#ap classes

hey guys!

for ap research, my topic is about arts education in different cultures, as well as how people's environment impacts their views on the arts in the long run. i'm also conducting virtual interviews for anyone willing to volunteer (directions are in the survey)

hi everyone,

for ap research, my topic focuses on fanfiction and how it contributes to the development of narrative skills among teenagers! i am also conducting interviews if anyone is interested !! sorry if it is long, thank you so much :3

requirements : must be 13-18 and write fanfiction!!

here is the link to my survey : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBz2DBmlBKE2Q0k_1bpN8J8MeiqLA9_GGbMx9M_e7AamjsAQ/viewform?usp=header

SO I was talking about education today with a coworker. We directly see the results of the educational system at work every single day, and we also work closely with the local school district on some things, so we have some common observations. She was talking about a relative who'd been let into an AP class with a C average recently. She was absolutely scandalized. And I get that. AP classes are supposed to be hard and past performance can often be a predictor of future outcomes.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that when I was in high school they let me into AP classes with a C average. With very little pushback. I told them I was bored and not paying attention (pretty much the summary of my entire school career) and that I was doing the minimum. That I wanted to take AP classes to see if they were any harder, and if I didn't do well, they could throw me back in with the plebes in regular history and English. The guidance councilor was like... what if you get Cs? And I'm like, who gives a shit!? I'm getting Cs in regular class. I can get Cs in that class too and who cares? If I wash out, put me back in regular English/History.

So they did. And I suddenly shot up to As. They gave me the underperforming gifted kid speech of how I could have been doing this the whole time. Honestly, it was fucking easier than regular English/history. It was lecture/essay test. Lecture/essay test. I happen to be a good writer and I'd much rather listen to someone drone on than do little group projects or have "fun" ways of illustrating concepts (though my economics teacher illustrating the point of diminishing returns by feeding someone Tootsie Rolls till he got sick was pretty bitchin').

I hated wasting time in class. Wasting time in school was something I absolutely obsessed over. AP class didn't have time to waste time, they were trying to cram in everything you needed for the AP exam into half a year.

So, like, while I can see her point, I don't think it should be a hard and fast rule. She was actually pretty psyched about German's method of funneling kids into programs early in their academic careers and making it hard to leap into another track.

Which is like, another thing. My academic performance in no way indicated that I'd be good in university classes. I have a BFA an MLIS and three advanced certificates. I blossomed in college. Especially the lecture/essay test classes. I did very poorly in the one that required math, but my dyscalculaic woes are another tale for another time.

I don't know if I was a student today if anyone would "catch" that I'm incredibly auDHD. But when I was in school, we didn't have disabilities like that for "smart" kids. Or female-presenting kids. We had stuff written in blue ink on our report cards that said things like "has so much potential." "If only she'd buckle down." "Needs to pay attention in class." "Needs to work on making friends." "Needs to stop having a bad attitude." And ass whoopings. We also had ass whoopings when you didn't pay attention or talked too much about an interest that no one cared about or didn't perform smalltalk with adults properly or didn't have facial expressions that met up with the subject of the conversation, or, as a girl, didn't properly anticipate other peoples' needs, especially when they talked around a topic like "the garbage needs to go out," etc. You can guess how many ass whoopings I got.

I have no idea where I am going with this. It was just story time, I guess.