The closure of the AP Studio Art marks a bittersweet moment for students interested in arts. Although students are no longer able to take an AP art class, and are therefore unable to receive college credit, a new honors art class is being offered next year.

AP Art, designed by the College Board and taught by Art and Performing Arts Department chair Roen Salem, forced students to explore one area of concentration and create 36 pieces based on it. Honors Art – designed by Roen herself — will permit students to pursue a less focused and rigid art schedule, one that explores numerous artistic media and expands their artistic knowledge.

So we say it’s about time Shalhevet’s moved away from AP art and welcomed the honors class. But the removal of the AP art class leaves the school with a daunting question: Should it pursue a gradual removal process of all AP classes and replace them with something else? Perhaps the International Baccalaureate program? Or more honors classes?

While there are numerous possibilities for filling in an AP gap, one thing is clear. AP’s should be gradually eradicated from Shalhevet’s curriculum. AP’s are popular with neither students nor most faculty members. Why? Because AP’s put an incredible amount of pressure on teachers to teach an insane amount of material and on students to absorb it, memorize it and spit it back for a cumulative exam in May.

But what’s more is that the AP system is a classic example of schooling getting in the way of an education. These are brutally fast-paced classes that allow no breathing time for depth or . They also make money — each exam costs $74 — for the College Board. Honors classes, by contrast, could be designed for genuinely interested students, who only want to gain knowledge and dive deeply into a certain subject.

Some may argue that with the eradication of AP’s, students won’t be able to receive college credit in a class. However, all a student needs a 3 or higher on an AP exam to receive credit – he or she doesn’t actually have to take the class.

Today’s college admissions standards dictate that anyone hoping to go to a top school take whatever APs are offered.  Only by removing them from our curriculum can Shalhevet get us out of this trap.  Hopefully, the educational road ahead for Shalhevet will be slow and bumpy, but with an end result that pleases both the students and the faculty. Because AP’s don’t promote knowledge, they simply promote stress.