Challenge Index 2005 -- I Defend Myself

But, I would like to suggest that this trend is likely to lead to problems. Specifically, what the AP test is doing is concentrating the school experience. To be one of the top students now requires that you have completed all of your (formerly) high school coursework by the end of your sophomore year so that as a high school junior you can begin your (formerly) college coursework. Where does all the material that was supposed to be taught in high school go? To middle school . . .

At what point do we say, "Enough! The curriculum already has too much in it." Competitive college admissions processes will not readily allow this.

The other interesting question that I see: if AP for all is the trend, why should colleges continue to award credit for what has become normal high school coursework?

In mathematics (my field) there is a growing divide between those who come to college with scores placing them into calculus 2, 3 or even more advanced courses and those who need remedial coursework (even though they have often taken AP calculus classes). If the students who had taken AP calculus and need remediation came well-prepared with the traditional pre-college mathematics curriculum . . . they would be significantly better served. -- Tim Fukawa-Connelly

· A . You raise very interesting issues rarely discussed in this debate. I see your discomfort at the world rushing to new levels, but let's try a thought experiment. It is the 1920s. Only about 25 percent of Americans are graduating from high school. Some reformers (who sound very much like the AP expansionists I admire) say the country needs to build many new high schools because more young people deserve an education to increase their options in life. Would you say they were wrong?

Let's also look at your concern from the point of view of an the individual. You meet a bright African American kid in a DC school. He wants to be a doctor, but his single parent mom cleans houses and nobody in his family has ever gone to college. His high school has no AP or IB courses, or maybe he is not in DC but in a suburban school where the counselor says his Bs and Cs in middle school indicate AP is just not for him. His teachers say, wait until college to try college-level courses.

If you say yes, that's right, you have left him in a trap. If he waits until college he is likely to do poorly in that course, lose confidence and drop out. Like most Americans, I used to think this was because low-income kids just weren't smart enough to handle the material, but then I watched many AP teachers prove me wrong.

Whether a college gives credit or not for a 3 in an AP course is a relatively minor issue to me. The colleges I watch carefully do a good job, sometimes with their own placement tests, deciding which kids should jump to a tougher freshman course. All I want is for that bright kid at the DC school to get to college, and have a chance to survive there. If we don't open up more AP and IB courses for more kids, you will have to turn your back on that student in DC many, many times. And that seems to me a great waste.

· Q. Mr. Mathews, I am a high-school senior at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, and I recently read your debate with Mr. Welsh over students enrolled in AP/IB classes. I have been enrolled in AP and IB classes at my school for the past four years and am currently taking four IB courses and one AP course. Now I wonder if you have ever experienced a current IB or AP class at any high school class recently. Your point that "research shows that the intense academic experience offered by AP and other demanding courses increases the chances that high school students will graduate from college" may be accurate, but I feel that you have left several things unconsidered. For example, Mr. Welsh points out that many of his best students are the black girls and that the boys in his classes are more of a hindrance to the learning environment. The reason I take IB and AP classes is because they are more intellectually stimulating and I feel that I am receiving more of a "real life" education than if I were in a standard English or math class. However, I often find that the students who are in my classes for the sake of their transcripts alone hinder my learning experience. Your suggestion that those students be put into "their own AP section," is impractical and unrealistic. Are schools really going to do that so as to provide for those who really want to take their high school experience a little more seriously? They are struggling to keep teachers in the building as it is with low salaries!

Your arguments voice an opinion that values quantity over quality, the very objective of which you are supposedly arguing in favor. The ranking of schools that is based upon the sheer number of students taking AP and IB exams is superficial and does not provide the information it is intended to provide. The reason that IB and AP courses provide experiences that prepare students for college is that the majority of students enrolled are already intent upon getting the best out of their education. The solution is not to force students who are unwilling into a classroom; it is to create a greater amount of accountability and to preserve the quality of these classes. It is the obligation of the public school system to provide a good education to students at every level of need, from students with disabilities who need special accommodations to the driven students who need a rigorous education to prepare them for the challenging tertiary education they plan to pursue.

. . . Personally, I feel that if a student is dedicated, motivated and has an open mind, definitely welcome them into any AP or IB course because the type of education you receive will definitely reward you later in life. But do not force those into advanced placement classes who are there for merely "college benefits." Life is more than a score on some AP test, and learning life lessons in these AP classes is far more valuable than simply getting those college benefits. So much work is required from these classes too that even if the number of students taking the class may be off the charts, nothing has been achieved if the students have not learned anything because they are unwilling to do the work. --Sanna Barrineau

· A. You express the view that I had expected to get from many Fairfax County students of your intelligence and ambition when your county opened up its AP courses in 1998, and the fact that I had not gotten many such complaints from students (teachers are another matter) leads me to think that the harm you say you are suffering is not as great as you think, and that the benefits of opening up the courses are obvious to a lot of your classmates.