For the rankings obsessed - STEM high schools

Parents Forum
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<p>The high school in question is a neighborhood school in a neighborhood with a lot of engineering and computer professionals living in it.</p>

<p>At a community college, the post-calculus-BC math courses would be the ones that students aiming to transfer to a four year school in a math-intensive major (math, statistics, computer science, or engineering), so they would not be aimed at the “typical community college student”.</p>

<p>Of course, ideally, there would be an honors (from a college standpoint, with extra theory beyond the regular college or AP math level) version of calculus and post-calculus math available for the top students in math, but that would be logistically difficult given that such courses would require top teachers who may not be easily available to high schools, and the demand for such courses may not be concentrated enough at most high schools (other than possibly the selective STEM magnets and elite private schools) to fill up a classroom of students in high school.</p>

<p>Even a huge selective university like Berkeley has only 32 students in honors linear algebra and differential equations for fall 2011, while the regular course has 712 students. Beyond that, getting into math major courses, honors real analysis has only 26 students, while the regular course has 172 students. So that level of honors math does seem to be a very small market.</p>

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<p>Another factor is that many mainstream high schools allow practically any student to take AP courses if they/their parents demand it. At Stuyvesant and presumably Bronx Science, they were very strict on who could take the AP version of the courses. Also, the school culture at both was such that scoring a 4 was barely acceptable and a 3 the equivalent of a 1 or 2(a.k.a. Failure).</p>

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<p>Many of the regular high schools do have prerequisite requirements for honors/AP math courses, like having gotten a B in the previous level of honors math or an A in the previous level of non-honors math.</p>

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<p>Considering that many selective universities that the students at those high schools may be aiming for only recommend moving ahead for students who get a 5 on the AP test (as opposed to a 3 or 4), that may actually be a realistic viewpoint.</p>

<p>For example, Berkeley’s math department does say that while a 3 or 4 in AP calculus gives a semester of freshman calculus credit, they do not really encourage students who got less than a 5 to jump ahead ( [Advanced</a> Placement (AP) Examinations - UC Berkeley Department of Mathematics](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses_AP.html]Advanced”>http://math.berkeley.edu/courses_AP.html) ). Berkeley’s engineering division recommends that freshmen with AP calculus credit check their knowledge on sample Berkeley calculus final exam problems when selecting a math course ( [Choosing</a> an Appropriate First Math Course — UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/new-students/choosing-an-appropriate-first-math-course.html]Choosing”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/students/current-undergraduates/new-students/choosing-an-appropriate-first-math-course.html) ).</p>

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<p>The rules at Stuy when I attended was one needed not only a minimum of an -A in the non-AP course in question, but also an overall cumulative average of around an -A to be allowed to take AP courses. The second part sank many of us…including yours truly. </p>

<p>Many of the ones who were sank by such a policy got around it by looking over the AP course guides from classmates taking such courses/prep books and then just taking the AP exams directly. </p>

<p>That’s more restrictive than the scenario you cited above as the lowest courses offered(a.k.a. “The ■■■■■■ track”) are taught at or above the honors levels of most other schools.</p>