Hello all and good evening,
I guess I wanted to talk a little bit about IB Diploma and IB classes in general. I have come to the conclusion that IB Diploma was one of the best decisions of my high school career. However, it is a lot of work and I think people are starting to ignore that.
Mr. Anderson was telling us a while back that there are now 96 kids taking IB History in comparison to the 40 or so that took it last year. While I think this is fantastic in many ways, I would also like to make a comment as to the negatives.
Plain and simple, many kids aren't cut out for IB.
On the same day Mr. Anderson told me this, I went in after school to talk to him about a test. We got off on a tangent and he told me he went and looked at prior grades kids had received and in many cases, kids taking IB History were receiving D's in their regular History class. These kids simply don't have the work ethic for IB (Maybe I'm not giving them enough credit, but I have a reason!).
Ms. Larson is doing a wonderful job with the IB program at Champlin Park. Her job is to act as a mentor, a teacher but also, a recruiter. She is trying to get college credit for as many kids as she can.
This is a knowledge issue in my opinion. While getting kids college credit is a good thing, is pushing kids into classes that they shouldn't be taking worth it? Is an F in IB History worth it on your HS transcript?
Note- I believe this is happening in other IB/AP classes as well. Also, I think there are many kids who decide to do the full diploma because they were urged into it and they aren't cut out for the workload. I think that the program itself is great and Ms. Larson has done a great job with it but maybe recruiting should be rethought.
An F in any class isn't worth anything, and it's hard to get an F in an IB course if you are actually trying. Those who aren't trying might fail and have to make up the credit with something easier. I think that IB is more work than most people are willing to tolerate, but it's ultimately the choice of a student what classes they are going to take. I say this by being fully aware that parents are the ones who often push kids into IB, but it is the student who makes the decision.
ReplyDeleteI suppose parental influence is definitely something to consider. My case was slightly opposite. I knew I wanted to do full IB but my parents were worried that I would be too focused on school and have no life or that my grades would drop. Obviously, they have been educated a little bit better and now they fully stand behind me. Persistent little sophomore Christian did the right thing after all.
ReplyDelete