IB Costs Increasing
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Anonymous
My kids got the IB diploma, but who cares? When in anyone's life does a high school diploma matter? It's the emphasis on writing that sets them up for success. |
Anonymous
| The idea that IB is only valuable if you get the diploma is so silly. Is AP only valuable if you take 8 AP courses? |
Anonymous
Most of the kids at our high performing AP kids crank out their college essays without the help of college counselors. In fact, with 3 seniors, now on my 4th, I only know of one kid who had a college counselor help with their essay, and that was an only child of very wealthy parents. All the other kids write them on their own, with maybe a proofread and feedback from their AP lit or AP lang teachers. IB is a blatant waste of taxpayer money |
Anonymous
Agree. |
Anonymous
But from what read here, if only taking 8 AP a student is not on track for top schools, right? |
Anonymous
FCPS should keep IB at 2-3 schools, Robinson because IB is successful there, Marshall because they are the top of the middling mediocre IB schools, and only one in the geographical bottom of the county, perhaps at Lewis because it has space. Every other IB program should be eliminated as it is a very expensive, virtually worthless, waste of taxpayer money and a failure based on lack of results. |
Anonymous
We care because IB is a waste of taxpayer money that could be sprnt more effectively on AP. We also care because the low performing schools are flooded with IB programs, which translates into almost all of the hugher performing kids transferring out to get to an AP school, which lowers the achievement and ranking of IB schools turning them into pariah schools, while overcrowding the AP schools, making them targets for rezoning, not because they are overcrowded with in boundary kids but because the IB to AP transfers are pushing the AP schools over capacity and making the IB schools under capacity. |
Anonymous
The entire point of IB os the diploma. |
Anonymous
No it’s not. Are you at an IB school? The entire point of an IB curriculum is multipart and it is all aimed at building up all parts of a student. It’s part global citizen, part classical education, part rigorous curriculum, part critical thinking, part being an engaged and reflective member of your community, and part communication both written and oral. Students benefit from this if they take 1 IB class or all IB classes. At all the IB schools, students take the classes at high rates even if they don’t work towards the IB diploma. They are still benefiting from the program. Are there some shortcomings with IB, yes. Particularly around math, it needs to go deeper into college mathematics. But it’s a great program and sets students up for success in college. All the AP advocates overlook the shortcomings with AP and there are many. The teaching to the test, the lack of depth, the poor development of critical thinking. Then there is the empirical data that a large number of students either don’t take the exam or score 3 or lower. If you are judging IB based on the number achieving the diploma, AP should be judged just as harshly for the students who don’t pass the College Board evaluation. |
Anonymous
| The tiny 2% of people who like IB will convince the SB to keep it at the expense of the rest of the county. With some schools being brutally penalized for having it (transfers out). And taxpayers footing the unnecessary bill. FCPS is lost and will not recover as long as this type of SB reigns. |
Anonymous
Because, contrary to what you are going to post, the IB program is about getting the diploma. It is not about taking the SL classes that kids want to take with a few HL classes. The IB program is not about choosing one or two or three IB classes, the entire program is about getting the diploma. Kids learn to write in AP classes, IB is not the only one that teaches writing. AP provides flexibility which IB does not, unless you decide you are going to treat IB like AP and take only the classes you want. If you are doing that, and not working toward the diploma, then you should be taking AP. |
Anonymous
The IB math and science classes, even the HL ones, are not rigorous enough. They just are not. It does not work for kids who are STEM interested. AP classes teaching writing and communication, they approach it differently but they teach it. There are too many kids signing up for AP classes because FCPS wants every kid to take AP/IB classes and tests, regardless if it is a good fit. The difference is that they are equating IB SL classes with IB HL classes and AP classes. In reality, IB SL classes are honors level classes. I would love to see the percent of kids who take IB SL and IB HL, I would guess that the number of IB HL is very small. |
Anonymous
And if kids only take one or two IB classes, how are they "building up all parts of a student. It’s part global citizen, part classical education, part rigorous curriculum, part critical thinking, part being an engaged and reflective member of your community, and part communication both written and oral." It seems to me that you need the specialized IB classes, plus the IB classes in all fields in order to benefit from the classical education and rigorous curriculum not just one or two SL classes so that they can say kids took an IB class or test. AP English Lit students have had other English classes that teach the "classical" education for English, ie reading books, writing papers, and learning to think critically. They take AP Lit having had that background and then focusing on the material in a manner similar to a college class. Unless you are arguing that deep dives into class literature in AP lit is somehow not teaching kids how to think critically about literature is not a part of classical education. This notion that IB somehow produces a better scholar is false. The only people saying that are the few parents who love the program because it caters to kids who learn in that particular manner. The program makes people feel special because it is exotic and different. Kids come out of AP and IB ready for college. IB costs more and produces fewer kids who follow through with the premise of the program, which is earning the IB degree. AP does not have a similar goal, a specific diploma is not the goal of the program. |
Anonymous
Agree. Somehow, I think that IB proponents assume that AP classes require no writing. It is true that AP math is math, but the English and History AP classes require tons and tons of writing. Sad for the math oriented kid at an IB school. AP offers flexibility--lots of options. |
Anonymous
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Wow the IB hater(s) are out in full force! Really foaming at the mouth!
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