Tomorrow I begin my annual rite of spring: the reading of AP US exams. It begins, as all rites of passage do, with a trial - namely air travel. I loath air travel, the way Republican budget creators hate math. Louisville, where we read, is about a 14 hour drive from where we live. I drove it one year, and it was OK. I was hoping a colleague might join me, but he runs the Summer School here and has not the time to read 800 essays over the course of a week.
If I survive the dehumanizing grind of moving by airborne cattle car, I then settle into my hotel room. There is something profoundly awkward about middle aged adults having a roommate, especially one they've never met before. At this point in our lives, we are used to farting in bed, peeing with the bathroom door open and laughing too loud at the TeeVee when someone gets hit in the balls on America's Funniest Home Videos. You have to moderate your behavior somewhat. I've had three roomies, and two were both interesting, engaging people, and the third I barely spoke to, which was fine. Odds are some point, I'm going to wind up with some guy with borderline Aspergers, a penchant for masturbating to The View who cooks Indian food on a one burner stove in the bathroom. It's inevitable.
The reading itself is a grind. We read two essays, one a free response essay (Sample: Analyze the social, political and economic forces of the 1840s and early 1850s that led to the emergence of the Republican Party.) and a Document Based Question (Sample: From 1775 to 1830, many African Americans gained freedom from slavery, yet during the same period the institution of slavery expanded. Explain why BOTH of those changes took place. Analyze the ways that BOTH free African Americans and enslaved African Americans responded to the challenges confronting them.). Both of those essays I read in 2009.
We train on the free response first. In the case of the above question, which is rather obscure, few students answered it(they get a choice on the Free Response essays). They chose the other question on British Imperial policy from 1763 to 1776. So most of the answers were blank pages or simple restatements of the question. At least it went fast.
The Document Based Question (or DBQ) is usually a tougher question, as you might have surmised from the question above. This will be my fourth year and this year's question is a pretty straightforward one about the Nixon Administration's response to the issues facing America. But the DBQ comes with a number of documents that helps provide context and evidence to help answer the question. So the questions SHOULD be a little harder. That question above, though, was a doozy.
This is the one chance I get every year to see a broader sample of what American high school students are learning about their national history. Remember, these are AP students.
Some times, you get very discouraged. There is a rote, mechanical feel to most of the good essays. Most of the essays betray a lack of either ability, interest or training. And every once in a while, you get one so good that you have to pass it around the table for others to read.
There is a great deal of unintentional and intentional humor in the essays, but the days are long. The week is longer. Frankly, if the reading was a day shorter, it would be much, much better.
But Louisville is a nice town. There's a great Mexican restaurant within walking distance. The Louisville Bats will be in town. It's tough to describe how I feel about the coming week. We NEED the money. I LIKE the camaraderie. I LOATH the day before the last day. Like most things in life, it's complex.
Anyway, blogging will likely be light for the next ten days or so. That will no doubt disappoint both of my loyal readers...
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