Since their inception in the 1950’s, AP classes have continued to expand more and more into the American school system. In its creation, the program was intended to help students achieve more by offering college-level courses to high schoolers. Today, we see a different story.
It is no question that the College Board’s AP program is a lucrative business. Every year, the “non-profit” College Board earns over half of its revenue from students paying to take AP tests, and these numbers have been rising in recent years. Last year, College Board raked in over $1.1 billion dollars through all of its programs, coming primarily from AP tests. With the price of these tests today, ambitious students who decide to load up four APs in their schedule can expect to be paying close to $400 dollars just to have their tests graded (not even to send them to colleges – that would be an extra $15 per school).
The financial problem is only exacerbated when looking at the nation as a whole. Many schools in lower income areas do not offer as many AP courses as others in more wealthy, better funded areas. This leads to even more inequality within the program as a whole.
But really, the main problem with the AP program is not the monetary side of things. The core of AP’s ineffectiveness is found in the standardization of a national curriculum.
When taking any AP course, students across the country learn the exact same material, and study for the exact same test. In the same way, a student who took a course such as APUSH 10 years ago will have learned very similar material to those who are taking that course today.
This creates an echo chamber where the curriculum is rarely changed or challenged, functionally serving as a monopoly on information. AP courses effectively encourage a mindless environment of intense study in order to pass a test, and discourage critical thinking and creative interpretation. In this way, students are not learning how to think, but what to think.
Even with all of these problems, getting rid of the AP program seems to be no option – nationwide, we see more and more students are taking AP tests every year. Through this, the College Board has a grip on the nation’s academic future, and it does not seem to be loosening any time soon.