I hope that your son or daughter is excited about this school year and is eager to study government and politics. I am looking forward to working with your son or daughter in Advanced Placement Government and Politics.
Advanced Placement Government and Politics is a full year course in which students will study both U.S. Government and Comparative Government. (The comparative part of the course includes the study of Great Britain, Russia/Former Soviet Union, China, Mexico, Iran, and Nigeria.) Students will receive two credits for successfully completing the course. This is considered a college level course, and therefore, it is a challenging course. Students who perform well on the AP College Board Test in May 2011 may earn college credit (depending on the policies of the institution of higher learning they choose to attend).
As previously mentioned, this is a challenging course. The first U.S. unit is particularly challenging, as students will study the historical development of the Constitution, as well as the origins of American political theory. Much of the reading in this unit is difficult, and many students struggle. Please encourage your student to study diligently and to ask for help when needed. In addition, if your student has a habit of procrastinating, it is important that they learn to start projects and reading early.
It is my hope that all of my students will be successful in this course. I will work hard to help my students achieve success, however, it will also require an effort on their part. I hope that you will encourage your son or daughter to strive to do their best work, and that you will contact me whenever you have a question or concern.
I hope that AP Government is a wonderful experience for your son or daughter. In past years I have had a number of students earn college credit by scoring well on the AP test. Certainly this is fantastic for those students. But more importantly, I have had countless students, including some who did not earn college credit, come back during their freshman year of college and tell me that this class greatly prepared them for college. I hope that the experience that your son or daughter has in the class will be one that they enjoy, but will also be helpful to them in the future.