The legend on MIT’s campus goes that students once had to leap into the Charles River and swim across its dirty water without stopping to graduate.
That was never true. But the institution does require all students to prove their swimming ability — in the heated indoor pool.
Students can either take swim lessons or complete a 100-yard test.
“I always tell them ‘There’s no style points. I can be here ’til 5,’” said Carrie Sampson Moore, the university’s director of physical education and wellness.
Swim tests used to be common at American colleges, but MIT now finds itself increasingly in the minority. It’s one of the few schools that’s clinging to the test, arguing that swimming is an important life skill. Since the requirement…
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Source www.wgbh.org
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