and website. I was shocked to hear him say, “Well she disproved that Blacks can’t swim.” I didn’t know people still thought that! I think you’re correct that there are financial barriers to swimming. It’s a shame our public schools don’t teach basic water safety.

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    1. I definitely understand your rationale, and cities offering free classes in their public pools is probably a good way to pursue that. It would give access to all kids, regardless of their economic situation. Public schools are limited in resources, and those extra classes depend on the school district and how much tax money they receive. Some districts can’t even afford the salaries, so I think swimming lessons are difficult for schools to provide. But I think the city can definitely pursue that.

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          1. The schools weren’t interested even though the city pool is close to several schools. It was mainly a transportation issue. We got the swim team to agree to teaching free lessons but no takers. In the summer there is a camp for parents who work to drop off their kids all day. My kids and other swimmers gave lessons to kids in the summer camp.

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                1. At our YMCA, classes start at $30, which isn’t too bad if you can afford it. The problem is that many families live paycheck to paycheck, and some don’t have enough money to cover their bills. That was the case for me growing up.

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  24. Wow Edward, I had no idea this was a thing. That’s crazy. Now toddlerhood, I want them to learn early since I have a pool with a cover might I add. So for that purpose only but once you get to college, let it alone. I’m so sorry you had that terrifying experience. That leaves it’s imprints. I too had an experience where I thought I would drown at Ocean Beach in S.F.
    I’m totally with you!!!👏

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    1. I know, right? I started reading the article and had to stop and Google it. Can you imagine being unable to graduate on time because you can’t pass a swim test? Just ridiculous. Yeah, it was a terrible experience that could have gone badly. Kids sometimes have no sense of what’s dangerous. Our son was exposed early and participated in those mom/baby pool sessions. He’s a strong swimmer now.

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  25. Your military training sounds very interesting! But yes I agree swimming ability should have no bearing on college acceptance, that’s nuts.

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