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But why should swimming be necessary for attending university?

A calm attitude of perseverance can be obtained many ways, without forcing people to take swimming classes.

At Harvard it's necessary because back in the day a guy(who was an only child) drowned right after getting his degree. When his mother passed, she willed a bunch of money to Harvard on the sole promise that everyone who gets into Harvard has to learn to swim, because it's a waste of everyone's time & money to get a degree from Harvard when you can die that easily.

that seems to be a folklore on the swimming requirement...

And they actually did some historical research on it, http://asklib.hcl.harvard.edu/a.php?qid=31265

neat. Thanks for finding that.

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