Reply to How many freshman take AP Gov or History?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I teach AP Social Studies courses, including AP Govt. Several years ago, the Collegeboard put out a statement that they do not recommend that 9th grade students take AP courses. However, I hate to admit this, but when my kid goes to HS next year I will insist that he enroll in and many APs offered at each grade level, which including 9th. He is a smart but not overly diligent student and I think it’s good to be in the advanced courses whenever possible. Better cohort, better teachers, GPA boost, better curriculum, etc.[/quote]

That was many years ago, before College Board remembered that they like money, and started inventing lots of new APs for 9th 
grade and non-university-level courses.

https://blog.collegeboard.org/popular-ap-courses-grade

What's your plan if your non-overly-diligent student can't keep up with the curriculum and gets a B or C in the AP class instead of an A in honors? [/quote]

My neighbors hired a tutors for their 9th grader who couldn’t keep up in APUSH and honors Alg 2.  Odd to me the parents that push their kids into advanced classes they can’t handle.    [/quote]

Having a tutor does not necessarily mean that the content is too hard.  Sometimes the teaching style is not a match for the student, or they just need personal attention that they can't get in a 2500 person school with 31 students in class. [/quote]

Yes it does, unless you are dealing with a LD.  Honors and AP by their very nature are meant to be quicker or more in depth(likely both) and require more independent work to master the material.  If you constantly need a tutor you are outside of your current capability.  It doesn’t mean that will be true for every subject or forever, but it does mean that for right now.[/quote]

Who cares if a kid needs a tutor to master the material? The point of school is to learn. Knowledge and ability are not fixed. There's no prize for breezing through a class. [/quote]

Because the majority of students and families can not afford tutors.

Just like they can’t afford to retake standardized tests 5-6 times until they get a better number.

Just like most can’t afford college counselors, tons of college applications, and the ability to visit colleges.

Do you not see how this is an issue?

It’s not a level playing field. If your kid can’t do it with just the teacher teaching him and needs a $70/hr tutor to baby step it for them, it’s an unfair advantage and your kid wasn’t ready for the class but still pulled out a good grade because he was spoon fed while others weren’t. [/quote]

Life is not fair. Meritocracy is a myth. The point of school is to learn, not to view other people’s kids as competitors. [/quote]

But your kid isn’t learning in school - same as the rest of the class. But yours is getting expensive help OUTSIDE of school, so it can look like he is smart. [/quote]

We can all wish things were equal in terms of money but there are lots of ways kids get outside help without paying money.

Many of our parent friends are scientists, engineers and programmers and at a dinner we had recently they were talking about how much time they are spending helping their kid with math. Hours each day. Hours! This was in relation to complaining about how poor the curriculum and teaching is at our children's schools. Am I supposed to feel angry or like life is unfair because I work in a non-science, non-math field and my ability to help my kids ended with elementary math?

[/quote]

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