Lose The Shorts: ‘Curious City’ Looks At Old CPS Requirement For Boys To Swim Nude

The swimming pool at Kennedy High School. Graduate John Connors says in the 1970s some students threw glass bottles into the pool so that class would be canceled. (WBEZ/Monica Eng)
The swimming pool at Kennedy High School. Graduate John Connors says in the 1970s some students threw glass bottles into the pool so that class would be canceled. (WBEZ/Monica Eng)
The swimming pool at Kennedy High School. Graduate John Connors says in the 1970s some students threw glass bottles into the pool so that class would be canceled. (WBEZ/Monica Eng)
The swimming pool at Kennedy High School. Graduate John Connors says in the 1970s some students threw glass bottles into the pool so that class would be canceled. (WBEZ/Monica Eng)

Lose The Shorts: ‘Curious City’ Looks At Old CPS Requirement For Boys To Swim Nude

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It’s gym class and you’re completely naked. You could be having a bad dream, or you could have just been a male student in a Chicago Public School swim class. For more than 50 years, high school gym classes in CPS required all male students to bare it all during swim instructions—a standard policy in Chicago and even cities across the country.

WBEZ’s Curious City team recently dived into the question, “Why were boys required to swim naked in CPS?” WBEZ reporter Monica Eng shares her findings.