Pro
By Lauren Hepler / Sports Editor (2007-2008)
Fifty minutes: not even one full hour. How bad can it be?
While 50 minutes may seem like it should fly by, when you’re stuck in a class that isn’t challenging, it can drag on forever. AP classes offer students a chance to take a risk and test themselves, rather than sit and stare at the clock on the wall for entire periods in a class that isn’t challenging them.
Reviewing things we’ve already learned and being able to ace a test without studying may seem appealing, but it’s not productive.
Sure, everyone likes an easy A at some point to pad those GPAs, but what good does it do us as students to sit around in a class that doesn’t teach us anything new?
We spend six hours in class every day to learn and to ultimately prepare us for college, so what is the point of not even attempting to learn something new?
Why waste so much time when we could participate in more rigorous classes and maximize our time in school?
Here at Bexley, we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to get a jump-start and earn college credit by taking AP classes, and as an added bonus, we just might learn something we wouldn’t in less challenging classes.
Having experience in rigorous classes is obviously beneficial in preparing students for college, but the prospect of taking a college level class (with a college load of work) leaves some students wary.
However, before automatically assuming AP classes inevitably mean insane amounts of homework and low grades, consider the reward for choosing to sign up.
It may seem intimidating to be taking what is in theory a college level course while still in high school, but the implementation of a 5.0 grading scale in AP classes provides some cushion for those interested in a challenge but hesitant about risking their GPAs.
Being exposed to new material, taking challenging tests, trying really hard and ending up with a C isn’t the end of the world in an AP class since it counts as a B in a GPA.
However, that’s not to say every student should be taking a schedule packed with AP classes.
It is important to remember that students aren’t expected to take AP classes in every subject.
These classes are meant to be difficult, so students should opt for enrolling in subjects that they enjoy and do well in since they will be putting in a lot of time and effort.
Depending on how hard one is willing to work, he or she can get something out of most classes at Bexley, for all classes are meant to help prepare us for college.
It is important to find a reasonable balance, taking appropriate classes in the subjects one may not be as strong in and mixing in a few AP classes that one is in stronger subjects.
This way, students are able to get a well-balanced education while ensuring that they are being challenged in areas they should be challenged in.
From Physics to French, the ever-expanding array of available AP courses provides students a valuable chance to learn as much as they possibly can rather than just going through the motions.
Con
By Howie Zisser / Opinion Editor (2007-2008)
With the school offering 16 AP courses and more on the way seemingly every year, it’s no wonder why we’ve recently made our way onto U.S. News and World Report ranking of the nation’s best high schools. But, are all of these AP courses truly beneficial to us as students?
With the amount of emphasis the school puts on AP courses, some students feel pressured into taking them; even if they aren’t equipped to succeed in them. Since colleges are becoming more and more competitive, some students think that they need to take a certain amount of AP classes in order to get accepted to the college of their choice. However, some students actually hurt themselves more by taking these classes when they don’t do well in them.
The amount of focus put on the AP tests is not beneficial to the students. Teaching to a test does not get done what the true intention of education is supposed to be. We are supposed to leave a class knowing more than we did when we came in and perhaps have a different insight on a particular subject.
But instead, the teachers are trapped into teaching exactly what’s going to be on the test. Through all of my experiences in AP classes, I’ve heard every one of my teachers worry about being cramped for time.
We are lucky enough to go to a school with some of the brightest teachers that truly care about us as people and enjoy watching us grow throughout high school. Sometimes the teacher who is instructing the AP class is, in fact, smarter than the people making the tests.
This makes it very frustrating for the teacher and the students alike.
A teacher who is specialized in a specific subject matter should not be confined to a narrow scope of topics. One thing that I have noticed about the AP testing is that there is very little analysis included in the examination. While this may make it easier to study for, it really constricts our minds to think a certain way. The students in AP classes are generally bright, intellectual thinkers, but this test forces them to think a particular way.
It’s ridiculous that come March and April, teachers are scrambling to get all of the information that they can possibly cram into us by the time of the May test date, that they can’t even stop and think about any outside-of-the-box questions. This is usually a time where a teacher is so stressed out that we do is take notes or do tedious chapters out of the AP test review book.
While an AP course is a college-level class, this does not mean that we are college students. Sometimes teachers lose sight of that through the course of the year and treat their students as if they were in college. But in college, you may only have a particular class two or three times a week, as opposed to everyday competing with six other classes.
As high school students, we shouldn’t have the responsibility of acting like college students. That’s what college is for.
Teaching to a test is not the path to success. Neither is treating us like college students while we’re still in high school. Education is supposed to be a time for discovery and exploration, not a time for conformity.