Dean: APs distinct from 'real college courses'

Despite the increased popularity of Advanced Placement exams, more and more universities are coming to view AP courses as unequal to their own introductory courses.

While AP credits can currently be used to fulfill some general requirements at Penn, during last month's Committee on Undergraduate Education forum almost all faculty agreed that AP credit should not be counted in that regard.

There is a distinction between "a real college course as opposed to a course designed to prepare students for a specific exam," College Dean Dennis DeTurck said.

"If we really feel a student should take [a class], it should actually happen here as opposed to in high school," DeTurck added.

Still, an increasing number of high school students are electing to take AP courses. According to the College Board, one out of every three public high school graduates has taken at least one AP test, and over 1.1 million students took an exam last year.

The College Board currently offers 35 AP exams with subjects ranging from European history to studio art.

Due to the growing popularity of AP exams, and despite university professors' misgivings, the Bush administration has discussed doubling federal spending money for AP programs to $51.5 million.

AP courses do not have specific lesson plans, but follow an outline geared toward an exam at the end of the year. This lack of structure leads the quality of AP courses to vary greatly throughout the country.

"There is no way to distinguish between a really good AP program and a really lame one," History professor Ronald Granieri said. "From the impression I get ... AP courses can vary greatly from high school to high school."

Granieri stressed that high school AP courses only teach students specific material and do not allow students to read a variety of historical texts and perspectives.

Nursing freshman Chelsea Mintz agreed that AP courses differ from college courses.

Mintz, whose AP credits include Chemistry, U.S. History and English Literature, said the pace of learning in college is much faster than in her high school AP experiences.

"Here you only have half a year for the same information you learn for a year in high school," Mintz said. "It's a different style of teaching."

Agreeing, DeTurck said, "Not a lot of the same material gets covered ... the depth and scope of the material is a lot different in a high school class."

"I think it is really important for students to take a class with someone who really does psychology research or history research ... someone who is on the cutting edge," DeTurck added.

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