Comment by eknkc
7 hours ago
Completely off topic;
So I just took a look at DJ’s website and he has a college transcript there. Something looked interesting.
Apparently he passed a marksmanship PE course at the first year. Is that a thing in US? I don’t know, maybe its common and I have no idea. I’d love to have a marksmanship course while studying computer science though.
My college required its graduates to pass a minimal swimming test. Just enough swimming ability to give a potential rescuer some extra time to effect the rescue, rather than have us go straight to the bottom of the sea. We all took a test in the first week or so. Those who failed had to take a course and retake the test.
US colleges have a very open curriculum, where you have wide leeway in what classes you actually take, especially in the early years of study. If you're coming from more European-style universities, this is vastly different to the relatively rigid course set you'd take (with a few electives here and there).
MIT offers a Pirate Certificate: https://physicaleducationandwellness.mit.edu/about/pirate-ce...
I wouldn't be surprised if it's a pretty normal thing in a few countries or regions in the world. Marksmanship and archery are also olympic sports.
It would be an easy “A” for a lot of people in the US!
It's definitely not common. My US university required 2 physical education classes, but only if you were under 30 and hadn't served in the military. They may have offered marksmanship, but I just took running and soccer (aka football). The classes were graded pass-fail and didn't even count for academic credit.
We have myriad available "electives" that contribute towards our degrees. I have college credit for "bowling and billiards" and "canoeing and kayaking".
I took an 8-week, 1-credit badminton course to fulfill my PE requirements. I wouldn't be surprised to find a marksmanship course.
US colleges last one year longer, and the first year is more academically similar to the last year of high school in Europe.