Every high school requires geometry and algebra, yet it is hard to discern a reason why these subjects are likely to ever matter in the life of the average adult. Yet, school seems most absurd when we look at things like swimming requirements. You have to be kidding. On the other hand, swimming might actually matter to an adult. Students can actually learn to do it, will know when they have done it, and can continue to practice and therefore be able to do it the rest of their lives.
Swimming is indeed worth learning.
This doesn't seem unreasonable after all. The issue is really about two things. First, we have the question of what constitutes an academic subject, and second, we have the issue of a university's resistance to change. That's why students remark on the absurdity of the swimming requirement. We have evolved a set of answers to this question that, as a culture, we all subscribe to.