A recent article in the New York Times was written in regards to the Advanced Placements courses and prerequisite testing involved in them that have been instated in public and private schools across the country. The classes are meant as stepping stones for high school students planning on carrying on into college; the workload is greater than most high school level courses, and the curriculum is more challenging.
However, as the article points out, there seems to be issues of race involved in the testing:
Some 15,000 of the nation’s 24,000 high schools, or 62 percent, offered one or more Advanced Placement courses in 2006, up from 57 percent in 2000, according to an annual report issued yesterday by the College Board, which runs the program. Still, African-American students, who made up 14 percent of the student population last year, were only 7 percent of the participants.
What I have to ask is, why focus on the AP tests and courses? Why not think about revamping the junior high/early high school curriculum to better prepare ALL students for the AP tests? And why focus so much on race? If a student WANTS to do well, he/she will. It doesn’t matter what color their skin is, or their social status, or anything like that. It’s an individual issue, not a social one. So let’s focus on individual students and make sure each one has the opportunity, no matter what their background is, shall we?
New York Times
Sam Dillon
February 7, 2007
The Complete Article
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April 17, 2007 at 10:39 pm
trishcabobb
I am not completely positive if I agree with the statement,
“If a student WANTS to do well, he/she will. It doesn’t matter what color their skin is, or their social status, or anything like that. It’s an individual issue, not a social one.”
I don’t know that the desire to do well is not there when students take the test. I guess I see it this way. I can not study that hard for my Spanish exam next week and still want to do well on my exam. That does not seem to mean I will do well on my exam. Students of minority groups seem to be less inclided to take AP classes and the AP test. Maybe because they do not receive adequet preparation for the tests earlier in their careers as students. Preparation is the key ingredient to success. The focus on race within the article seems to indicate to me that there is a racial reason minorty students are not taking the AP tests. That racial component is dangerous and needs further examination and research. Maybe the AP results reflect that few minorities seek a higher education. Something is wrong with the system and minorities seem to be the victims.