In Defense of International Baccalaureate

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I have a smart boy who has, up until now, the 7th grade, been educated in private schools. I am concerned that like some magnet schools that in order to attract a different groups of students plop a program right in the middle of a troubled or so so public school. This leaves the students in a fish bowl with piranhas swimming around the bowl waiting for school to be over. I wondered if Ib schools worked the same way. After paying hefty tuitions this type of no cost program looks good but I think the environment of the student is equally important as well. If they feel safe and and at peace to learn it will be a win win. What do you parents think?.

Nia B. Griffin of MD 6:16PM July 14, 2011

I have student in College Graduated with IB Diploma Score 35. Took 45 Credits to College but because going MD can only use about 33 of earned Credits (Another Forum...lol) Full Scholarship because of IB. Kid paid HUGE price in HS but still managed to be Captain Golf Team, BB, and Edicor and Chief Yearbook..etc. All Honors available at Grad, inc Spanish, Science, Math, History, Quill n Scroll, National Honor etc.
Only experienced 3 Conservative Instructors in HS (This NEEDS TO BE FIXED AND CAN BE).
The Middle School IB is a JOKE as well as a mistake. There simply is NO DETERMINING WHAT KIND OF STUDENT YOU HAVE UNTIL AFTER PUBERTY SETS IN> Idiots who "Think" they can program REAL Academic Success at IB level prior to Puberty are IDIOTS.....By the way it is the exact same as in Sports at high level.
IB School went from 90% Diploma Grad Rate to 70% Diploma Grad Rate because of stupidity of buying into Middle School IB as Feeder for IB High School.
There IS a good program for Middle School, but it is NOT IB....
IB should be for Four Years Starting in 9th GRADE. Middle School we should accept the fact that we are STILL looking for the Best Program which is NOT IB....As far as Elementary ....Even worse to believe IB is answer. It is NOT....
Elementary should be focused on basics...Reading Write, Math and HAVING FUN WITH ALL....not social engineering crap, which is what a World View must of necessity be about.....STOP IT MORONS....

John of FL 9:40AM December 28, 2010

I am an teacher of 25 years experience, 15 of them teaching IB diploma in prestigious overseas schools. The Diploma course is an excellent method of preparing well rounded, hard working students, who should trive in any environment. Unfortunately the IBO has developed the Middle Years Programme MYP, which is woolly, vacuous and almost content free and is encouraging schools to take this up in order to quality as a World School. To any administrators out there thinking of taking this course on - please be aware that it lacks the rigour and the structure of the the Diploma and keep well away from it. It will take up all of your teachers' time and deliver nothing to your children except an obsession with rubrics and the pointless Areas of Interaction.

Diane Taylor 3:39AM January 02, 2010

Well, well, well. I'm glad I bothered to read back a few pages. The layout of this blog is simply awful.
>>>>>>>>>>>>Face it, Observer: your behavior is more than slightly obsessive.
To sum up: I certainly understand that folks sometimes don't like to support public programs with which they don't agree...but where does that attitude end? Should public schools stop installing or maintaining elevators because most students don't need wheelchairs?>>>>>>>>>>>>
And this.. from a university Professor? Obviously not a Professor of anything to do with pre-law. People like you are the reason I have become obsessive over this program, exactly the reason. Prior to my IB Obsession, I was the VP for our district's SEPTA, that would be Special Education PTA. In the State of NY, there are no specific laws which protect the rights of the gifted, unlike NC and a couple of other States, so addressing the needs of gifted and talented students fell under the SEPTA umbrella, as well as the needs of the students with disabilities. Those students, specifically those who have the misfortune of being confined to a wheelchair, Wheelhouse, are protected under a Federal Law, you may have heard of it, The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Ring a bell? So your snarky question as to whether public schools should stop installing elevators because most students don't need wheelchairs (a Federally mandated requirement) vs. using public money to fund a non-mandatory controversial foreign program, demonstrates your complete lack of understanding of civil rights, civics and U.S. sovereignty.
But perhaps you were an IB grad yourself. ;-)

ObserverNY of NY 10:27AM April 19, 2009

Since your district is considering the MYP in an effort to "raise academic standards", allow me to refer you to a doctoral thesis which studied MYP vs. Non-MYP:
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04172006-173212/unrestricted/DissertationDeborahRJackson.pdf
Please feel free to present these results to your administrators as scholarly evidence that MYP will NOT improve your academic standards.

