All 40 juniors who received a D at the end of the first semester of AP U.S. history would have their grade annulled. In its place, there would be a "no mark" statement, and the student would have the option of redoing that class either through a self-study program or a summer school class.

For all practical purposes, it looks like the controversy has finally been resolved. But for some parents the resentment and frustration continues to simmer. The reason is far more complex than just a need to do some finger-pointing.

While AP classes are meant to challenge high school students and prepare them for college, the Lynbrook episode shows that, for a large number of students, AP is not a choice. It is a must-have on their school transcripts that promises a foothold on the climb to getting into the college of their dreams. But these days, with more students graduating with high marks, peer and parental pressure play a huge role in forcing students to take AP classes, as well as the "almighty dollar" factor: If high school graduates pass certain advanced placement exams, they can actually skip an entire semester of college, and that can translate to a big financial savings.

In fact, the fallout from the Lynbrook episode might not have happened if it weren't for the growing frenzy that surrounds AP classes. Over the past few years, with top colleges accepting fewer students, these classes have become a big part of the ticket into prestigious colleges. Top colleges in the state and nation screen for students who have taken AP classes.

The academic standard for college admission in California is so high these days that a 4.0 grade point average is no longer the perfect score. High school students can spike up their GPA past the traditional 4.0 by taking AP classes, as the grade points for these courses are worth more than the points for a regular class.

So when the Fremont Union High School District—because of budget cuts—allowed students to take only one AP science class per semester, students rushed for humanities AP classes that normally do not see such a high demand.

Culture of Competition

One Lynbrook student who received a D last semester in the AP U.S. history class and prefers not to reveal her identity said that history has never been her favorite subject. The class involves long hours of intensive reading. It covers a complete U.S. history from 1492 until today, and students can be tested on any historical event from any given time period.

But the main reason she took the class, she says, was pressure. "I was not planning to take AP U.S. history at all. But when a school counselor suggested that I try the subject to challenge myself further, I decided to take it so it'd look good on my transcript for college. And these days there is a huge competition to get into a good college, and I feel the pressure all the time," she says. This pressure, she explains, comes both from her parents and her friends.

"When I see my friends who are planning to get into the same colleges as I am taking a particular AP class, I want to make sure I take that, too. I don't want to lose out in the college-admission process by not taking a particular class," she says.

Parental pressure, she points out, is something that is not overtly expressed. "They don't force you to take any subject. But normally they find out from other students who are already in college about what AP classes they took, and they let you know about it. It all comes down to your GPA or SAT scores. I know my parents want me to do well in life. I don't like it all the time. But I know what they are saying is true. Because I know students who had high GPAs and still could not get into a good college," she says.

Sonia Sanga, a senior at Monta Vista High School, says students getting a 4.0 GPA was a big thing perhaps six to seven years ago. But she knows at least 30 to 40 students who have the perfect score and even higher, a 4.2 and 4.5.

"A perfect score is no longer a 'wow' to me anymore," Sonia says.

For many students, especially those in high-performing schools like Lynbrook, Monta Vista and Cupertino, high school is all about getting ready for the life after—college. If high school days were meant to be a carefree period of life, for teens who want to get into higher-ranked colleges, that is just an ephemeral dream.

George Chou is a senior at Lynbrook who understands the AP rigmarole. "A lot of students are heading to top schools and Ivy League colleges. And they take as many AP classes as possible to get ahead of everyone else or just try to keep up. I personally have taken three AP classes so far, and that's normal—just keeping up with the crowd," he says.

Andrew Walczac knows all about this competition. Walczac currently teaches AP government at Fremont High School. But he has also taught at Lynbrook and Cupertino and says he sees a world of difference in the way students approach AP classes at Fremont compared to the ways they approach them at other schools.

"In Fremont, the number of students taking AP classes is not as high as at these other schools. But students here take a particular AP class because they want to. But when I was in Cupertino, there was definitely a culture of competition. A culture of 'What school do I need to get into? Is it going to be UCLA, Berkeley, Stanford, San Diego'—those types of schools. I taught sophomores there. I saw a lot of kids taking up many difficult courses. I'd look at the student and say, 'Are you sure you want to do this?' and he'd say, 'Yeah. I have to.'"

