AP Classes at Harvard-Westlake

* Re “Where Advanced Classes are Routine,” Dec. 9.

As two Harvard-Westlake seniors, we resent the negative implications made by Elaine Woo in reference to Harvard-Westlake. She recognizes that Harvard-Westlake, which she calls a “tony private school,” has the most national Advanced Placement scholars in the nation, more than North Hollywood, but she quickly belittles and dismisses our accomplishment with the subsequent statement, “but that’s the sort of place that dropped $13 million on a state-of-the-art science building.” The negative connotations of such terms as “tony,” which is defined as aristocratic and luxurious, and the dismissive “but” imply that our money automatically results in academic success, a completely false idea.

Also, to set some facts straight, we do not have the financial resources to casually “drop” millions for a science building; the money was fully donated. Furthermore, she claims that “Harvard-Westlake led the nation in AP scholars in part because it offers 28 AP courses,” which is not completely accurate. We realize that while we do have more opportunities at Harvard-Westlake, opportunities do not automatically equate with success; we succeeded because we chose to take advantage of our opportunities, putting in the time and effort to turn opportunity into success. As seniors who are 1996 AP Scholars With Distinction (5-plus APs), we attribute our success to extremely hard work in all our courses, staying up past midnight studying on a daily basis. We feel that we deserve respect from Woo for our hard work and success, not belittlement.

ERICA TSAI

Santa Monica

JENNIFER KHENG

Calabasas