As students decide what classes to take, many enroll in college level classes such as AP courses or Dual enrollment in order to challenge themselves and get ahead. Yet, is taking a higher level course worth all the stress?
Over the years an increasing number of students are taking college level courses such as the Advanced Placement (AP) programs made by College board or dual enrollment.
AP classes are taught in a high school as an introduction course of a college class in the same subject. Every May students are tested in order to determine if they pass the class and can receive college credit. These exams are scored from a 1-5 scale with 3 being the passing score.
In the case of Dual enrollment, students enroll into a local community college and take college classes that are taught by a professor to also receive college credit.
At the end, students take these higher level courses in the hopes of passing and getting ahead in college in order to save on tuition, raise their chances of getting into a prestigious college, or to also prepare themselves for college rigor.
“Students can have an introduction into what type of career they want, it also teaches them how to be a college student.” stated Ms. Reyna, the HP college counselor.
At least that is what’s promised to these students, until we realize what it takes to succeed in these types of classes.
In these classes teachers assign heavy amounts of homework and classwork, which requires time-management and large amounts of time, saved for studying and completing assignments.
With the rise of students taking AP classes and dual enrollment the cause for concern has also grown with passing these classes.
With HPHS especially, teachers feel rushed to begin studying the material taught in the class before informing students what type of class students are in and how rigorous it can be. This is due to the AP exam schedule, since testing begins much earlier in the school year from what teachers are comfortable with.
In my own experience I have seen my teachers rush through lessons in order to meet a schedule they had set up, but that doesn’t allow students to actually process what we learned. Then on top of that, they assign another lesson to be self taught for homework in order to be “prepared” for the AP exam.
This can be difficult trying to balance other course work, extracurricular activities, hobbies, and social lives outside of these AP classes.
“When you take a lot it can negatively affect you more than benefit you, while also ruining your social life.” stated by Azul Preciado, junior at HP.
These consequences of failing an AP course can be needing to retake the course the next school year or during summer school, major drop in a students gpa, mental strain, and being burned out.
In Dual Enrollment, students are expected to become more independent than with a normal high school class. Such as writing notes, studying, and doing assignments on their own in order to reflect what it means to take a college class. These classes can be in-person, hybrid, or asynchronous.
In HP, students are only allowed to have classes as hybrid and asynchronous, and if the class is hybrid, they have to meet at a zoom meeting from after school to at least 5 PM. Classes like this can get in the way of afterschool plans and extracurriculars.
This means most students who don’t know how to perform in such a way will fall behind. Most college professors aren’t as forgiving as high school teachers when it comes to failing grades and late assignments. This isn’t including the fact that it’s harder for high school students to communicate with their professors due to them not being able to navigate the college’s website, while having their office hours in mind.
Since it’s a college course students are expected to perform at a higher level and complete a larger amount of assignments just for one class, which is included with their normal classes.
Failing college courses can have even more major consequences than with normal high school classes.
“It can put a student in a pathway of financial aid of suspension and academic prohibition.”, Ms. Reyna stated.
That leaves the question of why the number of students taking these courses have been increasing. This is due to the fact that college admissions have changed. Admission officers are looking for students who are able to balance these higher level courses while maintaining other classes, extracurriculars, work outside of school, and family. If students don’t adapt to a schedule that involves school for most of their week they will fail, for it’s the expectation for students to quickly adapt to these fast paced, demanding classes.
Due to this students are left behind and end up failing the class since they aren’t able to catch up. Once this happens students feel disencouraged to take these types of classes.
However, many students believe they must work hard in order to become a strong applicant for colleges, which is true but until when does the stressful work become too much for students?
Is the AP system and dual enrollment set up to make kids fail in order to allow the ones who can succeed in these be presented at a higher standard than what they actually are?
The truth is that if students put in the work and studies they have the possibility to pass the class which is helpful for their future college career, they will receive the benefits but they are sacrificing so much to succeed. This can include the student’s social life, mental health, physical health, and having a life that doesn’t involve school.
AP courses and Dual enrollment put up a front to show that they are helpful for a student’s future, but at the same time if they do not succeed they will be met with more consequences than if they just took a regular class.
Many students today struggle with these programs because of how unreformed they are. Whether or not students decide to take these courses is up to them. Success is definitely a possibility, however students now need to understand the failures that can come along and learn to overcome them.
Written by Nancy Portillo, Opinions Editor