Classic Learning Test Gives The College Board Competition

Every year, America’s collegiate system is further exposed for its exploitative and fraudulent practices. Higher education’s utilitarian approach to learning has bled into K-12 systems as “college prep” has largely overtaken the traditional approach to education as the cultivation of the good, the true, and the beautiful.

Classic Learning Test (CLT) has launched a new classical baccalaureate program that takes direct aim at the College Board’s AP accreditation system. CLT already offers grade-level tests for high school students, including an alternative to the PSAT. Now, they’ve set their sights on alternatives for the College Board’s 43 AP courses, starting with humanities-related AP exams.

The College Board’s approach to secondary education has been increasingly used as a means to push kids into the collegiate indoctrination pipeline. High school AP classes were introduced under the guise of giving students advanced educational opportunities. However, in 2011, David Coleman, CEO of the College Board, stated that AP’s actual goal would be to have “teachers teach towards the test. There is no force on this earth strong enough to prevent that.” The AP classes were structured around high-stakes tests that lacked depth.

The college admissions process has become an industry in itself. Parents are no longer concerned with their children’s educational development, but instead with the hurdles the College Board has convinced them to worry about. The process has become unhealthy. Students are not required to be prepared for life through the rigorous cultivation of virtue and excellence. Instead, they are being manipulated by the College Board’s monopoly, as roughly 80 percent of students in the U.S. attend a high school that offers AP classes. This makes it the most widely-available accreditation program in the nation.

Further, it’s no secret that the College Board has become increasingly leftist over time. For example, AP U.S. history classes in areas such as Jefferson County, Colorado, have been accused of promoting identity politics, downplaying the value of the American founding, and “encouraged … disregard for the law.” Teachers have been repeatedly accused of focusing on race, gender, and social movements, leading to an ideological tilt in the classroom.

CLT is attempting to end the partisan paradigm. The purpose of K-12 education has never been to indoctrinate students, despite academia’s increasing efforts. Rather, the purpose of primary education was to develop citizens who were capable of free thought. This has been evident since America’s founding, as in 1780 Johns Adams wrote that “wisdom and knowledge . . . diffused generally among the body of the people [are] necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties.”

Understanding Western heritage is a key part of CLT’s approach towards creating an educational system that is not prone to political bias. The better students understand history, the less likely they are to become victims of savvy political rhetoric. The goal of classical education is to create people who are deeply passionate about civilization. Children should feel a sense of pride and responsibility in their heritage.

The rise in partisan fighting and political violence could easily be attributed to a lack of education. AP classes repeatedly teach students that Western civilization and America are racist, sexist, and oppressive. Historical figures from Aristotle to Andrew Jackson are derided. It comes as no surprise, then, that these same students are driven to protest law enforcement or tear down statues.

Tearing down civilization is not a virtue, but preserving it is. Programs such as CLT’s classical baccalaureate shift the sights of parents and students away from the College Board’s narrow system of accreditation. It encourages them to consider the essential human question: What does it mean to live a happy life?

Colleges often claim that they are preparing students for the “real” world. The workplaces they are being prepared to enter require skills in communication, collaboration, and understanding ideas. Classical education’s focus on virtue will help foster the intellectual and moral requirements that are necessary for the “real” world. When children aim for the heights of building strong moral character, they will still achieve their college and career expectations. However, their lives will be richer than the left’s path of educational consumerism.

Alternatives to the College Board need to offer more than simply claiming to be “non-woke.” In many classrooms, fewer full-length books are a part of the curriculum. In 2022, the National Council of Teachers of English stated that, “The time has come to de-center book reading.” For kids who are taking the time to read full-length books and engage with complicated texts, they deserve a leg up in advancing their skills as well as recognition. The big gates to college admissions can’t be policed exclusively by AP classes or SAT scores.

Shifting diploma programs in the classical direction may bring lasting change. CLT hopes to roll out its baccalaureate pilot programs in the fall of 2027, with the eventual hope of reaching as many students as possible. Their hope is that it will not be limited to classical schools, but can be implemented in public high schools nationwide. It’s a win for schools that are trying to do what is challenging, not just what’s popular.

Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is extremely passionate about the arts and history, and is honored to write for a variety of distinguished publications.