The class I am looking to drop at semester is non-mandatory. It is an elective class that I chose to take and I would like to drop it. The class is AP Seminar and my teacher supposedly met with administration and guidance and they determined that students can not leave the class and will stay in the class no matter what. The whole point of the class is to take the test, which costs $140. The students not taking the exam will still do the tasks, they just won’t receive an AP score. Can the school just choose not to take the students’ concerns into consideration? I just don’t think it’s right. Here is a detailed list of what I will be bringing to my guidance counselor’s attention:
The class is non mandatory for me to graduate.
The whole 2nd semester is the test, hence the whole point of the class being the test.
The teacher is using a "guaranteed A" as motivation to stay in the class. (Isn't this bribery?) I'm not very concerned with the bribing, but the fact that she has to say this in order to keep students in the class.
The teacher has stated she will be teaching how to conduct the performance tasks during 2nd semester, which is when students should be dedicating all of their time to completing the tasks.
I’m not dropping it because its hard or because my courseload is difficult.
Im dropping it because I’m retaining nothing, its adding so much stress to my life, and the teacher should not be teaching the class (personal opinion) and she is condescending.
How can a teacher be condescending, she needs to care about her students
She knows students are uncomfortable, anxious, stressed
Says it will be okay (doesn't help!!)
Says we have good presentations but continues to give bad grades
Inconsiderate
Knows we have other ap classes, lives
Decides to be absent before every major presentation or grade
Doesn’t answer emails
Says we’re in the wrong when we choose to worry about our presentation the day before its due over reading a 100 page stimulus packet
I gave her the benefit of the doubt and it obviously hasn't worked out.
Yes. Many many high schools prohibit students from dropping AP classes after the beginning of the year.
I’m not sure what you expect your GC to say to any of your points, but assuming that the HW burden is not something like 3 hours a night, you should have known what you signed up for.
Whether you should whine about your teacher to the GC is a matter of debate, but I would suggest not thing about her to colleges - they don’t want to hear it. Maybe the teacher is indeed ineffective, but we only have your side of the story. However, the reality is, sometimes you have bad teachers. In college, you may have a required class with a bad professor. Later on, you may have a bad boss. You can certainly choose to extricate yourself to any of these situation, but know that they will not always be free of consequences.
The guidance office was supposedly already agreeing with administration. My main point was whether or not it was correct considering no student concerns were brought into question. Are you familiar with AP Seminar, or just assuming it is a normal AP course?
I am having trouble deciding whether or not I should drop AP Seminar at semester.
Here are the pros:
most likely a guaranteed A second semester due to teacher not being able to grade/give feedback to tasks (the classwork would be agency points)
Here are the cons:
my teacher does not know what she is doing
she insists that we are doing amazing on our practice tasks but gives us grades of Cs or lower
she just told us she will be teaching the 2nd performance task during 2nd semester, which is when we are supposed to have all the time to work on our tasks
she hasn’t even given us the full stimulus packet
I would rather not pay $140 to fail the exam
I currently have a 90% in the class, but my grade will drop to a B for sure.
I have already dropped AP Bio earlier this semester so I do not really want to drop another AP class, but this class is horrendous.
I have already talked to my guidance counselor, who spoke with my AP Seminar teacher, and not much has changed.
Schools can set any rules they want about dropping classes midyear. Our school required students to take AP courses for the entire year AND required the AP test, but the tests were paid for by the school.
I have to pay $140 for the test. And another thing is, my school’s policy does not restrict dropping the class. The only thing a student must do to drop the class (whenever) is get the withdraw form signed by: parents, teacher of class, guidance counselor, and principal. Their choice for this case is not in a policy, so I am assuming it will be left up to whether or not they are strict or loose interpreters?
Actually, every student’s education is held to the standards and opinions of the staff or the districts when policies are set. Their argument for not signing your withdrawal slip is that you took the spot of someone who wanted to take the class, they staffed the class with the understanding that you’d complete it, they bought the materials, etc.
You asked if the school could require you to complete the class. My opinion is that yes, the school can do that. You’ll need to present your case to those who need to sign your drop slip.
My daughter signed up for AP Spanish and really wished she hadn’t. She did the classroom work, but like you the teacher has practically guaranteed an A so she just slogged through. She did not study ONE SECOND for the AP test, but since it was paid for by the school, no harm. You can opt not to take the $140 test, right? Do that.
I bought the materials myself for the class. And the whole point of AP Seminar is taking the exam, the whole second semester of the class is dedicated to it. There are performance tasks, it is not like a normal AP class. If I chose not to take the exam, what would be the reasoning behind staying in for second semester.
^^^Because you have no choice? Because the school won’t let you drop it and you’d get an F if you didn’t do the work?
This can happen in college too. If you don’t drop a class within the time period allowed, you get a W, or an F or you can finish the class.
You are unhappy, and I understand that, but no one on CC can change the rules your school set up. You’ll have to fight with the school. I can just tell you that at my daughters’ school, they would not have been allowed to drop an AP class once they started it. You might have more luck with your school.
You’ll still get the high school credit if you don’t take the test for college credit. No different than the many many students who take AP exams and don’t score high enough for college credit or go to colleges that won’t accept AP credits. The course is still a course and one has to assume there is value in the course itself, not just for AP credit.
Dropping two AP classes already should give you pause. As seminar isn't supposed to be exactly challenging, why wouldn't you just suck it up? It isn't like an AP academic class in that it really should be a sort of snoozer class.
I dropped the first AP class at the beginning of the year so it technically won’t show up on my transcript. And AP seminar is definitely not a snoozer class, at least not at my school.
My reason for the dropping the course is not the rigor, it’s how the class is being taught and addressed. I’d rather drop it and actually learn something. Only thing I’ve somewhat learned so far is how to conduct a public forum debate and that’s not even a part of the exam.
I was in your position last year. School required 6 classes, no study halls, no drops, and labs were during lunch. It’s waste of time. It’s so stressful. And it doesn’t help when your teachers are mean, condescending, and make up their own school policies. I spend the whole year pleading (arguing) with guidance that they were wrong and some of the policies DID change… after I graduated. Moral of the story: theres probably nothing you can do about your current situation. It sucks but the year’s gonna fly by and it’ll be over soon. By all means plead your case; it probably won’t work even if they agree with you, though. Just suffer through the the second semester. Do the work and just accept the fact that you hate the class and your teacher and it’ll be over in May.
Hint - they were not positive.