A Declaration of Independence

A Declaration of Independence from CollegeBoard

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to condemn the academic bonds which have connected them with another and to assume, among the rights of the Earth, the fair and just treatment to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the criticism.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all students are created with a thirst for knowledge, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Health, Opportunity, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Curricula are instituted among schools, deriving their legitimacy from the needs of the educated. That whenever any Form of Curriculum becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new standard, laying its foundation on such principle and organizing its priorities in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Knowledge and Success. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Structures long established should not be changed for light and transient causes, and accordingly all experience hath shewn that Academia is more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Structures, and to provide new Guards for their future education. Such has been the patient sufferance of these students; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of standardized testing and Advanced Placement classes. The history of the present CollegeBoard is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these schools and their students. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

They have controlled our curriculum, forcing educators to adhere to the material on the exam, rather than they what they believe is prudent or valuable to learn.

They have commanded the time of the finest educators, leaving students wishing to take other, though not in their minds lesser, courses with fewer options available to them.

They have upheld their own importance by making their classes a requirement for acceptance into prestigious colleges.
They have reduced living, breathing humans with all of their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments into nothing more than a number on a score sheet, in some cases without so much as providing an explanation as to how they reached that number.

They have even, in some cases, misreported that number to individuals, affecting their chances for acceptance into college and for scholarships and unfairly and perhaps irreversibly harming the lives of those they hold power over.
They have hijacked a system meant to provide the opportunity for students with great passion and aptitude in a certain area of study to practice college material and thereby earn college credit, into an oppressive regime that perverts students’ love for learning into rote memorization, cheapening the educational experience. Advanced Placement students today are no longer taking courses for the sake of learning, but because they must in order to satisfy the demands of society, giving the courses little practical value for their education.

They have created not a new generation of leaders, but of test-takers.

They have charged vast sums for each exam and demanded students take many to earn academic respect, limiting the number of students who can afford Advance Placement credit, and allowing economic rather than academic factors to inhibit a child’s chance for success.

They have flaunted a profit of millions of dollars due to this heavy fee, despite their supposed status as a non-profit.

They have deprived students of their health by demanding they devote so many hours to their studies that there are too few left for sleep, by forcing upon them more stress than any previous generation of secondary educated people, to such an extent that many exhibit physical consequences from their participation in the courses.

They refuse to allow students to withdraw from these courses, and to do so would jeopardize their future.
They have arbitrarily declared all other passions as unimportant, all other interests as merely hobbies, through their strictly limited courses. For students must focus on their heavily-weighted Advance Placement classes should they wish to remain competitive in the college acceptance system, and so cannot elect to pursue other areas of study that may be more interesting to them or truly rewarding towards their careers.

They have created a mechanism whereby four digits, the product of three hours and not eighteen years, affect the entire future of those to whom they were given.

They have created an aptitude test where success can be bought by expensive preparation courses, hindering students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and rewarding canned trickery over academic excellence.

They have demanded a writing sample that is too often judged on length rather than strength, creating writers devoted to strict formulas rather than the form that best expresses their emotions, and to wastefully adding words until they reach a minimum rather than relying on the effectiveness of the ones they have already chosen.

They have created an academic arms race that does not reward creativity or originality, but merely measures the ability to absorb facts and figures and the resilience to handle lack of sleep, ravaging the very spirit of Education.
They have corrupted our History into ten documents, our Language into forty-minute essays, our Arithmetic into memorized formulas, and our Science into eight equations at the expense of all other Skills and specialties.

We, therefore, appeal to the good nature of those who have our best interests at heart for the alteration of the CollegeBoard testing systems. We ask why these students must be judged not by how they have acted for an entire school-year, but how they measure up in three hours, not on the breadth of their skills, but on certain predetermined qualities created by men who have never met us. We have worked too hard, given too much, and slept too little to be represented at the end of the year by a number. We plead for a system that will judge us on our own merit, allow us a fair opportunity to exhibit it, and provide us with comprehensive feedback on our efforts as fair compensation. These changes are not an excuse to work less, but to work more effectively so that our labors help us to achieve our dreams rather than improve our résumés. We ask, above all, for the means to relieve our undue Stress, broaden our necessary Education, and honor our admirable Individuality.

CollegeBoard is the company which creates and administers the SAT, PSAT, SAT Subject, and AP CLEP tests. Although it is legally a non-profit organization, it’s yearly budget surplus is approximately $55 million. Its yearly revenues from administering tests, preparation classes, and selling preparation books are close to $600 million. In the case of its AP Tests, CollegeBoard charges $86 per test and dictates the daily curriculum for any high school class with an “AP” designation.

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