With graduation approaching this spring, Jessica McSweeney has a sinking feeling. A senior Human Development major at Cornell University, she has completed her required science and writing classes and looks forward to traveling this summer.
But one thing stands between the 21-year-old Ms. McSweeney and her diploma: three lengths in the school’s 25-yard swimming pool.
Cornell students must take the plunge in order to graduate, either by passing a swim test or enrolling in a beginner’s swim class. Ms. McSweeney, who hasn’t been in a pool much since grade school, is less than lukewarm on the tradition.
“I guess it’s a noble skill to have,” she says, “but I don’t intend to be a water-going person.”
Cornell’s century-old requirement is among the last remaining at colleges. The tests, which generally require students to prove they can paddle a few lengths of the pool, are among the more unusual graduation requirements in academia. But as schools focus more on career skills than on life skills, support for the requirements has been drying up.