Klarinet Archive - Posting 000361.txt from 2003/03

From: George Kidder <gkidder@-----.org>
Subj: RE: [kl] AP Music Theory
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2003 22:03:45 -0500

At 22:10 3/6/03 -0500, Karl Krelove wrote:

>Seems to me I've heard of many schools that give a placement or proficiency
>test to allow a student to skip an entry level course. This protects not
>only the school's reputation but also the integrity of the more advanced
>courses. This is, I think, a different issue from that of giving credit for
>other schools' courses, which I cynically suspect has more to do with the
>tuition payments' having gone to the other school as well. Letting a student
>skip a level doesn't reduce the number of credits he eventually has to take
>and pay for. Transferring credits does.

That is certainly true at my old institution, in Biology. Placement is
easy (pass the test); transfer of credit, especially credit obtained while
the student was not a college student, is much more restricted.

I, however, am not so cynical as Karl. In the usual college curriculum in
Biology, and I suspect in Music as well, four years are all too short for a
good student to experience all that is offered by the department. Placing
out of an elementary course and going directly into a more advanced part of
the curriculum gives the student a leg up - some free time down the road
that can be used for additional courses, either in the major field or
outside it. At most institutions, you only pay by the credit up to a
certain limit - additional courses above that limit (and below some
reasonable maximum) are without additional charge. Since a good student is
not overly stressed by the minimum "full load", this is a chance to expand
and/or intensify the educational experience. And in the final analysis,
education is only as good as the student wants to make it.

George (the old prof) Kidder
Bar Harbor, ME

---------------------------------------------------------------------