By Jack Allen
Opinion Editor
Although Mira Costa Advanced Placement teachers should rightfully prioritize the success of their AP students over others on AP examinations throughout the year, college preparatory students who wish to take an AP exam deserve to be given equal opportunity to participate in AP test study sessions.
Recently, three CP students were forced to leave an AP U.S. History study session. In response, Mira Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale stated in a public email that AP study sessions are equal to that of a “public meeting”, where all students, regardless of course, are entitled to access study sessions offered by Costa teachers. This policy must be completely respected in order for student and teacher academic intentions to be achieved.
Though some may believe students not taking an AP course are a distraction to the learning environment of AP study sessions, there is little intellectual damage that can be done as a result of the small number of students who fall into this category. According to Dale, CP students who decide to take AP tests are “extenuating circumstances” and not a common trend among students. Compared to the complete Mira Costa student body, there are very few individual students who choose to participate, making disruption in study sessions minimal at most.
According to the Mira Costa Expected Schoolwide Learning Results, Costa shall graduate “self-directed learners who work toward maximizing potential by setting challenging and achievable goals.” Students need the freedom to choose their courses while still receiving the opportunity to challenge themselves. Costa cannot force students to follow a certain academic path and needs to focus its attention on shaping well-rounded students who test well and challenge themselves on their own academic accord. Allowing CP students into AP study sessions would surely fulfill this goal.
Costa needs to focus less on soaring test scores and more on creating equal educational opportunities for all students, regardless of the academic paths they choose. Considering AP tests are available for all students to take, no one should deny a student the opportunity to study properly for such an exam. Combined with extracurriculars, AP classes can be extremely overwhelming for students, and CP students who choose to push themselves harder shouldn’t be frowned upon.
Currently, there is a rule against the participation of CP students in AP review sessions, nor should their be one in the future. Both teachers and students need to communicate respectfully with each other and the administration with issues concerning their individual goals for study sessions. Rather than striving to prevent CP kids from being in study sessions, respecting everyone’s goals would prevent conflict, easing the AP involvement of CP students.
Although CP students reserve the privilege to attend study sessions, they shouldn’t take them for granted. Some have proposed a middle ground where in CP students can only observe and not participate, but this policy would still be unfair to CP students and would be difficult to enforce. In return, CP students should respect AP teachers and make them aware of the fact they will attend their review sessions, rather than merely showing up in class the day of the study session.
Additionally, it is very accessible and easy for CP students to study for an AP test outside of the classroom. Although a book is not a substitute for an AP course, it has the ability to prepare a CP student to test well and converse at a higher level in an AP study session. Since these outside sources can provide the necessities to succeed on test day, they can prepare a CP student to participate in study sessions on a similar levels to their AP counterparts.
CP students should not be excluded from participating in study sessions, considering the few number of students that choose to participate and the lack of disruption caused by their inclusion. All students deserve equal opportunity regardless of the academic path they choose.
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