answer:In my view, “difficult concepts” or “fear of getting a C” are bad reasons to not take a course. Looking back on high school and college, the tough courses were the ones where I really learned the most, even if I didn’t get an A. Is the teacher considered bad just because he or she is a harsh grader? I’d be interested what a person who got an A in the class thinks of the teacher. What percentage of students who take the course get a 4 or 5 on the AP exam? If the teacher really is bad, I would recommend that your son read Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom. I think he would find it more accessible than a text book (it doesn’t require a teacher to understand). The book is more of a lesson in economic theory than economic formulas and equations. I read it in high school and I think it gave me a good foundation for understanding how capitalism works. That said, I would also give him a copy of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. Friedman’s ideas about the free market sound great in theory (just as Marx’s ideas about communism do); Zinn’s text shows how capitalistic ideas played out in practice, which I think is a valuable perspective.