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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am in NYC, so maybe it is different elsewhere in the country. But there is SO much difference in rigor between various schools, especially in AP classes. My older kid goes to a selective school where the AP classes involve mountains of homework, and the level of teaching assumes every kid will get a 5 on the test (most do). Taking more than 4 APs per year is practically a death sentence, though there are always kids who do it to chase Ivies. My younger kid goes to a school where the AP classes are more challenging than non, but only slightly. There's test re-takes and tons of extra credit available, so a reasonable amount of effort is basically a guaranteed A grade. A course load of 4 - 5 APs is a relative breeze. Of course, most kids get 2's, if they even take the tests, since they clearly aren't prepared. Ironically, younger kids' school does very well with college placements, probably bc of the APs. But it honestly doesn't seem fair for colleges to view these AP classes as equivalent - objectively, they aren't. The same curriculum can look very difference in practice. Thoughts?[/quote]

So, why does one kid go to a good school and the other a shitty school?

Your scenario sounds contrived to spur debate.  [/quote]

I’m not OP, but like OP I have one kid at each kind of school. They’re at different schools because DC1’s school is selective, and DC2 didn’t get in.

That’s why it’s impossible to say what’s “fair.” True, DC1 works much harder than DC2 for the same grade in what is nominally the same class. That doesn’t seem fair. But DC2 doesn’t even have the opportunity to take the more rigorous classes, and that doesn’t seem fair either. [/quote]

I just don’t know anyone in NYC that sends their kid to a local public HS.  They go selective or charter or private.

I mean nobody…no one..zero.  It’s the equivalent of someone saying I send one kid in DC to Walls and the other to Anacostia High. That family doesn’t exist.[/quote]

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