I agree.
Frankly, AP Physics B being offered in a 2y period is ridiculous. That would have made that course completely unsuitable for my DD or most of her classmates. Admittedly, those would be the classmates that finished the year-- the five of them, I mean, not the 20 who STARTED the course in the fall.
However, it's ludicrous to think that students "can't learn it" that fast. Clearly some of them bloody well CAN learn it that fast. I watched it happen. With two of them, no less-- my DD and one of her best friends both thoroughly enjoyed the pace of AP Physics.
Their other three classmates are acing full STEM courseloads at prestigious institutions this year-- and by "prestigious" I mean Vassar, UChi, and Princeton. All four (my DD not among them) who took the AP exam got 5's. They all clearly belonged in the course, clearly understood what they were doing, and were learning the material-- yes, even at that pace. But maybe that class just isn't intended for "average" college-bound high school students, if you see my point.
I'd rather that AP courses remained a bit "elitist" in this respect, because the alternative is a dismal wasteland for HG+ students in an average high school setting.
As for student led inquiry at the basic level in the sciences... just... well, something about monkeys, typewriters, and Shakespeare comes to mind, quite frankly.
