Video Op-Ed on AP Classes
Vicki Abeles, the filmmaker of Race to Nowhere, had an excellent video op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times about the problems with Advanced Placement Classes. Watch it here and then let me know what you think.
If you’re a parent of a high schooler, or a high schooler, I’m curious to know what, if anything, you do about AP classes. I, for one, discourage my high schooler from taking zero period classes (those that start at 7:10) and from taking honors or AP classes. While her teachers (and other parents) often look at me askance, I think her free time is better spent on activities of her own choosing (and getting a good night’s sleep) than on doing the extra homework that comes along with those kinds of classes. And although the video doesn’t really get to it, AP classes in particular don’t require more advanced or creative thinking. They do, though, require an awful lot of memorization.
(You can see Race to Nowhere on Thursday, January 28, in Salt Lake City, Utah at 7:30 p.m. at the Megaplex Theater).
Sara, I saw this on Facebook twice yesterday. First a friend linked and began a discussion and then I saw it off stophomework’s Facebook page.
Great video. I still have not been able to see the full film (Race to Nowhere) but have sent the trailer to so many people and organizations and have watched it so much, I have the best lines down to memory!
It was interesting seeing the same people featured in the film, this time focusing exclusively on high school students. My favorite line: (paraphrasing here) “I knew something was wrong when my daughter, who’d just completed the French AP exam proclaimed, oh, good, now I never have to speak French again!”
What you would call unintended consequences. Jay Mathews and his Newsweek Challenge Index have a lot to do with this AP mania.. He ranks schools entirely by what he considers a brilliant formula. Essentially, how many AP tests the school administers. Doesn’t matter if the kids fail. As long as they take the test, Mathews is convinced they are being challenged.
Public schools, more consumed with how they look than meeting the needs of their students, are falling all over each other, trying to best the school down the street (where I live, there are so many high schools, all you have to do is drive a few blocks and there’s another one) and at least make it into the top 100.Politicians just salivate at the bragging rights.
Many classes have students of every imaginable level. And many teachers are unprepared, rushed into cramming college course material that so many high schooolers cannot fully appreciate, racing to meet the test deadline.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:07 am
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You don’t need to take AP classes to take the AP tests.
They are a very useful tool for forgoing the more mundane basic class requirements at colleges that give credits for high AP test scores. Which probably defeats the intent of AP classes.
I think it would be healthier for a student to consider why they are taking the class, and if they can pass the test without the class, ditch the class and take the test.
January 26th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
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MSN, last year, I tried to convince my daughter to ditch the courses but take the exams but she didn’t want to. She sees the charade in that too. Sometimes she’s too good for this world :(.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
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My 10th grade daughter enrolled in her first AP class (European History) this year not because she was interested in history or had a strong desire to study this time period. She enrolled in this AP class because the guidance counselor explained the weighted grading system our high school uses for AP classes. Getting an “A” in an AP class is worth 5.00 instead of the normal 4.00.
GPA status and class rank are big in our district and kids compete madly to be #1. The guidance counselors encourage this competition for grades and ranking.
My daughter has discovered that AP European History requires 2 – 3 hours of reading and note taking each night. The textbook is a dry, vocabulary enhanced bunch of facts and trivia. She reads at a very high level but has to keep a dictionary close by due to the lofty word choices the author uses.
The quizzes, tests, 5 paragraph essays and document based questions are based on following a certain formula for writing and memorization of rote facts, dates and names.
The class moves quite rapidly and no time is spent on creative or original thinking. It is a race to cover the facts so students can spit them out on the AP exam to be held in April. My daughter has plans to burn her textbook once the exam is over.
This was her first, and last, experience with an AP class — her decision.
January 26th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
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Julie – You are so right and very well said: “The text book is a dry, vocabulary enhanced bunch of facts and trivia.”
January 26th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
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Shame on that counselor for encouraging students to take AP classes for grades and ranking. Shame on the system for allowing anything other than a 4.0 as the highest GPA.
I really liked Vicki’s 5 minute op ed video on AP classes. I think it will make a great addition to her DVD extras once the “Race to Nowhere” DVD is finished.
I wish every student who takes AP classes, every AP teacher and every parent of a child who takes AP classes would see this 5 minute clip.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
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I’ve been in a few AP classes so far and I’d like to point out that not all of them are bad. AP Biology was a real nightmare with 2 hours of homework a night; AP Physics on the other hand has caused me no stress. I’ve found the classes that are more focused on “doing things” as opposed to memorizing things like AP Calculus and AP Computer Science are perfectly reasonable. Of course, this depends on the teacher; I have been lucky to have many good teachers.
To some, myself included, the bigger problem isn’t whether or not the class is stressful — although that certainly is important — it’s the whole broken process of college admissions that has the College Board laughing all the way to the bank. It’s this dangerous idea that a person’s worth can be summed up with a series of numbers.
I really appreciate the point that Julie brings up about essays. Before I took AP Euro, many told me that it would improve my essay writing skills. That is laughable. I learned how to write the essay the graders were looking for very well, but I did not learn how to improve my writing. The same thing could be said for AP Lang.
February 1st, 2010 at 12:10 am
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