As part of temporary access to Education Week that I’ve been enjoying recently, I receive a weekly email notice of articles, etc., of interest. The most recent notice invited me to
Check out the brand new issue of Technology Counts 2008: STEM: The Push to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Read how states are pushing to prepare their students for the high-tech global economy.
Interesting, I thought. Maybe as soon as there’s no more discrimination to read and blog, I thought, maybe I’ll get around to taking a look. But then, later in the same email notice, I was referred to this article, which I did read right away. Something here, it quickly became evident, doesn’t compute.
The article reports that the College Board, which oversees the Advanced Placement program, plans to drop AP classes and exams in four subjects, including Computer Science. Computer Science AB, it seems, like some men’s athletic teams that have fallen victim to Title IX, has been done in by affirmative action.
According to Trevor Packer, the College Board vice president who oversees the AP program,
the decision was made principally because of demographic considerations.
Only a tiny fraction of the members of underrepresented minority groups who take AP exams take the tests in one of those four affected subject areas, he said.
The College Board has made it a priority to reach such students, including those who are African- American and Hispanic.
“For us, [the question is], are we able to achieve our mission of reaching a broader range of students?” Mr. Packer said.
I’m sure that as a result of the College Board’s courageous and humanitarian decision to pursue its outreach to “underrepresented minority groups … , including those who are African-American and Hispanic,” by dropping its Advanced Placement in Computer Science AB, the proportion of Advanced Placement students who are minorities will increase next year. Congratulations, College Board!
If I had posted this about a week ago, you would have suspected it was an April Fool’s joke. Alas, it’s not.
I’m a high school senior currently taking AP Computer Science AB. There are indeed no women or non-Asian minorities in the class: slightly more than half of the students are Asian, and the rest are white. I read your post with interest because I was just told today that AP CS AB is being discontinued; my teacher thought that it had to do with adding new APs to the roster, but unfortunately this appears not to be the case. It’s a shame that high school students will be deprived of an advanced computer science class because of something as stupid as this. If girls simply don’t want to the take the class, then that’s not the CollegeBoard’s problem, and it shouldn’t be its business to deny other students the opportunity. But of course, this decision is the product of an absurdly dumb mentality according to which demographic disparities are always evidence of discrimination and hence shame the CollegeBoard. We shouldn’t be screwed over because AP CS AB isn’t “diverse” (I hate how this word is used as a euphemism for “more black people”) enough.
While not directly relevant, Jay Mathews of the Washington Post and I had a dialogue last month about AP expansion. I have included the link below.
The CB’s decision to drop courses is interesting. I’m not really sure how to feel about it. While I think the AP program needs trimming, I don’t think the real fat resides in the undersubscribed classes like Computer Science AB. The real question is whether attempts to bring the popular AP classes to the masses without providing enough pre-AP supports is really a benefit or not.
ttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031000401.html