A number of freshmen have AP Human Geography on their second-semester schedules, but should they even be offered this class in the first place? 

AP classes are difficult for most students, especially for freshmen who have never taken one before. 

It takes a lot of work on the teacher’s end to properly prepare their students for the type of questions and material they will face on the AP exam. 

If the teacher doesn’t effectively teach the advanced content, students taking the class will be put at a disadvantage and will probably struggle to get a passing score. 

Even if you manage to get a passing score on the AP exam, you will most likely only receive a college elective credit. 

While it’s still a college credit you won’t have to pay for, it isn’t as helpful as a non-elective social studies credit would be.

Many high school students, especially freshmen, don’t have an after-high school plan that is 100% set in stone, so what if someone who took this class decided not to go to college? At least if you took a different social studies AP, you would be learning more interesting and helpful information. 

Why should it be a requirement for students to take AP Human Geography first when it doesn’t provide a clear prerequisite for other social studies APs? 

I think it would make more sense to have freshmen who are on the AP track take a more useful class instead of a random social studies class that supposedly “prepares” students for other AP courses. 

It could be argued that AP Human Geography is a good introduction to the world of AP classes due to it being easier than other APs, but there are multiple other AP classes that would be more beneficial for students to take, like World History or US History, which would give students an actual social studies credit, not just an elective credit.

I don’t think we should remove this class from the school altogether since there might be some students who are genuinely interested in taking it, but it shouldn’t be required as a stepping stone to other APs. 

As a school, we need to allow students more flexibility to take the AP classes that feel right for them and steer away from requiring classes that serve very few benefits.