"Why do you have to?"

"My parents want me to take these hard classes."

Tom Swanson teaches AP U.S. history at Monta Vista and says the pressure these students face is far more complicated. "It partially comes from the high expectations their parents have for them. It is not flat out said. It's just known. But most of the time this pressure to excel is self-imposed. Students put it on themselves, because they want to please all parties. Some kids thrive on this pressure. But some lose perspective," he says.

College Admission

And the college-admission process does not make the situation any easier. Rosina Lozano graduated from Fremont High School in 1996. After later graduating from Stanford and Harvard, she's now back at her alma mater, teaching AP U.S. history.

"Generally colleges look at how many AP courses are offered at your school and how many you've taken. If you are at a school where one is offered and you don't take it, it is going to look poorly on you. If you are at a school where 10 are offered and you don't take any, it is going to look worse," she says.

To make matters more complicated, this year the UCs have increased the minimum GPA requirement for college admission from 3.6 to 3.8. "And the situation is going to get worse," says Polly Bove, deputy superintendent of the Fremont Union High School District. She says today there are more students than ever trying to get into the college system, and this bubble is likely to last until 2010.

"To get these high grades, the public education system puts an enormous pressure on students to take collegiate courses [in high school]. I have seen students take four to five AP classes, extracurricular activities and sometimes even a job to help them save money for college. This is a heavier load than that of an average college student," she says.

This is the first year that UCs have been forced to turn away thousands of qualified students because of lack of seats, says Barbara Illowsky. Illowsky is a professor of math and statistics at De Anza College and is the mother of a college student and two high school seniors. "The UCs are redirecting these students to community colleges," says Illowsky.

And then there is the matter of public perception. Swanson says that many students coming out of these high-performing schools "are hung up" on eight or nine top colleges such as Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, UC­Santa Cruz and UC San Diego. "Almost all California state colleges and UCs are fantastic schools. But some of these kids won't believe you," he says.

The Parent Angle

Jason Tseng is a parent of a Lynbrook student who took the controversial AP U.S. history class. Tseng says he thinks AP classes are necessary. "Students in this school district are being groomed to go to top colleges. But when you prepare your students, you cannot prepare them in a common and relaxed way, because if you do that, they are not going to get in anyway. Top colleges in this country select top students, and they don't take everyday school students."

And this is why, he says, parents have been critical about the teacher's grading and vocal about finding a solution to the low-grade issue at Lynbrook.

"I understand that AP U.S. history is a tough subject. But that is not the reason for the mass failing of students here. I believe the teacher was trying to scare students. That you better be working hard. Put in more time. Maybe her intentions were good, but our students already have so much pressure, and she put this unnecessary extra pressure on them," says Tseng.

Paul Poon is another father whose son got a D in last semester's AP U.S. history class. "I know a lot of students are taking the self-study program to make up for the previous semester, and on top of it they have other AP classes, too. It is a lot of hard work and too much stress on these kids." Poon says that his son will be taking the summer class instead of the self-study program.

"Throughout this year, when we were working on this issue, I realized that there is a stereotype attached to us, the perception that these are a bunch of parents who are overzealous about their kids' grades and about AP classes. And that when their kids fail, the parents step in and try to bargain for a grade. They are too cutthroat and should let kids be kids. There might be a couple of bad parents. But this is an overgeneralized stereotype. In general, parents in this community feel the pressure to make sure their kids excel. Because if they don't, their kids are going to look bad on their college application," he says.

Illowsky's three children went to Monta Vista. She says, "I believe that the high expectations from parents in the Silicon Valley stem from the fact that the parents are very high achievers themselves. We probably have class toppers from various countries here, who are now parents and want the best for their children."

"As a parent, it is a very tough line to walk," says Tseng. "You need to know what your child's caliber is. You want to challenge them. But on the other hand, you don't want to overpressure them. If your child is Stanford- or UC-Berkeley­bound, you don't want them to be too lax. As a parent, you need to be your child's advocate. You cannot question the heart of the parents for wanting their kids to excel," says Tseng.

In this area, there is also an Asian factor to parental influence on children's education. "People from every culture in Asia generally believe that good education is a must for better and bigger things in life," Tseng says. "That's why you'll see Asian parents involved in their kids' education. They follow up on what happened at their children's school and with their homework. They want their children to go to good colleges," he says.

