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January 11, 2005

AP Courses

According this Washington Post story there is now a movement to get rid of the extra grade point assigned to Ap, IB and other advanced courses in high schools. Apparently around 30% of high schools do not have these courses and critics think the extra grade point is unfair to those kids who do have the chance to take the classes. My first reaction was horror that 30% of high schools do not have these courses. I took AP courses in high school for several reasons like the potential college credit and the higher grade point average. AP courses eventually led to me getting 30 hours of college credit and let me avoid classes in college that would have beeen a repeat of what I already had learned and the higher GPA probably helped me to get into some good colleges.

The other reason I took AP courses was that most of my non-AP courses were a joke. The teachers barely taught, I was bored and not learning, and most of my time was wasted in my non-AP classes. I focused on AP science and social studies courses and never took AP English. From my friends in AP English courses I learned they were constantly reading and writing and being challenged by their teacher to think and be creative. We watched videos a lot in my non-AP English courses and often I did not bother to read the assignments because I knew I could bs my way to an A. I still have never read The Scarlet Letter, but I got an A on the class test on it in the 11th grade and an A in the class. This compared to my AP history classes where I had at least half an hour of reading each night just to keep up and at least two essays to write each month. I did not always get A's in my AP classes, but unlike my most of my non-AP classes (where I always got A's) I always worked hard and learned a lot. I would not have been prepared for the college I went to (or any other serious college) had it not been for the AP classes. I suspect that other schools AP classes vary in similar ways with their non-AP classes and that a B in an AP class often represents much more learning and effort than an A in a non-AP class. Instead of not rewarding the students who currently take AP courses we should be encouraging more schools to give their students a chance to be challenged and more opportunities to learn.

Posted by Pete at January 11, 2005 02:40 PM

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Comments

i have mixed feelings about the elimination of the extra grade point. yes it is unfair for those students who are unable to attend high schools where AP programs exist. but, where the programs are available it is an incentive for students to take the AP classes to help them get into the better universities.
what these critics should be spending their energy pursuing is getting AP programs into all the high school, with well-trained educators teaching them.
and this is coming from an old man whose high school didnt offer extra grade points for the few AP classes it had. i took em cause i was bored.
PS: the scarlet letter kicks ass!

Posted by: madmarcos at January 11, 2005 09:18 PM

I don't believe madmarcos ever took AP English. Those comments seem to lack basic grammar. I don't quite understand the advantages of the stream of consciousness method of composition.

Good day to you all and blessings!

Posted by: PsychoMom at January 12, 2005 04:48 PM

AP lunch. that class ROCKED!

Posted by: madmarcos at January 12, 2005 10:42 PM

I have to admit that my fav was ... AP recess!!!

Posted by: PsychoMom at January 12, 2005 11:41 PM