Oil and Vinegar Don’t Mix

Despite many College Board debacles over the years, I’ll bet not one international school or US independent school offering Advanced Placement (AP) has ever considered dropping the program.

And how does your school’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) commitment dovetail with the latest disaster surrounding AP African American Studies?

On the one hand, we need AP to give our kids the best chance for admission into those highly-rejective universities. Right? On the other, we need a school that’s inclusive. We need to question our values, biases, and privileges! Hmmm.

No matter how vigorously you stir or shake olive oil and balsamic vinegar to blend them together, they will eventually separate. I can’t visualize how traditional curriculum, standardized testing, and AP programs blend with Diversity, Equity, Justice, Inclusion (DEIJ) needs and both exist as designed in the same setting.

The saying goes that “opposites attract.” Not with this conundrum.

The day is coming when your school will have to make a choice.

Will it be a new place of learning where we embrace our collective strengths or the old school where we still play the zero-sum game?