Fremont Union High School District in general has a high Asian population. According to 2003­04 school statistics, Lynbrook has a 67.1 percent Asian student population, followed by Monta Vista with 63.7. Cupertino High is 45.3 percent Asian, Homestead 30.7 and Fremont 17 percent.

But Illowsky points out a growing trend that is not talked about much. "Students who do not get into their first choice of UC or private college come to De Anza. These are straight-A students who probably had their hearts set on getting into these schools. But when they don't get in, they study at De Anza for two years and then transfer to their college of choice as juniors. In fact, Monta Vista feeds the maximum number of such students into De Anza. I have a student who got into UCLA and UC San Diego. But she did not get into Berkeley. So she is now at De Anza," says Illowsky. Illowsky says the student plans to transfer to Berkeley.

To AP or Not to AP

There are also other factors that make AP classes more attractive to students and parents. They not only help a student get his or her foot into a good college, but can also make things easier on the wallet. Rosina Lozano at Fremont High explains that generally AP students can conceivably get into colleges with a sophomore status as long as they have at least a score of 3 or 4 on their AP exams.

She recalls her experience at Stanford. "I had so many AP credits. English 1, in particular, is one of the most important AP classes to take, because it gets you out of a whole year of language in college. Every single college requires it. But if you can pass the AP exam, you are out of it at college. That's 15 units you don't have to take. At Stanford, that was a full quarter of courses—that's ten thousand dollars that I saved my parents," Lozano says.

Illowsky cautions against overdoing APs. "I have mixed feelings about students taking AP classes in subjects they want to specialize in. I teach calculus to students with sophomore status at De Anza. Because they miss out on the freshman year of classes, I find that while they can solve the problem, they do not have the theoretical background to find out why it works," she says. "High school teachers are great. But not all of them can teach at the same level as college professors, and because of lack of funding, schools in general do not have good lab facilities."

When the Lynbrook controversy first flared up, there were arguments that some of the students who received a D were perhaps not ready to take on a course as intensive as AP U.S. history. School and district officials contended that the grades of these students in other classes were not strong enough for them to add another college-level course. So the question came up: Should there be some sort of filtering process in place?

"No," says Deputy Superintendent Bove. "We have worked very hard to get the open enrollment system in place here. Every kid in this district should have the right to try new challenges—but then, not every kid is successful in every class," she says. "Now, after this controversy, we want to set up a system where we can openly share our concerns with the parents."

Bove refers to the fact that many parents of these students were taken by surprise when their children failed AP U.S. history and did not tell their parents about it.

"I'm happy that the teacher on her own volition decided to change the grade from D to 'no mark.' She did not want the kids to be penalized. There is enough blame to go around in this case. But the school district has some responsibility. So we have decided to give the parents the opportunity to receive their children's grade either by mail or check it online. We also want to provide some early guidance for the parents of children taking AP classes, so they will know what their children are getting into," she says. The guidance that is currently available is only for students.

Teen Years Lost?

One of the strongest arguments against students taking too many college-level courses in high school has been the fact that they probably miss out on other things in life.

"During my stint at Cupertino, I saw a lot of kids taking so many difficult courses that they missed out on a lot of other activities, such as sports or playing for the band, in their junior or senior year. I saw a lot of that and thought it was unfortunate," says Walczac.

"Many of the kids focus a lot on academics. They spend five to six hours every day studying after school. My memory of school is fun-filled. Theirs would probably be about studying for their tests," says Swanson.

But Sonia Sanga disagrees. The Monta Vista senior has already been accepted as a pre-med student at Northwestern University's medical program in Chicago. "Many of the colleges look at your academic performance. But they also look at you as a real person. And you don't need 100 extracurricular activities to show that. You need only one or two, and [you need to] show them that you are passionate about it and committed to it." Sonia feels that it was a video presentation of her classical Indian dance that caught the attention of admission personnel at Northwestern.

Some might perceive the heavy academic diet students carry with a few requisite extracurricular activities such as community service and perhaps a music or dance lesson thrown in as teen years lost. But for these students on a fast track to college, it is the only lifestyle they know.