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

[Fran Poodry <FPoodry@AOL.COM>]

> Ed Schweber (edschweb@ix.netcom.com)
> Fran Poodry criticizes me for saying
>
>    "I have become increasingly troubled that "good" high school
>      physics classes are increasingly becoming mirrors of college
>     classes. Only if we high school teachers run through Serway and
>     Faughn, Giancoli, Cutnell and Johnson, etc are we deemed to
>     be doing our jobs."
>
>    Obviously I am talking about trends and not specific teachers.
>
>     But many HS courses (even those that are not A.P.) use college textbooks
> and strive to cover a large chunk of them. What else are they doing besides
> mirroring college courses?

Sorry Ed, for coming off sounding so critical.  I just want to know what your
sources of information are.  What proportion of HS Physics classes use Serway
& Faughn, what proportion use Hewitt (Conceptual Phys), what proportion use
Active Physics, what proportion use Glencoe (by Zitzewitz), what proportion
use C3P?  Who did the survey? Where can I read it?  Was it in that review of
textbooks that TPT published in the spring?

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

Why does it matter if your HS is on the top ten list?  Is your funding based
on that?  Is the number of AP courses important or is providing a good
education to students who are incapable of doing AP work important?  Do
colleges want to see AP courses?  I was told lately that fewer colleges give
credit for AP than used to...due to wanting the kids to pay full tuition for
4 years rather than 3 perhaps?  Does anyone know if this is true?

Sorry for all the questions, but I want to build up a good defense in case
someone starts citing research and telling me I need to use a college text
and cover it all...my administration already wants me to teach AP, though it
certainly wasn't my idea (and they have no illusions about teaching AP to
everyone).

-Fran Poodry
Haddonfield Memorial High School
Haddonfield, NJ