A few words about test results and other things.

1.
AP scores are in, and my students did well. Although some people like to talk about "passing" the AP exam, that's not really an accurate way to talk (or think) about AP scores--we really ought to talk in terms of "earning a qualifying score."

In terms of "earning a qualifying score," my students this year did well, about as well this year as they did the last two years, with almost all of them earning a score of three (which means "qualified") or higher. But what was great news is that this year, I had more students earn scores of four ("well qualified") and five ("extremely well qualified") than I've ever had.

So it was a good year: a great group of students, and I think their scores confirm that some of the changes I've made to the course over the last several years have moved things in the right direction.

2.
When I worked in the car business and we finished a great month, we'd have just a few minutes of basking in the warm glow of profit during the first few minutes of our morning managers' meeting.

And then Rich, our general manager, would look at us and say, "Alright, that was last month. What are we going to do this month? What do you have today?"

3.
So it's time to get focused on plans for next year's course.

There will be some more data coming from the College Board next week that will help with the planning process, but I'm ready to get started.

4.
Also, it ought to go without saying, but in today's high-stakes testing culture, I'm afraid it doesn't: we should all keep in mind that these scores are just one measure of student learning. They're certainly not the only measure, and they're not necessarily the best.

5.
I had a rather interesting conversation with a couple of my summer school students the other day regarding Henry David Thoreau. They have been reading a selection from Walden, and we got to talking about how we might understand HDT in terms of Plato vs. Aristotle, or in terms of idealism vs. materialism.

I'm convinced that Henry is (was) an idealist, more a student of Plato than of Aristotle, but it's also clear that he wants those ideals only so long as they can affect what we might call real life, only so long as they can manifest themselves in material terms:

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically. . . . How can a man be a philosopher and not maintain his vital heat by better methods than other men? (from "Economy")

And:

The title wise is, for the most part, falsely applied. How can one be a wise man, if he does not know any better how to live than other men?--if he is only more cunning and intellectually subtle? . . . It is pertinent to ask if Plato got his living in a better way or more successfully than his contemporaries,--or did he succumb to the difficulties of life like other men? (from "Life Without Principle")

And perhaps more practically:

. . . it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning. (from "Slavery in Massachusetts")