[McLynnan]

The multiplier in my daughter's school is 1.15. I don't know how that compares to other areas, but in her school nobody will graduate in the top 10% who isn't in AP courses because of the multiplier. She should finish with 5 college credits. This year she's doing AP Spanish and AP Calculus. Next year as a senior she will do AP Physics, AP Biology, and AP History. She's really looking forward to the AP Biology course. Like you, Ron, she and I view this as a way to remove some of the stress in college, rather than a way to reduce time in college, and she will do 8 semesters. Also, she's been bored to death in all her general ed classes so these courses kept her on her toes, although she claims they aren't very difficult. I think the curriculum has been dumbed down to the point that our schools are doing the bright kids a huge disservice.

[Robert A Cook PE]

And my daughter graduated HS at age 16 with 45 college credit hours BECAUSE she chose to take the advanced language classes and math classes in MS (the courses that NC are dropping!) ...

And then used the dual enrollment her last two "years" of HS -> Attended the college full time, taking college classes INSTEAD of taking HS classes and AP classes.

She said it was easier to take college classes and get full credit for them, rather than worry about getting through the AP test and "maybe" getting partial credit for "some" of the college classes.

[GiveEmDubya]

1.15! Wow. When I was a freshman, it was 1.12, then they dropped it to 1.06--where it's been ever since.

"Also, she's been bored to death in all her general ed classes so these courses kept her on her toes,"

Ditto.

"...although she claims they aren't very difficult."

Depends what the class is covering. In AP Spanish, I'm pretty close to #1 in the class. In AP Calculus, I hit patches where I'm high & low. It happens, but overall, it's not that hard to understand what's going on. In my experience though, the class is not usually anything like the test. Not that the test was horrible, but it's quite different.

"I think the curriculum has been dumbed down to the point that our schools are doing the bright kids a huge disservice."

You're probably right, although I think they're doing the 'less bright' kids even more of a disservice.

[RonF]

Large sums of money are spent on educating those who are at the bottom of the education scale. I don't begrudge it, as we need to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to lead a productive life. But we also need to make sure that those who can take the most advantage of education get their opportunity to be the best they can be as well.