By Dr. Maria Shelley
Chapin Middle School
The Cold War conjures up memories of the “space race” or “arms race,” but did you know it was also the foundation of another “race” that continues today? In our race to beat all things Soviet, America introduced the Advanced Placement (AP) Exam as a way to propel our brightest students ahead of their international peers. This noble effort provided our smartest students a streamlined way to earn college credits while still in high school, to finish college more quickly and gain entry into the workforce where they were needed.
Gradually, in response to criticisms that only the most privileged high schools offered such opportunities, the College Board expanded the AP system throughout the country. Today, about three quarters of all public schools offer at least one AP course, and roughly fifty percent offer five or more. What started as a fast track for the most elite students has grown to include over one million of our nation’s brightest kids.
Sounds like we all won the race–but at what cost? Our gifted high schoolers benefit from challenging courses, saving money by skipping classes in college, and becoming more competitive applicants to universities in the first place. However, as more students take AP courses, universities are not as impressed. They look to other factors like overall GPA, class rank, and extracurriculars in deciding whom to accept. Then, as students realize that GPA hinges on the “extra credit” point that AP courses provide, they feel compelled to take the classes regardless of interest or need. For example, earning a grade of 95 in Honors Physics contributes 5.0 points toward a student’s GPA, but the same grade in an AP Physics course earns 5.5 points. Thus, a student racing to stay in the top ten percent of their graduating class literally “has” to take the offered AP course.
If it is even offered. Each high school chooses (and pays for) the number of AP classes they can offer their students. The “average” school may offer 6-10 AP options but more affluent schools provide 30 or more. In short, just because more schools offer an AP course does not mean they can offer as many.
That aside, what if it is offered? Picture this: Carlos is an aspiring engineer who can’t wait to apply to Stanford next fall. A fluent speaker of Spanish and English, he has taken AP courses in computing, chemistry, and calculus. He looks forward to taking Aerospace Engineering in his senior year to decide if he’d rather pursue that or automotive engineering. His excitement vanishes when he realizes it means sacrificing his position as Salutatorian if he does. Aerospace Engineering is not an AP level course, which means even if he does additional work to earn honors credit, he cannot earn as much toward his GPA as those who take AP Spanish instead. To stay in the GPA “race” in his school – and look better in the eyes of scholarship and college applications – he has to take AP Spanish even though he is already fluent. And, he will likely need AP Something Else simply to stay in the race.
In short, gifted students who wish to remain competitive have to take as many AP courses as possible regardless of energy, ability, or career relevance. This can lead to student burnout as they take AP courses over summer, too, to “balance out” regular credit courses required for graduation. Most importantly, it eliminates the spirit of exploration and real learning during this formative season and makes class “choice” a joke. By the way, Carlos also stopped playing viola because the demands of four AP courses mean there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to complete college-level work plus practice his instrument while taking four additional required high school classes. He will have to figure out if aerospace is right while he’s already in college–even though that will cost money, too.
One solution is to cap the grade scale at 5.0 for all types of classes, but at different cut-off points. For instance, a 90 in AP courses earns the same 5.0 credit as a 95 in honors or as a 100 in regular classes. Presumably, a gifted student taking a lower level course should be able to earn a higher grade and keep the maximum credit. Meanwhile, even regular students would be encouraged to work harder in normal classes because their efforts allow their GPAs to climb at the same rate.
That’s a race where everyone wins.
