Importance of the Advanced Placement Program - Essay Example

This is a brilliant endeavor by the institutions and very helpful for the students as they will not only save time but save their money as well during their educational careers.

Case:
The case is very interesting. It brings to light the question of whether should the rules of the book be bent for students who, in a way, are those who are upholding the school’s pride.
With me being the leader and school counselor, and the one to make or break their ‘dreams’, the whole responsibility rests on my shoulders. To start, the first question which would pop into my head would be: ‘Exactly how much did these students score?’ Since the most common score of acceptance is 4 out of 5, it’s a necessary question to know how how much they are lagging. It is also the reason that I will assume here that my institution accepts a 4 out of 5 score for passing.

Now, the most important fact to take into consideration is this; these students have consistently been on the honor roll throughout their academic careers. This proves that they are hard-working and dedicated students keen on learning. This also makes the case tilt towards their side of the argument because I should not make a decision that will seem unfair to them, in which case there might be serious consequences like they might get highly de-motivated and stop studying altogether. However, the decision should not even be such that they think they have gotten away with something which will make them try such a thing again in the future as they will have lost their interest in studies. Therefore based on whichever of the following scores they have achieved I will take the described actions:
Between 3 and 4:

Since 3 is considered ‘good enough’ by some universities, I will give the students the benefit of the doubt and offer them to take up the AP Courses on the condition that next year they give the test again and get a score of at least 4 otherwise their courses will not be valid. It will be up to them to decide whether they want to take such a risk or not. Their decision only will be the judge of how serious they are. The leniency being allowed to them is just because of their track record and bearing in mind that due to any reason, the situations on the exam day might not be in their favor for instance they or a family member might be ill or there was some sort of disturbing incident on the exam day which might have made it hard to concentrate for the student.

Below 3:
This is quite straightforward. No matter how good a student is, if they have gotten below 3 scores, they are certainly not worthy enough to take any AP Course. Their appeal will straight away be rejected.
There are only these two options available. I cannot give the students more leverage than this because I cannot start to gamble with the institute’s reputation over a matter which should technically never have cropped up in the first place. Read More