SolderMonkey's comments

different person, different school, different time, but similar situation: dedicated individuals inspire students to believe circumstances better than where they grow up, and strive for them

oh, and similar communities. I could have gone to Garfield, the high school from Stand and Deliver, but opted for Lincoln, when I grew up in this area

In the framework of 'a) identify what type of problem it is b) apply algorithm to solve', how many freshman college classes (what the AP classes try to emulate) don't work within that framework?

While I believe our primary and higher education systems could use a lot of work, I think the AP program is at least respectable as a stepping stone into higher education, especially for communities where higher education isn't a norm or accessible.

went to this school '06-10 and had to pleasure to get to know this teacher when he started there. Not much of an affluent neighborhood, lots of gang violence, but still lots of good people come out of it because of leaders like this teacher

caveat; this is a magnet program of about 200 students within the overall two thousand and some

"Surprisingly low numbers, considering how many hundreds of students ace their calculus tests in college."

I think there's a trend of becoming a better student in college, so I don't find it so surprising to ace calculus in college.

myself as a counter example, I was an ace in high school passing 10/12 AP exams, and almost failed out of college--go figure?