Dear Oregon City High School,
Over the course of my high school career, I have been fortunate enough to take four Advanced Placement (AP) tests, and as of writing I’m scheduled to take another two in the upcoming week. These tests are extraordinarily difficult, which is part of the reason why the majority of colleges within the U.S. (and abroad!) will give students a college credit for achieving a higher score. They are the culmination of an entire school year’s worth of preparation, and challenge students to their absolute mental limit. Why, then, are students expected to participate during the rest of the school day?
Forcing students to attend the rest of the school day does every single person within our building a disservice. The students are unable to focus on their classwork following a morning test (I believe that the term I’ve heard used to describe their mental state is “mush”), and many students are so consumed with anxiety leading up to an afternoon test that whatever problem their first period math teacher puts in front of them may as well be written in Ancient Sumerian. The teachers are also now left with students that may not be able to function within their classes that day, drawing resources away from other students who may have otherwise benefited from the extra attention. And the school itself suffers, as students cannot perform their best on the exam, leading to the school’s local and national perception being lowered.
It would be one thing if this was a continuation of a previous policy, but in fact it’s the exact opposite. Previous years, students were excused from school the entire day they had an exam, except for during the test itself. This gave the students time to prepare and recover.
One reason that this change has happened is to fit with other local policies. Other schools in our area like Gladstone follow a similar policy to what our school did this year – when not taking an AP test, students are expected to be in class. While it makes sense to keep things consistent district to district, it shouldn’t come at the expense of our students. Our district has proved that it’s capable of leading the charge to improve our community with our position with fentanyl education. Compared to that, a push for reduced stress and mental exhaustion in our highest performing students is next to nothing.
In truth, all this situation has done has moved the burden of excusing students from OCHS administration to parents. I’d guarantee that the amount of students being excused for only part of the day has skyrocketed since the beginning of AP testing. This creates additional sources of stress, such as PE students who are now expected to make-up a day of physical fitness when their only concern on that day should be the fitness of their memory and mind.
Not only that, but students taking afternoon tests aren’t given time to eat lunch! Afternoon test takers are required to be at the door ready to go in at 11:15am, which is in the middle of first lunch, preventing those students from having the full time available to them. Worse than that, if the student has second lunch, they don’t get any time to eat. Expecting students to eat their lunch early is only a further distraction during class time for themselves and their classmates – assuming that the student is even aware that school lunch will not be provided for them.
Simply put, requiring students to come in before or after they’ve taken an AP test only serves to alienate members of our community and our school’s highest achievers. You push them towards success, and praise them so that it’ll reflect well on our school and our programs, and then yank the rug away from them when they need it the most.
