Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Don’t Dismiss Early-College Options
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | November 21, 2024 | David Randall

Posted on 11/22/2024 4:09:05 AM PST by karpov

The College Board has dumbed down its Advanced Placement (AP) examinations. That’s the message from Steven Mintz, professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, in a letter published by Rick Hess at the American Enterprise Institute. Mintz writes that entering college students who have taken AP courses come without real preparation.

At the University of Texas at Austin, where I am a professor of history, we see the consequences of this trend firsthand. Students who pass the AP U.S. History exam receive credit only for the second half of our U.S. history survey course. To earn credit for the first half, they must pass a faculty-graded essay exam. A substantial majority of these students fail to demonstrate the content knowledge or writing skills that we expect from a university-level history student. This reality exposes the gap between what AP courses promise and what they actually deliver.

Mintz more generally argues that “neither an AP nor an early-college or dual-degree class can replace the rich, challenging experience of a college course.”

The National Association of Scholars (NAS) and the Civics Alliance, for which I work, mostly agree with Mintz’s judgment, but not entirely. Certainly the College Board has greatly reduced the rigor of its examinations, and hence of AP courses. It reveals this by its changing advertising: It now claims that taking an AP class makes you “college ready” rather than that doing so necessarily substitutes for a college course. Increasing numbers of colleges have withdrawn their automatic acceptance of AP scores for college credit. Then, too, the College Board has grossly politicized its history examinations. AP History students now learn history distorted by omissions and biased interpretations.

(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...


TOPICS: Education; History
KEYWORDS: advancedplacement; arth; austin; college; collegeboard; stevenmintz; texas; uoftexas
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

1 posted on 11/22/2024 4:09:05 AM PST by karpov
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: karpov

Be a plumber.


2 posted on 11/22/2024 4:11:48 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (My decisions about people are based almost entirely on skin color. I learned this from Democrats.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

Take the GED. at age 16. If they pass they should be able to enroll at least in a local community college. High school is too much of a waste of time.

I’d allow someone like DeSantis to offer diplomas in other states if they can pass the test Florida puts out. There are too many high schoolers who are bored and frustrated. Put it out there for those that want to get on with the rest of their lives. I’m sure they’ll be plenty of takers. It would plant the seed to turn these young skulls of mush into republicans.

Example: The Peace Corps was formed to turn young people into lifetime democrats.


3 posted on 11/22/2024 4:16:43 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

We know a guy who owned a local plumbing company.

He made more than the PhDs in our family. All of whom are non-stem, BTW.

The guy had zero college debt cuz he never went.

He’s retired now, sold his company and made a packet.

Loved Algore because his kids didn’t want to be plumbers, and low flow toilets and their associated issues put his kids through college.


4 posted on 11/22/2024 4:17:35 AM PST by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: karpov; 6amgelsmama; 100American; AAABEST; aberaussie; AbolishCSEU; AccountantMom; Aggie Mama; ...

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the other articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)

The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.

5 posted on 11/22/2024 4:20:02 AM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: karpov

My friend’s granddaughter will graduate from high school and get her two-year college degree the same week in a few months.

Her younger sister will get her two-year college degree the year before she graduates from high school.


6 posted on 11/22/2024 4:20:07 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (🎶 They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. 🎶)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: metmom

My daughter was homeschooled. Many scoffed when my wife and I made that decision for her. How will she socialize? She will be weird! How will she learn? We’ve had the last laugh. She finished at Baylor this year at age 22 with her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She met her husband at Baylor and has been married for almost a year. We couldn’t be prouder of her educational achievements (high honors all the way) and how she turned out as a person. She is working as a speech pathologist serving young students. Homeschooling works. Don’t listen to the naysayers.


7 posted on 11/22/2024 4:40:02 AM PST by Tall Wall Texan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: MayflowerMadam

Btw- the Peace Corps costs us $400 million. 9000 ‘volunteers. I say ax it. They could turn the organization into American Schools in the 3rd world countries. Set the students up for immigration or government jobs in their own country. Contract the job out to Hillsdale College.


8 posted on 11/22/2024 4:41:57 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: karpov

UT is full of crap.

APUSH as it’s called is one the harder AP courses and is on par with average American history courses at the college level.

The course content is suitably left wing but so is the content from 95% of US universities.

He just sees it as competition. To get into UT and UC schools kids now have to take 8-11 AP courses in high school, almost a full year of college level course work. It’s far harder than anything the baby boomers had to do to get into the same schools. That means less business for the so-called core course teachers like the history and English departments.


9 posted on 11/22/2024 4:52:55 AM PST by Regulator (It's fraud, Jim)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Regulator

We did not want our kids to apply to UT Austin (they did not). One of our kids graduated at Texas A&M and the other one at Baylor. Very satisfied with both those schools. UT Austin is a liberal cesspool. My brilliant nephew went there, and the environment helped set him on a bad path for a decade. UT has a huge and growing endowment fed regularly with oil and gas money from the Permanent University Fund. Texas A&M gets 1/3 and UT 2/3 of the proceeds each year. Plenty of money to feed the Austin liberal insanity.


