Let me take you back to your sophomore year of high school: fifteen on the verge of turning sixteen, with the thought of starting college just blossoming in their minds, and they're taking classes more challenging than ever. Every year, classes are changed in schools to meet new needs and the difficulty increases to challenge new students. These new classes and the amount of choices students now have among the different classes available place new pressures on students that older generations may not understand. Not only can students choose from elective courses, but they can now choose from several math, science and English courses across a range of up to four different levels. With all these choices, students may have difficulty deciding which is the appropriate course and level to take. Unfortunately, there is another pressure in the mix of this decision: the pressure to take advanced placement (AP) courses. Every year more and more students take AP courses, but the number of students “bombing AP exams is growing even faster” (Simon). This leads to the idea that students are not getting smarter than in previous classes, but simply that there is too much pressure on them to take these AP courses. High school students are under too much pressure to take advanced placement courses, regardless of whether they are academically qualified or not. Parents play a huge role in the decision-making process regarding their children's education. Parents almost always want what they think is best for their children, and sometimes parents don't know where to draw the line between caring for their children and controlling their children's lives. When discussing course choices at the top...middle of the paper...there was clearly pressure on many different ways to take these advanced placement courses. While most schools have a system whereby a student needs a teacher's recommendation to take the course, the teacher may give a student who is not ready for the course permission for other reasons. Students should be advised to take courses in which they feel challenged but not overwhelmed. Advanced placement courses are increasingly becoming the norm in high schools, even if the students who take them aren't necessarily ready for that class level. It is important that students feel encouraged to take courses that challenge them, but not courses that force them to follow. Parents, teachers and peers are all under pressure in this matter, but everyone needs to make sure that the most important aspect of school is the education the student receives.