In an attempt to allow students to have more schedule flexibility, LT is considering drafting a proposal that would allow AP Macroeconomics to fulfill the Consumer Education graduation requirement, Global Studies division chair Paul Houston said.

As a result of the state adding many various requirements, including the most recent civics demand, LT is trying to make it easier for students to meet these requirements so that they can take classes that they want to take, he said.

“College has gotten more competitive,” he said. “Therefore, many kids and their parents feel the pressure to do more to put them in a good position to get into the college of their choice and pursue the future of their choice. Between that and more requirements being added by the state, there’s just a general concern about kids’ time and scheduling.”

While there are positives to this idea, caveats still exist, he said. The AP Macro curriculum outlined by the College Board does not align with the Consumer Education curriculum outlined by the Illinois State Board of Education. By substituting AP Macro for Consumer Ed, basic yet vital information can be missed. Consumer Education is a practical course while AP Macro is an educational course, so while a student can do extremely well in AP Macro, they might miss out on finance basics taught in Consumer Ed.

Another worry of making this change is increasing student stress levels, he said. As a result of Macroeconomics being an AP class and Consumer Ed being a prep level class, lots of students may choose the AP class for the wrong reasons to just to be in the higher level, without an interest in economics.

“I worry that if this proposal were made, some students who would be less stressed in Consumer economics and maybe learn more practical, valuable life skills would take AP because if one is prep and one is AP, students think that they have to take the AP,” he said.

Some students also think that there is critical information taught in Consumer Education that should not be missed.

“While it would be good to receive AP credit, I learned a lot of valuable information in Consumer economics that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life,” Luke VanKoevering ‘18 said.