As AP tryout season rolls around, let’s take a few seconds to be thankful for the system that ensures serious admission to the best classes at school.
Seriously, other schools don’t have tryouts for their AP and honors classes and the general consensus to require them is very wise (certainly leagues above trying to name an afterschool program “HEL,” as troll as that was).
AP and honors tryouts are a much needed quality and demand check on what are meant to be higher level classes.
Now, I’m not trying to imply anything of those who don’t make the application cutoff. I know many are smart and capable people who, for some reason or another, didn’t make their AP or honors class of choice. But you know what? It’s not the end of the world—they just miss the class. Even if the policy causes some salt, it’s not a big deal because it’s just better motivation to try harder on the next tryout.
At schools like Arcadia that do not have a tryout system in place, honors and AP classes are flooded by optimistic but ultimately underachieving students who might like the idea of performing at an AP level but can’t deliver.
Not only do these students bring down the average class with poor grades in comparison to their peers, they also add unwarranted demand for the class, deflating the worth of an AP or honors class as more and more regular students pile on. At some point, all classes could be AP classes under this kind of system, no matter their actual educational content.
Not to say that all AP or honors classes offered here are miles better than their standard counterparts, because they’re not. But at least through testing in or opting in through teacher recommendation, students applying for an AP class can expect a thoughtful class with peers of similar academic drive. As combined language classes show, two separate demographics in a classroom is more frustration than it’s worth.
As Syndrome from “The Incredibles” threatened, “When everyone is super, no one will be.”
When all classes are advanced placement, none of them are.