The Embedding of AP in American High Schools: The Debate
Questions about whether America’s high schools should drop Advanced Placement (AP) classes, created a debate on social media. The fact that AP is driven by an outside money-making nonprofit, sometimes bothered parents and teachers, but not enough to end AP. Or, it did not seem to matter to some.
The overriding question could be why are so many parents and teachers convinced that students must do college work in high school? Students should not be denied challenging work, but the fervor with which many parents and teachers have bought into AP is worrisome.
Also, many people like to tout that AP is best, but it is difficult to find recent research to indicate that AP helps students do better in college. The one Stanford study indicates difficulty in showing causality—meaning students who do well in college after taking AP classes, probably would have done well anyway.
A friend suggested that I discuss how AP has become embedded in high schools. Whether you like AP or not it is very much a part of the high school landscape. That all The Embedding of AP in American High Schools: The Debate:
