I definitely see what you mean there. I think that weighting GPA's, while a good idea in theory (that is, it rewards the RIGOR in the transcript with appropriate class ranking), it seems to ultimately incentivize the kinds of shenanigans that I'm referring to.
DD isn't taking AP to boost her GPA or to "look" any particular way to colleges. She's taking them because they come closest to her needs academically during her years in high school. I feel quite strongly that this is the only really legitimate reason for taking AP. I realize that is just my opinion, and that many parents think that improving competitiveness or shortening time to a bachelor's degree is also a good reason.
It frustrates me that because of the incentives provided by grade weighting, though, there are additional barriers/limitations placed in the way of taking them. This happens in order to simultaneously disincentivize parents from seeking "too many" AP classes for their kids. My problem with that is that it effectively penalizes kids whose most appropriate placement is AP.
DD should have taken World Civ and US history both as AP, but I just didn't feel like arguing the way around the prerequisites. If I had, though, she would rank higher in her class than she does. We've made some conscious decisions along the way to not "seek competitive advantage" there, however, when such a thing conflicts with OTHER authentic goals in some way.
I say that not because of sour grapes (honestly, high school just hasn't been that hard for DD-- nor time-consuming)... but because it's kind of insane, the level to which this Tiger-Parenting frenzy has all gone. It's kind of poisonous. (IMO, again.)
