State Legislature wants to ban high school AP courses

[swake]

I generally expect a certain amount of stupidity to come from Oklahoma City. Usually it's good for a laugh and a shake of the head but in the end what they do doesn’t impact me or my family directly too much.

This does, and I am really upset. My son is in 8th grade about to go into high school and this year he's taking pre-AP Language Arts, pre-AP Earth Science and pre-AP Algebra II. We have meetings at Jenks High School this week to start to plan his courses for next year in high school. Right now, those plans include AP US History and other AP and Pre-AP courses. But Republican in the house want to take that away from Oklahoma students, from my son.  

My daughter took 11 AP classes in her time at Jenks, a school that is proud to offer every single AP class possible. She was able to take that academic foundation to earn admission to one of the top colleges in the country. My son may well not have the opportunity because of this bill.

My own state rep voted for this bill in committee, the bill passed committee 11-4 on party lines. Everyone that cares about this state, about education, needs to write their reps and Mary Fallin. This cannot stand. This isn’t right wing pandering and window dressing. This will create real and substantive harm to our state and it’s children.

I am angry. We all should be angry.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/government/oklahoma-legislative-committee-questions-legality-of-advanced-placement-courses-in/article_2b257556-b62c-5a92-862e-8e9821a29bbc.html

[Ibanez]

So wait....let me see if I have this straight.

Fancy book learnin = liberal agenda to brainwarsh our young'uns?

[Conan71]

So wait....let me see if I have this straight.

Fancy book learnin = liberal agenda to brainwarsh our young'uns?

Yup.

Even ugly Sally is up to her cankles in this one.

[Hoss]

So wait....let me see if I have this straight.

Fancy book learnin = liberal agenda to brainwarsh our young'uns?

It's that critical thinkin' dontcha know!

[TheArtist]

You liberals and your socialist "public education" crap.  The Republicans will fix that by decimating the public schools to the point that they will look worse and worse compared to the private ones and then ever more liberals will see how obviously crappy public education is, and join the "let the free market do it" private school/choice bandwagon.

[Ibanez]

It's that critical thinkin' dontcha know!

I guess I done learnt sumptin today.

[heironymouspasparagus]

My daughter took 11 AP classes in her time at Jenks, a school that is proud to offer every single AP class possible. She was able to take that academic foundation to earn admission to one of the top colleges in the country. My son may well not have the opportunity because of this bill.

My own state rep voted for this bill in committee, the bill passed committee 11-4 on party lines. Everyone that cares about this state, about education, needs to write their reps and Mary Fallin. This cannot stand. This isn’t right wing pandering and window dressing. This will create real and substantive harm to our state and it’s children.

I am angry. We all should be angry.

First, your son will be fine - his parents aren't gonna let him be permanently harmed by this Oklahoma nonsense!  Other kids might not be so lucky, though.  Ones that don't have the support structure at home!

This is real harm - continuing in the tradition set by Failin' and her cronies.  It is more of the same that has been going on for 4 years with her.

I am angry, too!  Have been since the 70's over the ignorance and stupidstition we have to endure in this state (see my signature).  And lately, the extremist, reactionary right wing trying to push their radical public school agenda - see TheArtist's post...that is what it's all about.

Everyone should write, but the only thing that will really make a difference is to make sure those 11 and their equivalent in the entire legislature don't get elected again.  THAT is the tough part of the problem!

[sgrizzle]

On the upside, colleges aren't accepting AP courses as credit anymore. So we got that. TU will give you some elective credit.

[swake]

On the upside, colleges aren't accepting AP courses as credit anymore. So we got that. TU will give you some elective credit.

That's not true, but it is true the better the school the fewer credits they give. OU was going to give my daughter over 30 hours. TU gave her 19 hours. Swarthmore gave her 2 class credits, the equivalent of about 6-10 hours.

[swake]

First, your son will be fine - his parents aren't gonna let him be permanently harmed by this Oklahoma nonsense!  Other kids might not be so lucky, though.  Ones that don't have the support structure at home!

My son will be fine, but even aside from earning college credits, one of the main criteria that selective colleges use to judge applications is how many AP classes did the student take, which ones and what AP test scores did they get. It's a good way for colleges to level set the quality of high school educations from so many different schools.

If you take away AP classes and it will be that much harder for top students in Oklahoma to get into top schools. As if we weren't at a deficit already. Parents with good students will leave. It's going to create an all new brain drain.

My job for example is not tied to any location. My boss is in California. His boss is in the Netherlands. I can work from home from about anywhere I want, if I want. I would consider leaving.

[Conan71]

Is it beyond coincidence the Senate has a school voucher bill in the works?

Kill AP in public schools then write a check for private schools or is that too black helicopterish?

[swake]

Is it beyond coincidence the Senate has a school voucher bill in the works?

Kill AP in public schools then write a check for private schools or is that too black helicopterish?

No, I don't think so. They want to kill public education in favor of religious schools.

[ZYX]

Wow. And it passed 11-4 in committee.

AP courses, as do all courses in high school and college, vary greatly depending on the teacher. Ironically, my APUSH teacher was very conservative. AP can be a great tool for students to set themselves apart from others when being considered for scholarships, as well as getting credit for basic college courses (though this depends on the university).

I have my disagreements with AP and the College Board, but to ban the courses is asinine. People will leave the state.

[heironymouspasparagus]

My son will be fine, but even aside from earning college credits, one of the main criteria that selective colleges use to judge applications is how many AP classes did the student take, which ones and what AP test scores did they get. It's a good way for colleges to level set the quality of high school educations from so many different schools.

If you take away AP classes and it will be that much harder for top students in Oklahoma to get into top schools. As if we weren't at a deficit already. Parents with good students will leave. It's going to create an all new brain drain.

My job for example is not tied to any location. My boss is in California. His boss is in the Netherlands. I can work from home from about anywhere I want, if I want. I would consider leaving.

As much as I hate to entertain the thought, I have also been thinking about that.  All but one of the kids - and most of the friends - are all out of state...along with the grandkids and most of the great grandkids.  I have always been very optimistic about this state, but life is too short.  Not only are we not progressing, we have been regressing for a long time.  Sad.


It's exactly how TheArtist put it - it is well known that the less educated, the more conservative the voting record.  There is a concerted effort to actively "dumb down" the people in the state to avoid "progressive" ideas.