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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm a 30 year professor at a major university. I can say two things with confidence:
1) We are not fond of AP courses.  Freshman admits coming in with AP courses can't think for themselves.  The HS AP courses teach to the test rather than actual teach.  Bad news.
2) See no difference or even trending difference between Public School or Private School admits on the whole.  What we do see is that students who hold a job during high school (not just summer jobs) do very well!  They are self starters, great at managing their time, organized, pro-active, and respectfully assertive. [/quote]

I call BS. Your over generalizations suggest more than a little mendacity.

Major universities have freshman classes in the thousands. There’s no way you’d know enough of them sufficiently well to conclude that they can’t think for themselves because of the AP courses they took. :roll:

Independent thinking does not go downhill because of an AP course or even a slew of AP courses but because of bad teaching overall.

APs are taught differently at different schools. The mindless teach-to-the-test approach is typical of public high schools. From experience, I can tell you that’s not the way it’s taught at the elite privates.

No professor worth the name would make such asinine generalizations with no data to back them up. 
[/quote]

Wow.  I’m not the PP, but you are clueless…and very rude.  I thought the PP’s response was VERY thoughtful and confirms what we were told by two AO’a at top schools in my area during the admissions cycle.  One of the two schools still had AP by the way, but they acknowledged that they were exploring discontinuing it.  They also said the publics mostly still use AP, but they too are starting to second guess.

Lastly, they also said that AP is viewed as not being innovative and it forces a specific curriculum that can sometimes be slow to change.  It is mostly a money grab by the test board, and schools are figuring out that it doesn’t make you a better student because you took a bunch of AP.  You should Google it though rather than making mean-spirited posts that lack substance or truth.  Enlighten your self and tone down the uninformed hubris.

[/quote]

Our private doesn’t offer AP. They offer honors level classes on the same subjects. The focus is on mastering the subjects and not test prep which is consistent with the professor’s view. My child can take the AP tests if she chooses to but the primary focus is not toe get a 5 on the test.

So the rude and angry post is off-mark. [/quote]

No one is saying there aren’t flaws with the way AP classes are taught. However, if your private no longer offers APs it’s to reduce the pressure on the teacher.

A well-taught advanced class in any AP subject should go beyond what’s on the AP. The students should get 5s without having “toe” focus on it.

So many parents accepting this drivel from their privates because they lack the judgment or knowledge to challenge it.

Of course you would accept the same flawed logic from some anonymous idiot claiming to be a professor who makes the ridiculous claim that kids who take APs can’t think for themselves.

Take a breath and think. Ask whether kids can’t think for themselves because they took APs or because they were offered a poor education overall that did focus on critical thinking? Are APs intrinsically the cause of poor thinking or could there be a broader and more pervasive issue with the quality of education?

The most brilliant kid I know had 12 APs to his credit. He could certainly think circles around most of the people on this thread. Apparently taking so many APs did not diminish his intelligence or creativity. [/quote]

I suppose you want us to accept your angry and rude opinions unquestionably despite your anonymity. Most of us welcome differing points of views, not suppress them, to make informed decisions.

Our school does a great job placing students into great colleges and ensuring they succeed without having to offer AP courses. If that means they are working smarter and not harder, I’m happy with that.

Imagine how more brilliant that kid who took 12 AP courses could have been had he been unencumbered by the AP process and instructions. [/quote]

Your response is comical. I was disagreeing with your and others’ ill-informed opinions. Your response was to label me angry and a troll.

You have yet to respond to any of my statements with a rational argument.

What does college placement have to do with whether taking APs diminish the ability to think critically?

I’ve been in education longer than Gen Z professor has been alive. Standardized subject tests are one of the few ways teachers can be held accountable across school districts and states with varying educational standards.

The problem is a lack of consensus on what should be taught and how across different disciplines. Another problem is major variability in teacher training and credentialing.

As with the movement away from test optional, elite colleges and universities are unlikely to reject APs permanently. The need for comparators when they are receiving 40 to 60,000 applications a year is too great.[/quote]

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