IB

[Anonymous]

The tone of your post suggested frustration with any criticisms of IB. The teacher never suggested that she knows her students better than the parents know their own children.

The teacher clearly implied parents asking for IB don't really know what they are asking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is IB not popular on this board?

A variety of reasons. Initially, IB was put into struggling high schools as a way to improve them and induce middle class families to stay. In some of those schools the IB program never really caught on and remains underutilized. Part of the issue is that the full IB diploma is very rigorous and involves a lot of writing, extracurricular and service requirements, plus a thesis-like essay at the end. So it's something that appeals most to the top and most conscientious students. Students can still take individual IB classes, much like AP, but initially, at least there was the perception that colleges give more credit for AP than IB.

A lot of posters also object to the marginally higher test fees for IB which are paid by FCPS, but I think that could be easily managed by having both AP and IB test fees paid for by students.

Source please, I don't think that this is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The tone of your post suggested frustration with any criticisms of IB. The teacher never suggested that she knows her students better than the parents know their own children.

The teacher clearly implied parents asking for IB don't really know what they are asking for.

That speaks to the content of IB, not the parents' knowledge of their own children. You really do seem to be sputtering here, again because you take offense at any criticism of IB, direct or implied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is IB not popular on this board?

A variety of reasons. Initially, IB was put into struggling high schools as a way to improve them and induce middle class families to stay. In some of those schools the IB program never really caught on and remains underutilized. Part of the issue is that the full IB diploma is very rigorous and involves a lot of writing, extracurricular and service requirements, plus a thesis-like essay at the end. So it's something that appeals most to the top and most conscientious students. Students can still take individual IB classes, much like AP, but initially, at least there was the perception that colleges give more credit for AP than IB.

A lot of posters also object to the marginally higher test fees for IB which are paid by FCPS, but I think that could be easily managed by having both AP and IB test fees paid for by students.

Source please, I don't think that this is true.

Then you would be wrong.

http://www.amazon.com/Supertest-International-Baccalaureate-Strengthen-Schools/dp/081269600X

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is IB not popular on this board?

A variety of reasons. Initially, IB was put into struggling high schools as a way to improve them and induce middle class families to stay. In some of those schools the IB program never really caught on and remains underutilized. Part of the issue is that the full IB diploma is very rigorous and involves a lot of writing, extracurricular and service requirements, plus a thesis-like essay at the end. So it's something that appeals most to the top and most conscientious students. Students can still take individual IB classes, much like AP, but initially, at least there was the perception that colleges give more credit for AP than IB.

A lot of posters also object to the marginally higher test fees for IB which are paid by FCPS, but I think that could be easily managed by having both AP and IB test fees paid for by students.

Source please, I don't think that this is true.

Then you would be wrong.

http://www.amazon.com/Supertest-International-Baccalaureate-Strengthen-Schools/dp/081269600X

Not really, the example cited in that book is not one of the initial IB schools in the country, let alone the area. The initial purpose of IB was different although I now see your point. Nonetheless, it is a wonderful program that helps immensely with college-preparedness.

[Anonymous]

IB clearly is not the preferred program for college preparedness in Fairfax County. The fact that only six of the county's 237 2016 NMSF attend IB high schools really does speak volumes, even if you refuse to admit it. The sooner we cut back on IB, the better.

[Anonymous]

I firmly believe that both AP and IB can prepare a motivated student for college, if the teachers are good. Quality of the teacher trumps curriculum differences. A teacher like the PP, with a chip on her shoulder can do a lot of damage no matter which program they are teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I firmly believe that both AP and IB can prepare a motivated student for college, if the teachers are good. Quality of the teacher trumps curriculum differences. A teacher like the PP, with a chip on her shoulder can do a lot of damage no matter which program they are teaching.

You are being ridiculous. The teacher who posted today has no chip on his or her shoulder. He or she has simply evaluated the respective curricula and concluded that AP is the more demanding and rigorous of the two. Others may disagree, but insulting his character makes you look foolish and overly defensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I firmly believe that both AP and IB can prepare a motivated student for college, if the teachers are good. Quality of the teacher trumps curriculum differences. A teacher like the PP, with a chip on her shoulder can do a lot of damage no matter which program they are teaching.

So basically, I am a poor quality teacher "with a chip on my shoulder" because I have asserted that, based on my experience teaching both programs, AP English is much better than IB English? And--let me make sure that I understand correctly--I "can do a lot of damage", and you know this because I...prefer AP to IB, and I tell parents this?

I teach both AP and IB. I have no emotional attachment to either, and no ulterior motive for asserting that AP English is much more rigorous/beneficial to top college-bound students. IB isn't a bad program, but it isn't the best, and I directed my own child to do AP.

My IB and AP students achieve consistently excellent scores on their respective assessments, so whatever damage I am doing must not be so great...

[Anonymous]

I trust the teacher's assessment! Who better to compare the two than someone who teaches both!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I firmly believe that both AP and IB can prepare a motivated student for college, if the teachers are good. Quality of the teacher trumps curriculum differences. A teacher like the PP, with a chip on her shoulder can do a lot of damage no matter which program they are teaching.

