<p>the problem I see with letting everyone who wants to take an AP course is that schools, teachers, and parents are not prepared to let children "fail" in large numbers. If AP courses are open to anyone, and 100 kids sign up even though only 50 are prepared, there will be more failures than will be acceptable to "the system". The result is going to be tremendous pressure to water the course down so that the majority of students in it can pass. Some sort of selection process to try to identify the 50 who are prepared will necessarily omit a few kids who could succeed if given the chance. But the alternative - either having half the kids fail or watering down the course - isn't good either.It is easier for schools to hold the line on a selection process that keeps kids at risk for failure out of AP classes than to hold the line on high standards when poorly prepared students and their parents are squawking about the course being "too hard" or having too many low scores on the exam.</p>