<p>My school only offers 7 AP classes. i learned early on in the year that a classmate was taking a bunch of independent study AP's that weren't even offered at our school... but apparently he got the school to create them so that even tho he did it independent study, they were giving him credit for it and listing him as taking these AP's on his official transcript... however, he essentially created an AP class for himself and no one else knew of such and such "AP X" class becoming available as an option to take at our school and these "new" ap classes he is taking are NOT listed in our school's course catalog... is this fair? it seems it is giving him an unfair advantage... especially in college admissions</p>
<p>you should've done it too. too bad. it is fair. he took initiative you didnt. such is life.</p>
<p>this topic is not regarding any of my decisions, i am quite happy with the choices i have made, i simply wish to discuss the ethics of the situation.</p>
<p>is it fair to students who do not even know of such an option, that is the question</p>
<p>yes it is ethical. The other students are not hurt by it. It is not an advantage at all.</p>
<p>If we isn't actually getting a grade for it (unless he is taking it through a college online), I would say it is perfectly ethical. He gets to take the AP exams, and his transcript shows to the colleges that he went above and beyond by doing said independant study.</p>
<p>im pretty sure he would be getting a grade for them. Even if it is independent study the teacher could still give out quizzes and such to the student.</p>
<p>ethical. he took the initiative to 'create' a class for himself, and no one else did.</p>
<p>i did that, not for ap but for strings.
i couldn't schedule it in. but the counselor made the extra class for me and teacher took it...it was me and two to three other kids...
but i see your point, and i think it's fair...</p>
<p>totally fair. i've done this even for non-ap classes. not my fault if you don't care enough to try.</p>
<p>Are other students being forbidden from joining the class (if they meet the standard)? At my d's school, one person was taking an AP Computer Studies class because she was the only one both interested in doing so & wanted to make time in her schedule for that. It was "created" for her but not exclusive to her. I'm quite sure that if one or 20 students wanted to join the class, & qualified, the teacher would have said yes.</p>
<p>thanks guys, just wanted to discuss</p>
<p>iostream: if you read, this is not regarding my decision at all, i am fine with the choices and course selection i made. please dont assume i am asking for pity.</p>
<p>You know back when the dinosuars roamed the earth, I toowas able to set up classess for self study in HS. It's nice to see it's still done.</p>
<p>As far as giving the other student an unfair advantage.. how so? </p>
<p>As long as he's doing the work, how can you call it unfair? </p>
<p>Try not to compare yours to others. You'll be much happier in life.</p>
<p>jor: i didn't assume anything about you. that was a generic apostrophic response to people who are salty about this.</p>
<p>Son did an ind. study in computer science since school lacked higher technology classes. He ended up taking the Comp Sci AP test, even tho he had not been formally taught by a teacher. It was our impression that colleges like to see this type of thing--try considering an ind. study!</p>
<p>So he self-studied the class and got the school to give him credit? Sounds perfectly ethical to me, to be honest. He evaluated a situation and got his desired result. The fact that the courses he studied are not listed in a catalog doesn't mean all that much. Why would a school waste space on a class that would be listed as an indeendent study? If someone else wanted to take that class, they could have also, but no one asked.</p>
<p>AP classes have to follow a strict set of guidelines and - I think - also must be approved by College Board to be called "AP" . Perhaps this kid was using an online AP class or something of this nature and the school simply gave credit for its completion, but I question whether he really created the course himself.</p>
<p>My d signed up for AP Studio Art and AP Computer Science her Sr. year. Both classes were cancelled due to not enough students signing up. She requested independent study in both, but the school said the teacher has to agree to work with you, or sponsor you, or whatever. So she asked the teachers and both declined. Why take on extra work if they don't have to? Even tho both knew she was highly self-motivated. She ended up taking a couple of really lame classes. There were other APs she could have taken, but they were in subjects she was not interested in and she refused. Oh well, I guess that's the way it goes.</p>
<p>Ethical? Sure, and hats off to him! Consider this a great lesson on how the world works, and be thankful you found out at 18 instead of 28. </p>
<p>Those that get ahead take the initiative and ask "why not?" A lot of people go thru life thinking all the options should be presented to them, all the consequences of what they face explained, and the world is only "fair"
if everyone has this same level playing field. Well, the world isn't fair, and the playing field definitely isn't level.</p>
<p>Colleges love kids that take the initiative to do something besides passively accept what is proffered to them. It doesn't stop there, either. Once you're out in the workforce the people that get raises and promotions are the ones that take on responsibility and solve problems without being directed to do so by their manager or told how to do every single thing.</p>
<p>Why do you care so much about others? Focus on yourself.</p>
<p>Sure, it's ethical. My son took AP courses independently when he was at a school that didn't offer them. Now, as another poster said, if a teacher is teaching a class at tjhe school, I think that the school has to teach a particular curriculum, but there are any number of independent study programs that a student could be doing with assistance or guidance from a teacher. </p>
<p>As others have said, it sounds like that student took initiative in trying to work out a way to take a more challenging curriculum -- my son did the same thing, as I said. I don't think that's unfair or unethical at all, and just shows the student is really interested in learning.</p>