Andie Carroll, Media Editor
@acarrollCourant
College is an investment. That’s what all parents say to themselves and to their kids as they attempt to justify that all the money they are putting into their child’s education will be profitable to them later on. Yes, college is an investment, but should teenagers be treated like stock in order for them to be the “best” investment possible? Should students’ stress be used to propel the economic engine that is the college process? You may say the simple answer is no, however, today all students are wrapped up in the tedious college process that takes a large toll on them mentally and physically. One of the main culprits: testing.
Today, in our small town of New Canaan, it is the norm to have a book for every AP test, every subject test, and every single test we take. And on top of that have a tutor to teach you everything in those books. Three subject tests one day, an AP test two days later and two more AP tests in the same week followed by the SAT and then the ACT the next weekend with finals mixed into all of this. The expectation that a student can manage this all without an immense amount of stress is unrealistic.
The push for more opportunities in advanced class selection started only five years ago in an attempt by administration to expand the variety of classes that students could take at the AP level. A good idea in theory that led to a huge increase in the number of students taking college classes and the number of college classes they are taking as cited from school guidance counselor Cynthia Rivera. “We went from three-hundred APs when I started fifteen years ago to over a thousand APs this year,” she said. “We have seen kids instead of taking two or 3threeAPs a year in specific areas they are interested in studying go up to five or six in all subjects.”
With the rise in competitiveness in college admissions and the competitiveness between students in this school for spots in top schools, it is clear why the number of tests being taken has increased. In every college admissions booklet or on every website we see that they want us to challenge ourselves and use the resources and opportunities at our high school. As cited directly from the Harvard (one of the most prestigious universities in the world) admissions website, “By taking the most academically demanding courses you can find, you can improve both your chance of admission to a selective college and your performance during the first years of college.”
There is no denying that it is a privilege to be able to have so many AP offers in so many different areas, however, it really is not necessary to take every single AP test in the school over your four years here to get into a good college. As cited by Ms. Rivera, “In a University of North Carolina study it was discovered if students took a total of five APs over their four years they were well qualified for college.” She said, “Getting good grades with only a few APs is perfectly fine for college admissions.”
These statistics and the fact that most top schools do not accept AP credit nor do they require subject tests in the admissions process do not stop students from taking these tests and getting help to do well. Test preparation has always existed, even for our generation’s parents, but the extent of the competitiveness and stress that exists around it has not. These expectations and crazy testing schedules that surround students today do not allow students to go this course alone. Without the help of a tutor or a textbook, this load is impossible to manage. This includes spending twenty dollars per book, on separate books for both the SAT subject test and AP test along with notecards mixed in. On top of that the price of each test can be up to a hundred dollars, and even on top of that getting a private tutor is anywhere north of a hundred dollars and hour.
In the end of all of the stress, all we will have is numbers on a screen and on an application. Through all the stress we did not learn how to deal with and manage our own problems nor did it teach us to have other interests outside of school, we learned how to take a test in a way to get a good score. There is more to high school than just the number of APs on your transcript or the score on that SAT subject test. “We want kids to have time to be doing extra curricular activities, and do them well with interest and engagement,” Ms. Rivera said. “We want students to be able to discover what they are interested in and want to pursue with their life after high school.”
