Per a report from The Spectator, Hamilton College’s student-run newspaper, Hamilton will be removing their swim test graduation requirement as a result of a faculty vote against the requirement. Students were informed of this decision on March 7, 2023 via a campus-wide email.
Hamilton’s Department of Physical Education claimed that the swim test requirement goes against “Hamilton’s value of an open curriculum”, as one could only pass the test in a single way. The school’s other graduation requirements include three intensive writing courses, one quantitative and symbolic reasoning course, one social structures and hierarchies course, and three general physical education courses—all of which can be completed in multiple ways.
Prior to the removal of the swim test requirement, beginner-level swim lessons were offered to Hamilton students who did not pass the test.
Hamilton’s decision was met with backlash from current Hamilton senior Harry Mayer, who was the author of The Spectator article regarding the swim test. He stated that the removal of the swim test was “a mistake on multiple levels”, as drowning is one of the leading causes of death among children and disproportionally affects Black people. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), the drowning rates for Black people are 1.5 times higher than those for White people, and around 4,000 people in the United States die of drowning every year.
“This is a direct legacy of segregation, as many public pools in the U.S. prior to the 1970s did not allow black people,” Mayer said. “As a result, fewer black adults know how to swim, and therefore do not teach their children.”
“The elimination of the swim test sends the wrong message to the Hamilton community: that learning how to swim is not important.”
Hamilton is not the only school to have recently eliminated their swim test graduation requirement, as Dartmouth and Williams College both did so in the past year. However, both schools removed their test for reasons different from Hamilton.
In September 2022, Dartmouth got rid of their swim test requirement because it “disproportionally impacted students of color”.
“It did not test swimming competency or provide increased water safety for students while at Dartmouth or after graduation,” Dartmouth biology professor Patrick Dolph said last September. “In past years, a small number of students with limited swimming skills were required to take beginning swimming to pass the swim test. These were overwhelmingly students of color, and this essentially added an additional graduation requirement for these individuals.”
Williams also removed their swimming requirement in May 2022 for race-related reasons. Prior to the removal, Williams students had to take a swim test on the first day of school, and if they did not pass, they would have to attend a beginner swim course. Cathy Johnson, the chair of the Williams Committee on Educational Affairs, cited that the requirement had “disparate racial impact”, as 81% of the students taking beginner swim courses were students of color.
Both Hamilton and Williams compete on the DIII level in the NESCAC conference for varsity swimming and diving.
Other colleges and universities that still have a swim test requirement include Columbia University, Cornell University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ridiculous!
I never took a philosophy course before college.
I was glad to be able to learn Plato.
When I saved my friend, Timmy, who had asthma, from drowning, both of us were glad I knew how to swim.
I must be out of tune with reality. I thought knowing how to swim was a good thing. I’ve taught a number of adults to swim because they realized they were at a disadvantage not knowing how to swim. I guess with these colleges, it is a question of choice. But, how many will choose to learn to swim if it isn’t required to graduate? My guess it will be very few. So, the administrations saved these minority students from having to learn to swim.
It’s been decades since I was a boy scout, but if memory serves, to advance in scouts you had to pass a series of more challenging swimming tests, and you were given instruction on the basic elements (treading water, using clothing as flotation, sidestroke, etc) before you took each test. I remember working with a scout in my troop one on one for about a year to get him to pass the swim tests, since he was a total non-swimmer at the beginning.
If colleges actually cared about water safety and didn’t exhibit the soft bigotry of low expectations, instituting something like that would be highly beneficial.
I don’t know what the rules were when you were a Boy Scout, but today the rule is that you must pass the swim test *to participate in aquatic activities.* And it must be renewed every year. There is a requirement to pass the swim test to achieve the rank of First Class (the third-highest rank in scouting for those who don’t know). There’s apparently a loophole if you can get a doctor to diagnose your fear of swimming as a disability (all of the scouting requirements have alternative rank standards for individuals who can’t complete a certain task because of a documented disability).
Ah, so that’s changed, then.
If memory serves, you had to pass a basic swim test to get to Second Class, then a more challenging one to get to First Class. I was in a couple different troops due to moving around and it was standard at all of them for there to be plenty of opportunities for instruction both at the troop level and at the district/summer camp level for people who needed to learn how to swim so they could pass the tests.
As the only competitive swimmer and life guard in any of my troops, I usually helped lead the in-water instruction for the beginner swimmers every time we did the swim tests or just general… Read more »
Seems like a requirement like this could be tough.
Some people have medical conditions or are handicapped.
Maybe a water safety course can be taken, and a swim test if the student is capable.
Truthfully, I think most schools could handle this a bit better. As a division I swimmer from a school that did not require water competency to graduate, I have a thought:
Require a ~2 hour course that all students must attend before graduation that provides rudimentary swimming and water safety lessons offered on Sunday mornings throughout the school year. I’m thinking treading water, floating on your back, basic freestyle and “grandma breastroke”. You could take it at any point throughout your academic career, so there is no excuse for conflicts. It would be lead by a lead instructor, with volunteers (maybe members of the collegiate team) actually in the water to help and demonstrate. Directly following there would be a… Read more »
Some other factors leading to this requirement included seniors being unable to take the swim test the previous year due to pool renovations and COVID restrictions the years prior.
I find it funny how every one of these new ‘modern’ policies are based on the thinking that black people are poor and/or stupid
Teaching students to swim is an important life skill for safety. REQUIRING it for graduation seems draconian. Maybe more carrot and less stick is a better approach. Hamilton has a very nice indoor pool and hopefully students can avail themselves of it for recreation and enrichment..