Categories: 1. Positive 2. Negative 3. Neutral

Prompt: Using the documents, analyze Briar Wood’s attitudes towards the Pre-AP World History class

Operative term: attitudes

Thesis statement: Briar Woods High School offers in-coming freshmen the opportunity to take a Pre-AP World History class. The idea behind the class is to introduce the student’s to the skill-sets they will need to continue taking AP classes in the social science department. The Briar Wood’s community had various feelings regarding their Pre-AP World History class. According to the documents provided, there were both positive and negative attitudes towards the class with a few neutral opinions. (What’s Missing:) It would have been beneficial to have a female Pre-AP student’s perspective. Generally speaking, girls enjoy the English and history subjects because of the reading aspect, where as guys do better off in the math and sciences.

Paragraph 1

Topic Sentence: Within the Briar Wood’s community, there are positive attitudes towards the Pre- AP World History class. In document 2, Justin, a current senior, felt the class helped prepare him for AP World History. He stated, “I gained the skill I needed to get an A in AP World History”. A parent in Document 3 strongly believes his child will be accepted into college because of Pre-AP World History. Jim, a current Pre-AP student, states in Document 5 that the course can be challenging but its fun and ‘you learn cool things’. However, his reaction might be a little biased because he clearly enjoys history. He is a member of the history club at school and is passionate about the social sciences. Lastly, document 7 shows the SOL results, with a 97% pass rate for Pre-AP students and only a 75% pass rate for academic students. Also, the Pre-AP students outweighed the academic students in the perfect scores category 11 to 1. Taking a Pre-AP class resulted in higher scores on the SOL test.

Paragraph 2

Topic Sentence: There are also negative attitudes towards the Pre-AP World History class. In document 1, Mike, a current Pre-AP student, thinks there is too much work given in the class and wishes he had taken the academic class instead. However, his opinion is influenced by his busy sports schedule. A student playing sports is going to have less time to focus on academics than a student who does not participate in extracurricular activities. Also, in document 8, a college student who had taken Pre-AP World History when he was in high school said, “The amount of work I put into my Pre-AP World History class and my other AP Biology, English, Statistics, and Government classes was stupid.” He went on to explain that his entry-level college courses were easier than his high school AP classes,

Paragraph 3

Topic Sentence: However, two articles were neutral in their attitudes towards the Pre-AP World History class. According to document #4, Ms. D believes there are both pros and cons in taking the class. By teaching students higher-level thinking skills, the class can be viewed as a stepping-stone for the AP World class. However, like other documents have mentioned, she agrees the Stearns book is a challenging read and the homework load is a bit much. It should be noted that she teaches the class and has better insight to how the students perform and the challenges they face throughout the year. Lastly, in document #6, Katie’s mom, a parent to a current Pre-AP student, states that she appreciates the practical- skills being asked of the students, but does not believe the students should be forced to read the Stearns book.