by Chelsea Mesa, opinion editor
The Ivy league Dartmouth College is now putting their foot down to end all incoming advanced placement (AP) credits, which means more hard work going down the drain.
It’s sad that schools are shutting these systems down. AP credits were very helpful to many working students that were looking to achieve higher than the regular curriculum requires them to. Now top notch schools such as Dartmouth College in New Hampshire are restricting students from their educational value.
This act may have an effect on the way students go about challenging themselves. On Dartmouth’s college website they mention the commitment and hard work one must put into their work in order to be enrolled. Yet, they are now not accepting credits advanced credit; this doesn’t exactly seem fair. Dartmouth’s ban on AP credits could be another way they could earn more money.
“I feel that it is wrong for students to be rejected from AP credits. Those credits have the power to save a student from paying a lot of money to take a course they have already taken in high school. Ivy League schools are already so expensive within themselves,” sophomore Mohammed Raja said.
According to an article on Yahoo News, named “Dartmouth College ending Advanced Placement credit” Darthmouth ended their AP credits because they feel their courses are more rigorous than the tests in highschool, which makes some sense. “The Ivy League school currently awards credit in some academic subjects for qualifying scores on Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and A-level exams. But after nearly a decade of discussion, faculty recently voted to end the practice starting with the class of 2018.”
“The concern that we have is that increasingly, AP has been seen as equivalent to a college-level course, and it really isn’t, in our opinion,” said Hakan Tell, a classics professor and chairman of the college’s Committee on Instruction according to this article.
Dartmouth’s decision comes at a time of rapid growth for Advanced Placement Exams. There have been consistent increases in the percentages of AP credits, but now students probably feel their isn’t any point to them if the classes are different and more difficult.
“ I don’t really find any sense in taking the AP exams anymore now that good college’s down require them. It’s just less stress for me”, senior Andleeb Khushnood said.
So, was it really wise for Dartmouth to just stop accepting college acceptances?
