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[quote=Anonymous]PP, let me ask you this... if IB was a "good thing" wouldn't the top five schools in FCPS be clamoring for it?  What do Langley, McLean, Madison, Oakton and Woodson have in common?  All AP schools.  You connect the dots.

To be fair, I do think that IN THEORY, getting an IB diploma is quite an accomplishment.  In practice, very few get the IB diploma b/c of all the hoops required.  IB is a lot less flexible than AP.  For instance, my kid who is in 7th grade will be excluded from getting an IB diploma if she decides to try later (doubtful) b/c she is not taking a foreign language next year in 8th grade.  Without that, she can't fulfill the language requirements for IB diploma.  That seems inflexible to me -- that a 7th grader should have to be that far into the planning (she has no idea what IB even is) and she isn't ready to take foreign language yet.  Then there is the TOK class and the 150 hours of community service (50 hrs in each of three different areas (environment, physical activity, arts)... I give credit to those who do it, but I am not a fan.

AP allows for much greater customization without the overarching "you didn't complete the whole diploma" concept.  Pick which classes you want to take at the college level and go with it.  IB requires you to take one class from each of six genres and 4 have to be 2 yr long classes.  I think it's a lot to expect 16-17 yr olds to commit to taking 2 yr classes (kids in college don't even commit to that).

Anyway -- some people like it, some don't.  But, the numbers and the demand (or lack of demand) pretty much tell the story.[/quote]

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