<p>I am one of two Hispanic students on the AP track, yet my school’s Hispanic population is ~20 percent. Even worse, there is not a single black person in any of the AP classes, but they make up ~25 percent of the school population. Because of this, I’m always stuck with the job of “speaking out” to my URM peers and such. I see an issue my district really needs to address. It’s not that the other URMs are stupid, it’s that the way to get into AP classes at my school is so specific and difficult, that the only way to get into them is to either kiss some teacher butt, and/or get your parents to personally advocate for you. And that’s after you’ve achieved the initial prerequisite of a 90+ average in the honors course. There are about 15-20 spots per course, and they ALWAYS go to the SAME people who have the most invasive, annoying helicopter parents ever. And they’re all white. It’s so frustrating to see them slither their way into AP courses because their parents threaten to cause a ruckus at board meetings, or because they can afford tutors to successfully complete the 97+ average for automatic entrance into an AP course. Most of the URMs at my school, myself included, are economically disadvantaged (and I did a research project on this, so I’m not pulling this out of my rear end), and don’t have parents who can sneak us into AP course. </p>
<p>So basically, they need to find a better solution than making me a motivational speaker. It’s not going to work until they revise AP entrance requirements so that other URMs don’t feel so disillusioned by my school’s system of course allocation.</p>