Today, academic competition is synonymous with the Bay Area. Each year, high school students maximize the number of APs they enroll in to appeal to selective colleges and outcompete their peers. On average, students in the Bay Area take around 10 AP classes in their entire high school career.
“I think that the students who are taking several or even taking as many as five or six AP classes at a time are really sleep deprived. They are constantly stressing about the next class, and it’s really hard to get students with a heavy class load to pay attention, to stay present in the class we’re in right now. I think time management becomes really challenging for kids who have that many, since a lot of the kids who are taking that many APs have extracurriculars too,” said AP U.S. History teacher Margaret Ates.
The high academic workload and course rigor that Pleasanton students pursue have been an ongoing topic of discussion for the Student Inter-Schools Action Council (SIAC). The SIAC is a student council in the Pleasanton Unified School District (PUSD) comprising middle and high school representatives.
“AP classes are difficult. They are college-level courses adapted to the year-long high school schedule, [and] they require an intense skill set: strong reading and critical thinking skills; the ability to work efficiently, at a high-level, under time constraints, all while demonstrating a maturity beyond their years to process the content they are tackling,” said AP English Language and Composition teacher Lisa Perry.
Teacher Input Taken
On Thursday, March 19, Amador teachers received an email from Amador principal Malcolm Norrington, informing them of a survey that the SIAC plans to send out. The survey was included in his email, and several teachers had already filled it out. It evaluates the level to which teachers support capping APs to a maximum of four per year, with questions like “In your professional experience, how often do students appear academically overwhelmed due to their overall course load (including AP courses)?”
“I like the idea behind it because then it’s making students choose what’s most important, and it allows them to focus on those classes, because we do have so many students that take six APs and then just have a really hard time,” said AP Chemistry teacher Brandy Barnett.
Capping the number of AP classes could potentially reduce strain on teachers while offering a more successful learning environment for students.
“It gets really challenging to manage more students in AP classes, so if we had that sort of cap, then we would have a little bit more of a healthy balance of students in AP versus in the regular college prep class and that would ease some of that burden for teachers in terms of their workload,” said Ates.
Additionally, it encourages students to select Advanced Placement classes in which they have a high level of interest.
“I think a student should take advanced classes in subjects they are interested in, willing to put additional time into, and I think it is difficult for some to do that with six or seven AP classes,” said Perry.
The College Admissions Perspective
Individual students’ motives for taking AP classes vary. Initially created to help students earn college credit and lower the cost of college, Advanced Placement classes are now increasingly taken by students seeking to improve their chances of admission by showcasing academic rigor.
“I have noticed changes in student stress levels, and that may be tied to the number of AP classes, but it could also be tied to overall external pressures to attend specific types of universities, which are increasingly more difficult to get into,” said Perry.
Limiting the number of AP classes students can take will not only enhance their mental health, but it will actually give them a boost for college admissions. Colleges evaluate applicants within the context of their school’s offerings. This means students are not penalized for a lack of APs, when their school only offers a limited number.
“If we cap it at four, that actually increases your score in that category because if you could only take, let’s say 12 APs in the course of your high school, you would get the highest score. If we don’t cap it, but we have 24 APs available and you only take 12 APs, your score goes lower, so it makes sense to actually cap it because it benefits you,” explained AP Environmental Science teacher Robin Fewster.
As high school academics continue to see a rise in course rigor, discussions about capping AP classes for students has brought to light how increasing academic competition affects both students and teachers.
“You’ll be less stressed, you’ll be taking the classes you really want to take, so you’re putting in the effort because you want to learn the material,” said Fewster.