ObserverNY of NC 10:08AM April 19, 2009

MYTH: IB programs are pilot programs for UNESCO and the UN, developed for the purpose of
creating an “international education system.”
FACT: The IB was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 as a non-profit educational foundation. Its original purpose was to facilitate the international mobility of students preparing for university by providing schools with a curriculum and diploma recognized by universities
around the world. Since then its mission has expanded, and it now seeks to make an IB education available to students of all ages. The IB, along with approximately 400 other organizations, is part of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC). This relationship with the United Nations and its agencies does not extend to curriculum development or assessments.
In 1996, IBO officially formed a partnership with UNESCO to create what it called “a universal curriculum framework for world peace.” According to the UNESCO website, “UNESCO leads the global Education for All movement, aiming to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015.” It is also important to note that funding to IBO from UNESCO has continued to the present day and is evidenced in any of IBO’s Annual Reports under Contributors. Ian Hill, IBO’s Deputy Director, has been quoted as saying, “The primary goal of IBO is the promotion of World Citizenship.”
IBO is guilty of lying by omission. Whatever value or benefit can be found within the DP in terms of educational rigor must be countered with the knowledge that IBO lies about its true agenda and relationship with UNESCO. From its intellectual origins in 1948, to its current agreement with UNESCO for “Peace Education” which is in effect through 2010, IBO is undeniably philosophically and fiscally committed to integrate UNESCO’s educational goals into its curriculum. It is therefore completely disingenuous and misleading of IBO to frame the two statements above as “myths”. IBO’s “facts” merely confirm the “myths”, but also take it a step further by attempting to deny its primary goal of creating an “international education system”.
I, for one, am sick and tired of IBO and its supporters calling those of us who have researched this organization's history and documents being called liars and conspiracy theorists. If parents can't trust an organization to tell the truth about its origins, philosophy and fiscal ties, how can we possibly trust the same organization to teach children how to "know what they know" ?

ObserverNY of NY 9:55AM April 19, 2009

"What it is NOT is a cult, an leftist indoctrination program, an anti-American UN-based curriculum or anything of the sort."
With all due respect Ann, your research was incomplete.
The IB Diploma Programme, or simply the DP, is the most widely recognized and promoted of the three IB programs. Established in 1968, the DP was developed to provide the children of diplomats a claim to an international diploma which could be recognized by universities as a “rigorous” standard of a well rounded education.
According to former IBO Director General George Walker, “the intellectual process that would culminate in the IB Diploma Programme” was launched in 1948 by Marie-Therese Maurette, former Director of the International School of Geneva, Ecolint. Maurette wrote a paper for UNESCO called “Ways of Educating for Peace: do they exist?” Maurette’s pedagogy included the promotion of bilingualism, community service, and the specific caveat that “history should not be taught before the age of 12 to avoid it becoming a catalogue of national heroes and patriotic celebrations. When introduced, it must be world history.”
In 1951, the International Schools Association (ISA) was created in Geneva with the express purpose of “furthering world peace and international understanding through education”. Most of ISA’s educational creations ended up in the archives until 1968, when the ISA became the International Baccalaureate Organization.
IBO’s relationship with UNESCO is probably the most disputed of all aspects of its programs. IBO even went to great lengths to develop and distribute what it calls its “Myths vs. Facts” document. The following are the first two items on this IBO “fact” sheet:
MYTH - IB is funded by UNESCO.
FACT: The International Baccalaureate (IB) was funded by the United Nations Education Service and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the 20th Century Fund, and the Ford Foundation until 1976. From 1977 the Heads Standing Conference (HSC) of Diploma Programme (Diploma)
schools was formed and they began to pay the IB an annual subscription fee. In countries where state schools offered the IB Diploma Programme, the governments made financial contributions, and some continue to do so on a reduced basis. In return for these fees, the IB helped schools implement the IB Diploma Programme, offered training workshops and teaching materials to IB teachers, and managed a system of external examinations for IB diploma candidates.
[CONT.]

ObserverNY of NY 9:51AM April 19, 2009

"IB is not anti American, that is ridiculous, it's to be fair and supportive of ALL people not just Americans, tell you what, we are not the greatest country nor is any other."
Thomas, do you need an IB program to enable you to "be fair and supportive of ALL people?" I don't think so, but you do need to study U.S History and the U.S. Constitution to gain a full appreciation for the country that you will (I assume) live in and vote in and pay taxes to.
Nevertheless, your globalist remarks should earn you an A on your next IB essay.

Debbie G. of CA 9:07PM March 28, 2009

I have read these posts with much interest since my district is still 'exploring' whether or not to implement the MYP. We do not have a primary IB nor do we have the diploma program. We are focusing on middle school in an effort, we are told, to raise academic standards in the district. What I have not been able to determine, through any of the literature, listening to coordinators, and even while attending level II training, is how this different from any other best practices approach. It seems to me that our money would be better used on high quality staff developers, as opposed to IB trained coordinators. If a district holds itself to high standards and has the administration doing the same by holding teachers accountable for high quality teaching while at the same time supporting them when parents complain about students being held to the same high standards, then why do we need IB? Are they just there as the babysitter/policeman who makes sure that we are doing a good job? I have no problem at all with the IB approach to unit planning, but I still don't understand why we need them to watch over us.

Sue of NY 7:35PM March 25, 2009

Hi Im a high school student of Suncoast High School located in Florida. The IB program is more creative in how it tests its students. I am in three AP course, and currently in IB Pre Calc. With IB math we are required to make an investigation of something that has not been discussed in class. This is to help those who are not good test takers. I believe that IB is the stepping stone for being creative where the AP lacks. Both programs are rigorous and rewarding. And IB is not anti American, that is ridiculous, it's to be fair and supportive of ALL people not just Americans, tell you what, we are not the greatest country nor is any other.

Thomas Cirino of FL 2:50PM March 22, 2009