Please give us more information on how to support this teacher in her letter writing campaign...

Please send letters to Gaston Caperton, President, The College Board (NY), 45 Columbus Avenue, New York, NY 10023-6992 (email: [email protected]) and Lester Monts, University of Michigan, 503 Thompson Street, Room 3084 Fleming Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1340 (email: [email protected])

As a parent of a student studying French at Paly (and a former student who also studied French there), I am unhappy with this news. I will write a letter. Also, I support maintaining French language (and literature) in PAUSD at all levels. I assume there is support for this from the district's supervisor of World Languages.

"The College Board is losing a lot of money on these four exams."
LOL They make a ton of dough. Let's take 1 test as an example: SAT.
1,500,000 seniors took the exam last year. Let's round down the price of the test to $40.00. Hmmm, that's $60,000,000 with just one class. Sprinkle in juniors, sophomores, freshman. Let's not forget the now targeted elementary and middle school kids. Oh my! Did I forget the PSAT and various SAT Subject Tests? Whoa! And I overlooked the various AP tests. During your free time, take a look at some of the compensation packages for College Board execs. I'm sorry. I have to remember that it is a non-profit company; there's no way in the world that they're not making the best decision for our kids ;)

I apologize because I forgot something.
I hate complaining without offering a solution:
Miss Jensen, who says you and the other AP French Lit teachers around the country can't create your own course and get the buy-in of the colleges and universities that cherish the course? After all, you have been working with a "template" for years now ;)

Yes, do an end run around the College Board. If the College Board has no interest in those tests, they should be happy to provide you with their materials as a template also.

Perhaps a well-regarded French university could run the test.

p.s How the heck can they justify cutting Computer Science on the basis of insufficient students? Perhaps the College Board lacks sufficiently qualified exam writers.

"p.s How the heck can they justify cutting Computer Science on the basis of insufficient students? Perhaps the College Board lacks sufficiently qualified exam writers."

No, there are currently 2 different Computer Science AP exams. The College Board is simply eliminating one of them.

This is a very short sighted decision by the Board. Without AP tests the subject will be dropped. But the bureaucrats of College Board can't understand the damage they are inflicting on future generations.

Hmmm...fascinating...on the one hand we have "we MUST have foreign languages in our elementary schools to compete "globally"" and on the other hand we have APs dropping a foreign language...

"Hmmm...fascinating...on the one hand we have "we MUST have foreign languages in our elementary schools to compete "globally"" and on the other hand we have APs dropping a foreign language..."

Note, there will still be an AP French exam. It's the French LITERATURE exam that's being dropped. A full list of AP exams can be found at the College Board website. There are seven different language tests and currently French and Spanish have 2 separate tests (language and literature).

It sounds to me that this will not only affect those who are learning French as a foreign language, but also those native French speakers who are taking this class to supplement their possible inability to do well in an English literature test. In the same way that many non-native English speakers here are struggling with the English part of the CAHSEE test because they are basically English learners, they are not able to do well in a college English AP test. For a country that is trying to adopt the approach that all immigrants are welcome here and able to get a good education, this may actually be hindering them from something which before they could depend on.

Madame Jensen

Can you clarify the first,second and third place scores cited in the article. Did threee Gunn students really score the top 3 highest scores in the nation?

Thanks, fine print.. you are right. Really isn't as ironic as I wrote, is it? THAT is irony for ya, someone who thinks they are being clever but AIN'T!

wow:

I don't know the scores or who those students were. However I can make a guess: There are quite a few families from France in Palo Alto. I have known French born kids who have taken AP French classes in Palo Alto high schools. For them, obviously, it is much easier than for non native speakers of French to do well in those classes.

The above comment by "a guess" is insulting to the energetic and highly proficient work of Gunn's French instructors, who are among the best at what they do.

For the logic to work -- even if one were to accept the premise that these were French-born students -- you'd have to also surmise that other schools across the nation didn't have French-born students. And that would be a preposterous assumption.

What's so hard to accept about the French program at Gunn being excellent?

Paly teacher:

You are rather thin-skinned it seems to me. What I said in my post were facts. Furthermore, few areas in the nation have the French population we have around here. Finally, what I said has no bearing on the quality of the teaching program at Gunn.

Note: it's mostly the demographics that make this school district as strong as it is.

It seems to me that we may have a powerful group of French parents in PA. After all, rumor has it that we have a group wanting French Immersion waiting in the wings to see what happens to the MI pilot.

I would like to point out an argument in the collegeboard's defense:

If there are not enough students signed up for the AP then the collegeboard will lose money. Each yr, they must pay for the test to be written. If something is not in demand, why produce it? If demand for Dietcoke should suddenly drop, why should Coca-Cola continue to produce it?
This also applies to our school district as well: For example, when there is not enough interested students in an elective course at either Gunn or Paly, the course is simply not offered.

Plus, the collegeboard is adding the Chinese Literature test next year I believe.

Is it about time that Palo Alto start looking that IB program if they are concerned about competing globally and let the AP's go?

Just a thought. The IB program is much more rigorous and comprehensive...

Yes but you can make it a self-fulfilling situation when you drop the higher end, then the lower end goes down -- quite offering French 5/5AP and see how many students continue to enter the pipeline. I believe a comprehensive high school such as Paly should continue a full French program, consistent with Gunn and other similar comprehensive high schools in Silicon Valley and across the U.S.

IB rarely gives students as much credit in college as AP, and many professors take it less seriously. I am at top college now, and I was placed far ahead of the kids who took IB French. I took Madame Jensen's AP classes in French Language and Literature and took both AP tests. While I scored a 3 on the Language, my 5 on Literature enabled me to place up in college and take more enjoyable classes on French film, music, and literature. Mme. Jensen is a superb teacher, and I still think back to my days reading Antigone, L'Etranger, and other works in her class. We learned how to think and write critically, and (sorry to sound corny) we also learned life lessons.

I agree that taking away the AP aspect or replacing it with an IB would decrease enrollment--having more APs makes students more competitive in college admissions. I am sorry for all the students who will miss out on Mme. Jensen's 6AP class, and I hope something can be done...it is a class that teaches students a lot and also inspires them to keep learning in the future.