Re: College nowadays - What "should" students know?

[Ed Schweber <edschweb@IX.NETCOM.COM>]

Ed Schweber (edschweb@ix.netcom.com)
Physics Teacher at The Solomon Schechter Day School, West Orange, NJ

Fran Poodry poses the following questions relating to an ongoing discussion
we have had on the list.

> What proportion of HS Physics classes use Serway (etc.)?

   I never claimed a survey as my basis. But in my experience with other
physics teachers as well my experience in doing a lot of tutoring a few
years back I know about many students in AP classes who are doing reasonably
well through memorization but who do not understand more basic concepts.

    North Hunterdon high School in New Jersey now requires at least one AP
class from all of its students and is even offering AP-B physics to freshman
(they follow a physics first sequence). But the freshman don't know trig yet
and one teacher there told me that his approach to vector components is
"press these keys on your calculator for now and you will learn later what
they mean."

> And who is defining the "good" and judging us?

       The defining is done my the communities and the press. I earlier
refered to the New Jersey Monthly magazine's ratings of schools. The Newark
Star Ledger does somthing similar. I was at one board of education meeting
where I live (Parsippany, NJ)  and heard the outrage because one of our two
high schools had slipped a few notches in the New Jersey Monthly's rankings.

    Haddonfield (NJ) High School where you teach does very well on these
rankings. Is this something that is ignored as superfluous within your
school and community?
> Why does it matter if your HS is on the top ten list?
         It matters because of pressure from the administration and from the
community

> Do colleges want to see AP courses?  I was told lately that fewer >colleges
give credit for AP than used to.

     It is also my impression that fewer colleges give AP credit. But not
giving AP credit is distinct from their wanting their applicants to have
taken AP classes.

    For the record - I have taught AP-B physics for the past several years
and do use Serway and Faughn's "College Physics." However, I don't push for
the exam (although some of my students do take it successfully) and my
students only use Serway as a supplemental reference. I write all my own
homework problems.

    In fact this year I reverted to calling my top class an honors and not
an AP class because I thought it was a more honest description. However, I
may go back to calling it an AP class next year because I find the
administration is more amenable to my requests about scheduling and
otherwise if they are doing it in behalf of an AP class and not just any old
physics class - which supports my point. In fact, we began offering the AP
class because our college advisor was telling us that colleges were wanting
to see our students take more AP classes. (Since we are a Jewish day school
in which our students also take a heavy load of Judaic studies, there are
very sharp constraints on our scheduling.)

Ed Schweber