[reaganaut1]

It appears that some high school teachers are trying to ape college professors, teaching courses that focus on their pet topics. The article says "physics students now study string theory", but it is impossible to really study string theory unless one has a deep background in mathematics and physics, including quantum field theory. The physics students ought to learn classical mechanics and electricity and magnetism. Educators want to feel special and "innovative", and they don't want to be measured against nationally standardized exams such as the Advanced Placement exams.

I bought a home where I did because the public schools have a good reputation and the high school offers many Advanced Placement courses. If they scrap the AP courses and scores on the exams suffer, I will complain.

[PapaBear3625]

Our local community college offers a program for HS seniors, where they can spend their senior year full-time at the college taking college courses which are transferable to most 4 year colleges. Juniors can also participate, but part time. My daughter took advantage of the program and entered her 4 year college as a sophomore.

I would be in favor of allowing smart teens who plan to go to college to transfer to Community College in their junior or senior year. (The public school unions will kill that idea real quick).

[opticks]

String theory in high school? Maybe on the level of some of B. Greene’s books that are purely qualitative discussions. Sounds like marketing to me. If they really want to prep them for college physics, teach them out of the Feynman series.

[proxy_user]

At least physics has an agreed core set of knowledge.

In English lit, you could teach Spenser or the Pisan Cantos, or maybe the plays of Henry Fielding.

[DugwayDuke]

It’s not a matter of ‘focusing on their pet topics’. It is a replacement of measureable learning with objective testing with unmeasureable learning with subjective evaluations. The teachers unions love this replacement since it is no longer possible to measure teaching with objective testing. The teachers unions hate any kind of measureable assessments of the value of their work.

[OCCASparky]

I was never impressed by the AP program, in so far as the teachers never taught useful material so much as did a one-year prep course for the AP test. I say this as a student who took AP courses in HS, and who couldn't use most of them (Physics, Calc) because of my major. Sure, I used AP English, but that only got me out of one semester. Big deal.

Frankly, I learned more in my non-AP courses (Chemistry, non-AP Physics) than I did with the ones which were AP.

[babyfreep]

ping

[HighlyOpinionated]

Sounds to me like a slow descent into the nether world of the liberals. If a class cannot be completed in one year (as history, geography, etc), then it should be taught in two years.

One of the mysteries to me is why when we teach US History we do not teach enough World History to explain the correlation between the two. What was going on in England and France when the US was fighting the French and Indian War? What happened in Europe just prior to the US Civil War that influenced it? Instead of teaching US History in 11th grade and World History in 12th, combine the two and teach History 1 in 11th and History 2 in the 12th.

[KosmicKitty]

replacing mountains of memorization with more sophisticated and creative curriculums

Remember, it's all about FEELINGS!!

And dumbing down the class so you can find a teacher qualified to teach it!!

[Malesherbes]

“Advanced Topics.” Oh, I do love it. We no longer have any problems, only “issues.” Issues are so much easier to handle than problems. Now students no longer have to delve into subjects, but can breeze through “topics.” Life just gets better and better.

[Mr Ducklips]

We loved to travel from Shrub Oak to Scarsdale to play baseball. Pretty girls, great facilities...money, money, money. It sure beat Shrub Oak. Plus, we won.

[LibFreeOrDie]

One reason schools are dropping AP courses is because the College Board finally started policing the content of the courses. Many schools were labeling courses “AP” that had nothing to do with AP. The College Board set up an audit process in the last few years. I’m sure many schools find it easier to drop AP and teach “issues” than to follow a rigorous curriculum.

[AmericanVictory]

It is certainly difficult to comprehend how anyone could understand string theory without a solid grasp of the revolution wrought by the impact of probability and statistics on physical theory.

[Cacique]

bump for later