A Broken Promise

The Faculty Council's December decision to eliminate the Advanced Placement (A.P.) exemption to the Science Core requirement is a disturbing departure from the Council's stated commitment to reducing requirements. The change, which will not affect current students and will probably be implemented for the Class of 2003, prevents students who have scored a 4 or 5 on one of the A.P. science exams from placing out of either the Science A or B core requirement.

The Council's reason for eliminating the exemption--that high school A.P. classes do not provide the introduction to scholarly disciplines that the Core classes do--is a poor excuse for burdening students who have strong science backgrounds with yet another, arguably useless, requirement.

Though the Core's philosophy, to provide a diverse introduction to various areas of study, is a good one in theory, in practice it is a different story. Because of the questionable quality of many Core classes, we support any opportunity for exemption from them. Until now, it had seemed that the Council was similarly committed to freeing students from the weight of requirements. Apparently, though, a misguided belief in the need for college instruction in science disciplines for which A.P. classes prepare students equally well has gotten the better of the Council's members.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 opposed the move from a professor's point of view, rightly pointing out in an e-mail that "only students are affected by it--it requires no more effort on the part of the Faculty (except adding a few more students to a few courses), but it does add a nontrivial burden to the requirements on certain students." Is it too much to ask for the Council to stick by its now-broken promise to minimize student requirements and reinstate the A.P. science exemption? Perhaps, but it's a new year, and anything is possible.