Great comments, WOSG. The AP is basically a kind of certification that Murray is recommending ("Hundreds of certification tests already exist, for everything from building code inspectors to advanced medical specialties.")
What is needed is for other venues to accept them. (" The problem is a shortage of tests that are nationally accepted, like the CPA exam.")
The Friedman reference was only to suggest that your idea could use a bullhorn. AP can be very rigorous. Unsurprisingly, there are many schools that prefer not to recognize AP. For financial reasons, no doubt. I highly recommend that high schools students take AP, especially in the humanities, if the school they are attending accepts them. The humanities in the American Universities are hopelessly lost, most of all English departments. What advantages do CLEP exams have over AP?
“. The AP is basically a kind of certification that Murray is recommending (”Hundreds of certification tests already exist, for everything from building code inspectors to advanced medical specialties.”)”
This book is a must-read then. He’s pegged the critical bottleneck. It’s the credentials and certification.
“I highly recommend that high schools students take AP, especially in the humanities, if the school they are attending accepts them.”
Absolutely. Of course political correctness is creeping into high schools, but it is not as bad. The main thing is the huge financial advantage for the advanced students, who can knock almost a year off of college if they take a full battery of AP courses: Physics, English, History, Language (French/spanish etc), Calculus AB/BC, Chemistry, European History.
With 5 or 6 AP courses, you can knock off freshman year practically.
“The humanities in the American Universities are hopelessly lost, most of all English departments. What advantages do CLEP exams have over AP?”
CLEP covers many more courses.
But the DISADVANTAGE is that many colleges wont accept CLEP certification. I was one who took advantage of AP courses and was able to get ahead based on it, by one year. With CLEP-based certification of the core, you could in effect replace the first 2 years of college.
... and you could probably do it via distance learning, ie, the rise of HOME SCHOOL College learning!
This is a ‘cartel’ thing, like OPEC. If you want a college credential, they will make you take courses. We can break the walls down in the community college levels first, by getting all community colleges to be CLEP-accepting.