<p>Here is another:</p>
<p>The Rush to Take More AP Courses Hurts Students, High Schools, and Colleges
By DAVID W. OXTOBY
An entering student at Pomona College last fall submitted the results of 14 Advanced Placement tests, all but one with the top score of 5. In all, 20 members of the entering class each reported the results of 10 or more such exams. Obviously, these are highly talented students who will benefit from the broad range of advanced courses that Pomona offers. But it is far from clear that this proliferation of AP courses — along with the accompanying pressures — truly makes for the best high-school education, or, for that matter, prepares students to get the most out of their college years.</p>
<p>When I was a high-school student in the 1960s, students in good schools might have taken several AP courses, all during their senior year. Now, however, in order to accumulate 10 or more AP exams, it is necessary to begin far earlier. At some high schools, a 10th-grade chemistry course (the first chemistry course a student takes) is now designated as “advanced placement” so that introductory as well as college-level material can be compressed into a single year of work. In a few subjects, AP courses are now available as early as ninth grade. Can a ninth grader truly be said to be doing “college level” work in European history?</p>
<p>Although I applaud the effort to make challenging courses available to growing numbers of high-school students across the country, I worry that advanced-placement programs are rapidly becoming the latest way in which schools are “teaching to the test,” rather than using creativity to excite and challenge students. Too much of the high-school curriculum is turning into a pale imitation of college courses instead of providing the solid foundation that students need to build on in the future, and the new pressures associated with these courses are distorting both the high-school experience and the nature of the courses being taught. In high school, teachers of AP courses must frequently race through a yearlong college syllabus, saving several weeks at the end to coach students for the test. They have little opportunity to innovate or bring their own best ideas to the subject because of the sheer volume of information to be presented. Indeed, some AP courses attempt to cover more material than their college analogs do.</p>
<p>Just as troubling is what happens once these students arrive at college. Too many students now enter with advanced courses on their r</p>