10 posted on 11/22/2024 5:09:27 AM PST by Tall Wall Texan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

I didn’t even know the Peace Corps was still a thing.

I always perceived it to be an organization that existed just so hippies could virtue signal.

It’s not America’s job to be doing this in third-world countries when there are American families without running water, and kids without decent shoes! WTF, anyhow?

“They could turn the organization into American Schools in the 3rd world countries.”

No. Not our job.

“Set the students up for immigration or government jobs in their own country.”

No. Not our job.

“Contract the job out to Hillsdale College.”

No. Not our job if, by “contract out”, you mean our tax dollars foot the bill. (Hillsdale doesn’t take money from the feds, anyhow.)

If churches want to support missionaries to do those things, fine. NOT ONE SINGLE PENNY of my tax money for these money pits.


11 posted on 11/22/2024 5:15:02 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (🎶 They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. 🎶)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: MayflowerMadam

*I didn’t even know the Peace Corps was still a thing.
I always perceived it to be an organization that existed just so hippies could virtue signal.*
Bingo.

*It’s not America’s job to be doing this in third-world countries when there are American families without running water, and kids without decent shoes! WTF, anyhow?*
Fair question.

*“They could turn the organization into American Schools in the 3rd world countries.”“Set the students up for immigration or government jobs in their own country.”*
I see it as an investment. Sunset the program after 20 years. See how it works.

*“Contract the job out to Hillsdale College.”
If churches want to support missionaries to do those things, fine. NOT ONE SINGLE PENNY of my tax money for these money pits.*
Churches would be cheaper but too often it’s naive cultural imperialism. Cultish to the locals.

Don’t forget AmeriCorp. They get a billion to do the same virtue-signal thing.


12 posted on 11/22/2024 5:31:31 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

While they’re at it they can take another stab at eliminating Head Start. It’s been proven to not work. Just bringing it up will bring on another Matt Gaetz reaction-necessary and good.

I’d first push the buttons of the liberal whites. Karens for starters. It’s more fun to watch a the ‘educated’ global warming alarmists squeal. I don’t understand how poor blacks can swallow global warming except to go along with the program and get used in the process. More cat lady jokes please.


13 posted on 11/22/2024 5:41:40 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

Brown shoes don′t make it
Brown shoes don’t make it
Quit school, why fake it
Brown shoes don′t make it
Tv dinner by the pool
Watch your brother grow a beard
Got another year of school
You’re okay, he’s too weird

Be a plumber
He′s a bummer
He′s a bummer every summer
Be a loyal plastic robot
For a world that doesn’t care
That′s right
Smile at every ugly
Shine on your shoes and cut your hair

Be a jerk - go to work
Be a jerk - go to work
Be a jerk - go to work
Be a jerk - go to work

Do your job, and do it right
Life’s a ball
Tv tonight
Do you love it
Do you hate it
There it is
The way you made it

-Frank Zappa


14 posted on 11/22/2024 5:46:42 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

“Don’t forget AmeriCorp.”

I never heard of that one.


15 posted on 11/22/2024 5:48:27 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (🎶 They're eating the dogs. They're eating the cats. 🎶)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: karpov
rich, challenging experience of a college course

I have three degrees and that's an extremely optimistic statement. Especially concerning college level history. "Challenging" is math and science. History is strictly gravy. You take history when you've got to pad your schedule (to make time) for meat and potatoes.

16 posted on 11/22/2024 5:52:51 AM PST by LouAvul (He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

“Take the GED at age 16.”
Most states do not allow that. I tutored GED students for 9 years in Texas. The only students we had under 18 had probation officers 😒


17 posted on 11/22/2024 6:05:13 AM PST by Mrs.Z ("Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save." Ps 146:3)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: karpov

part of the admission assessment is a diversity score which is roughly
20% of the overall score for the applicant. this has been in place for
roughly 20 yrs. the result has been to keep most white and Asian men,
which get 0 pts for diversity, out of college... instead favoring more
blacks and hispanics. a 2019 nypost article pointed this out with a
study showing 50% of those in school wouldn’t be there is only grades
and test scores were used as the metric.

these days, since academic achievement is not the metric applicants are
measured by, don’t expect the students to be... students. most of them
never were. the ‘lack of preparation’ means they cannot read or do basic
math. these people are not college material by any definition prior to
2000. these people will definitely have issues getting jobs and the push
for foreign educated will increase.


18 posted on 11/22/2024 6:52:54 AM PST by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

having a GED doesn’t mean anything in the STEM fields.

actual study is required for the hard sciences.


19 posted on 11/22/2024 6:53:56 AM PST by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Tall Wall Texan

I know.

My kids are all very successful and got plenty of *socialization* by interacting with the public school kids in the neighborhood and on the Y swim team.


20 posted on 11/22/2024 7:06:23 AM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson