When Queen sang "Under Pressure," it surely wasn't their hair they were singing about.

When Queen sang "Under Pressure," it surely wasn't their hair they were singing about.

The NYT is featuring a nice 5-minute mini-documentary called Advanced Pressure that speaks to students, administrators and teachers about the AP program.  I see moments of this pressure myself as kids overload themselves and teeter on the edge as they push through junior and senior years.  None of this is new to high school students and their parents.  And while some of the kids are a bit whiny–NO ONE is forcing anyone to take these classes and there are plenty of students who balance 3 or 4 APs quite deftly–I do hope that more than a handful of admissions officers out there will catch this piece and see the earnestness with which many kids pursue pleasing a system that doesn’t do a very good job of being transparent.

Which reminds me, I did talk about APs at greater length last month, How Many APs Does It Take to Get Into Harvard*, if you’re interested in hearing  a bit more on how I view the program in terms of class selection for hs students.