The Colby Echo

Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Opinions

Kristin Raymond

As the schools search for ways to deal with their cuts in education, some educators and politicians are wrestling with the idea of school vouchers. My experiences have led me to the conclusion that a voucher system would seriously undermine the ability of American schools to effectively educate their students. I went to York High School in York, ME, a public school that receives almost no state or federal tax dollars because York is a fairly affluent community. Our school budget, however, did not pass the general referendum in 2003. Most JV and all freshman level athletics were cut, close to 20 percent of the faculty were fired, art and music classes were cut by about half, all elective courses were cut and the curriculum was whittled to a bare minimum: two sciences, three maths, four English, two history, one social studies, and one Health/Phys. Ed. credit was needed to graduate. When I graduated, four years later, my school offered 4 AP classes: the two English APs, U.S. History and AB Calculus. Not one person in my graduating class got a 5 on the AP Calculus test. Now that it's clear I didn't get an obviously stellar high school education, let me assure you that I did.

All AP classes do is force the teacher to teach to a test. They do not promote learning, intelligent discussion or effective writing. They might get you out of a few classes that you don't want to take in college, but is anyone willing to argue that the quality of education here is comparable to high school and you will learn nothing new in a Colby chemistry class? Are AP credits a way to genuinely improve the quality of your education, or just a way out of classes you don't want to take?

Now that we've figured out that APs don't make or break an education: a few bad teachers don't break an education either. In high school I took eight classes at a time. For every one bad teacher (and I had some), I had five or six good ones. This holds true for just about anyone in any school system. If one person can ruin your high school education, then you aren't willing to work very hard for it. That's nobody's problem but yours. I firmly believe that education is what you make it. I could get a comparable education at the University of Maine in Orono or Colby College, York High School or any top boarding school in the country. The only difference is the name on the diploma and what it means to other people.

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