A Conservative Classical College Board
15th May 2023
As a conservative AP English teacher and AP Exam reader, I have something of a love-hate relationship with College Board.
On one hand, I love the rigor and standards of Advanced Placement classes. For students willing to work hard and make the most of their time in high school, AP classes are a great option that will challenge them and offer them a chance at earning college credit. Moreover, they find their community in AP, something especially critical in otherwise rundown public schools where the world outside the AP bubble is mired in crime and mediocrity—for all its cheesiness today, the eighties film “Stand and Deliver” actually captures this reality pretty well. Both as a student and teacher, I’ll always be grateful that AP was there for the kids who needed it.
On the other hand, the leftist bias in the curricula, along with progressive pedagogy that emphasizes skills over content, has tarnished the luster of College Board. In history courses, which seem to receive a makeover every few years, these problems are especially pronounced. In English, there’s been a noticeable shift toward diverse ethnic or racial voices, and there’s certainly a relativistic approach to texts featured in these courses (for example, students were asked to analyze a portion of Sonia Sotomayor’s memoir to demonstrate their knowledge of rhetoric). I do encounter teachers, usually from very progressive states, who take a progressive approach in their classes and score exam essays with this prejudice, but indoctrination isn’t implicit in the course curriculum itself.