Don't Count AP Exams

The editors fail to see the real purpose of the Science Core requirement. As stated in the Courses of Instruction book for this year, the Core "does not define intellectual breadth as the mastery of a set of Great Books...rather, the Core seeks to introduce students to the major approaches to knowledge." This means that a Historical Studies Core will not be a comprehensive survey of Western Europe but will focus on an individual time period or culture to highlight historical transitions more specifically, as a survey course cannot.

Courses listed in the Science Core are specifically designed to expose students to scientific methods and a specific niche of science that they are unlikely to have encountered before. Such a detailed inquiry into a focused piece of science is not demonstrated by a good score on any science APs.

In its policy that AP scores do not count for Core credit in any circumstances, the administration is saying that the Harvard educational experience is a self contained one. While a strong high school background might give a student an advanced start at Harvard, courses taken in high school are not equivalent to those offered here.

I hope that the Faculty will have the strength to stay with it through criticisms like those of the editors. --E. Davis Walker '00