The dichotomy that exists between college and upper school faculty appears to be clearly defined: college instructors teach specialized courses to students in a less democratized fashion; students who apply to attend a college or university are supposed to be the best and the brightest from their high schools – - of course that is usually not the case; on the other hand, due to the democratized nature of American schools, many students who are supposed to benefit from the failed educational policy of George W. Bush called No Child Left Behind prefer to be Left Behind.
Colleges complain that students arrive unprepared to do college level work, but it appears to be the colleges that are paradoxically prohibiting such student advancement. Over the past five years, a number of colleges have shifted their Advanced Placement acceptance score requirement closer to a 5 (scale 1 – 5). There are two possible reasons for this:
1. Colleges and universities are feeling the financial constraints of having too many of their students advance out of freshman and sophomore level survey courses.
2. Colleges and universities do not trust the type of AP education their perspective students received during their upper school years.
It is point two that has created some of the tension between upper schools and colleges. In a recent comparability study, the empirical findings noted that students who took AP courses outperformed students enrolled in the same course on a college campus. Last year while attending a conference on education and AP, one presenter (I will not name since I know her) noted from her research findings that college faculty believe their courses to be superior to that of upper school faculties; on the flip side, upper school teachers believe their courses are more advanced, more rigorous, and more complex. Because I do consulting work with both parties, I believe the problem is one of egos. One group believes its way is the best way; however, for nine days during the summer months at the AP reading, both groups seem to agree on most things while working well with each other. Inside Higher Education published an article addressing the problem from their point of view:
But while AP may function well as enriched content, it doesn’t equal college-level work, Sadler said, and shouldn’t be promoted as such. If the College Board wants to promote the AP curriculum as a way to allow students to receive credit for some college courses, Sadler saw two options: Make the tests significantly more difficult, or create new scores of 6 or 7, above the current top score, and let only the absolutely top performers with such scores earn college credit. Either way, he said, his research suggests that the vast majority of those now achieving scores indicating that they have done college-level work shouldn’t be receiving such scores.
Keep in mind that this information is thought to be incorrect in comparison to the comparability study conducted. You can read the rest here.
The group in the picture below represents faculty members from high schools and colleges that work closely together to write the AP European History Exam.
There is far less accountability for what is taught on college campuses than say on my upper school campus; however, the federal government has been pushing for similar legislation as No Child Left Behind – - but for colleges; one argument launched at teachers on the college campus is time and content. I can only speak for those in the independent school setting, but many upper school instructors say they have the time to explore matters and to discuss them more frequently than college faculty. Members of upper schools also contend that they do a better job at integrating various documents, sources, and examples since many are not pontificating to an audience in some lecture hall.
Personally, I have benefited from working with both groups; I have presented papers at conferences to both audiences, while having the benefit of observing classes by both. This tension is not fading any time soon. Better yet, this dynamic mix of people who should be on the same team might get worse. I suspect the problem has been extrapolated by a combination of campus finances and colleges who are looking to redefine their academic track record.
I have to disagree with you on the democratic concept. We admit students into the modern college today who cannot read or write. Higher education in America is the best in the world, but that does not mean all students are. I do think the tension you addressed is a matter of money. Colleges practice the art of explioting labor as well as any American company.
Carson you are a bit of an elite. You probably do not hang around many of those you teach with. If tension exists, it is not between those who are like you, but those who are good teachers but do not have a desire to be scholarly.
Too often many (at all levels) only want to teach what they love and not what should be taught. The matter of accountability because a greater factor here. I still believe that my advanced courses are far more challenging than the surveys I took in college.
I have never really thought about this issue because the place where I teach does not get any AP students. It is interesting; I would think that a good AP course would be equivalent to a freshman college course – at least that is my perception of it.
“…I believe the problem is one of egos.”
If disagreement exists on the issue, and there’s no objective data to support either side, what else could it be?
As a middle school teacher of social studies (fortunate not to be blamed for the lack of language arts or math skills exhibited by so many students advancing to the high schools), I find it amusing that the higher up the education ladder we go, the greater the egos (in general).
In an argument like this, valid and reliable data is king.
And Edward, I wish more teachers were scholars!
So I was just thinking, why push for free college education for all people? Wouldn’t it be much easier to attempt to reform High schools, Middle schools, and even Elementary schools?
If College is socialized to an even greater extent than it already is, it wouldn’t surprise me if some other form of even higher education appeared. Who knows, maybe if my kids get free college education, there kids will be fighting to get the next level of higher education free.
Elitism needs to exist if we ever wish to continue progress.
Not to mention the tax strain…
^^Walker Parkhill ^^
I can testify that many of my former students, along with students of my AP colleagues, frequently return from colleges and universities across the country and report that their AP courses were as rigorous or more rigorous than their intro-level college history courses. Furthermore, many of these same students remark that their college courses repeat much of what they learned in AP courses. I certainly maintain that AP kids who work hard in the AP courses are better prepared for college courses than non-AP kids. When done correctly, AP courses do nothing but help prepare students for college.