DD’s AP classes have been excellent too. There are limits to how many a student can take freshman and sophomore year, plus the school has a firm and clear track of prerequisites and minimum grade requirements in place (both to get into APs in the first place and to remain in them). In other words, the designation, at least at our school, does mean something.
Before I got close to being on board with overthrowing our school’s AP system, I’d very much want to examine the proposed alternative curricula.
I’m open to the argument. I have heard the cases made by private boarding schools that they can drop AP in favor of their own programs, and I’ll agree those could be very effective, as I’d certainly expect/demand them to be when they’re charging $40K+ per student per year. However, I don’t see DD’s AP classes as “ineffective” or “limiting”, nor as “rigid, overflown, and superficial” either. You’ve thrown out adjectives with no data backing that up.
Sure, a number of kids are in the class just for the test score, and those aren’t going be as engaged, seeking, or stretching as those students who are there because they love to learn and engage with other smart kids. You haven’t convinced me that is inherent to the AP program rather than the fact that students get back what they put in.