So basically, I am a poor quality teacher "with a chip on my shoulder" because

What other reason to post on a local forum with a very narrow focus while living and working in Europe, than a chip on the shoulder?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach HL IB English at an International School; I also teach AP English. AP English is significantly more intense, difficult, and content-dense. In the International School world in Europe, students and parents believe (no matter how I explain otherwise) that IB is "better" and "harder", and this is disastrous for the students who take AP English believing it is easier. Plus, students who love literature really miss out by taking IB English rather than AP.

The Math teachers at our school who teach both IB and AP also agree that AP is more rigorous.

IB is the Emperor's new clothes of education, and the philosophical component sounds great, but is largely worthless and is executed at the expense of subject matter content, in my opinion. My own son did the AP Diploma; I strongly discouraged him from doing IB. I am a bit sad to see some very intelligent kids who love literature in my HL IB classes this year, as opposed to my AP class, because I know they would get so much more out of AP.

IB was developed for the International School world and that is where I am teaching; I don't even see how it is fully implemented/applicable to schools in America. And yet, even in overseas International Schools, I think AP is vastly superior.

Thank you for sharing your perspective (assuming this was not just a cut-and-paste of the teacher's comment from another website). This is very consistent with what we see and public schools in Northern Virginia, where IB is of primary interest to white parents who like it because it is has "international" in the title. Meanwhile, the Asian parents who pay the most attention to the education of their children gravitate towards the AP schools.

I'm Asian-American and plan to send my children to an IB high school. My old roommate at Harvard attended an IB school. Her high school experience sounded amazing compared to my affluent New England college prep school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I firmly believe that both AP and IB can prepare a motivated student for college, if the teachers are good. Quality of the teacher trumps curriculum differences. A teacher like the PP, with a chip on her shoulder can do a lot of damage no matter which program they are teaching.

So basically, I am a poor quality teacher "with a chip on my shoulder" because

What other reason to post on a local forum with a very narrow focus while living and working in Europe, than a chip on the shoulder?

That's silly, and you can be sure Jeff lets advertisers know that forum readers and posters live in many different locations. The breadth of the forums on DCUM attracts a wide readership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I firmly believe that both AP and IB can prepare a motivated student for college, if the teachers are good. Quality of the teacher trumps curriculum differences. A teacher like the PP, with a chip on her shoulder can do a lot of damage no matter which program they are teaching.

So basically, I am a poor quality teacher "with a chip on my shoulder" because

What other reason to post on a local forum with a very narrow focus while living and working in Europe, than a chip on the shoulder?

If you moved to Europe for your job, would you stop posting on this forum? Should one cease posting on this site after leaving American soil?

The irony of your sentiment is that it is very, very anti-IB. The IB program's main foundation office is in Switzerland. The original framework/pedagogy for the IB program was created by a French woman, Marie-Thérèse Dupuy, who worked at the Geneva International School, and the IB grew into maturity as it was used at multiple other International Schools (well before it was adopted in the US). The promotion of "international mindedness" is intrinsic to the IB curriculum; I placed "international mindedness in quotation marks because this term appears over and over in the IB documents/materials that state requirements of approach and material to IB teachers. In fact, there are very specific requirements about texts for Parts 3 and 4 of the IB English program, meant to ensure that multiple geographic locations are represented in literature choices. The IB teacher training sessions and materials that were originally used to show American teachers in the US how to teach IB, and to introduce the curriculum, were developed by teachers who had been teaching IB in International Schools. Yet you feel that the views of an educator who has been teaching IB at one of the those schools in which IB was "born", one of those schools that used IB long before it arrived in the US, are not welcome or relevant in your discussion of the merits of IB? You know, a person with your attitude toward the validity/desirability of writing/viewpoint based on the author's geographic location is VERY anti-IB, and you yourself would struggle mightily with several IB courses because of your outlook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I firmly believe that both AP and IB can prepare a motivated student for college, if the teachers are good. Quality of the teacher trumps curriculum differences. A teacher like the PP, with a chip on her shoulder can do a lot of damage no matter which program they are teaching.

So basically, I am a poor quality teacher "with a chip on my shoulder" because

What other reason to post on a local forum with a very narrow focus while living and working in Europe, than a chip on the shoulder?

If you moved to Europe for your job, would you stop posting on this forum? Should one cease posting on this site after leaving American soil?

The irony of your sentiment is that it is very, very anti-IB. The IB program's main foundation office is in Switzerland. The original framework/pedagogy for the IB program was created by a French woman, Marie-Thérèse Dupuy, who worked at the Geneva International School, and the IB grew into maturity as it was used at multiple other International Schools (well before it was adopted in the US). The promotion of "international mindedness" is intrinsic to the IB curriculum; I placed "international mindedness in quotation marks because this term appears over and over in the IB documents/materials that state requirements of approach and material to IB teachers. In fact, there are very specific requirements about texts for Parts 3 and 4 of the IB English program, meant to ensure that multiple geographic locations are represented in literature choices. The IB teacher training sessions and materials that were originally used to show American teachers in the US how to teach IB, and to introduce the curriculum, were developed by teachers who had been teaching IB in International Schools. Yet you feel that the views of an educator who has been teaching IB at one of the those schools in which IB was "born", one of those schools that used IB long before it arrived in the US, are not welcome or relevant in your discussion of the merits of IB? You know, a person with your attitude toward the validity/desirability of writing/viewpoint based on the author's geographic location is VERY anti-IB, and you yourself would struggle mightily with several IB courses because of your outlook.

+1000.