Reply to What are my child's chances of getting into the IB program?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My daughter is in 8th grade. She wants to go to the IB program at RM. She enjoys english and history class but doesn't like math. She also really enjoys her foreign language and she skipped level 2 of the language. Her spring map r was a 262 and her fall was 253 (don't know what happened there). Her extracurriculars are okay (should have pushed her more lol). However, I have heard that this program is very stressful and has a lot of work. It is also very hard to get in. Do you think it is a good fit for her and what are her chances of gettting in? (I'm hoping for at least 70%). [/quote]

The chances are slim. These decisions are random. Even if your child is a great fit, I wouldn't count on it.[/quote]

Not random for HS criteria-based magnets: application/review/selection.

There have been modifications over the past few years to the application process that make the information available to reviewers more constrcted than before, in an attempt to limit bias.  From that perspective, it may appear more random.

The litmus/lottery approach currently applies to elementary and middle school criteria-based programs (CES, Humanities, Math/Science/CS).[/quote]

The criteria makes it random. 400 applicants appear comparable on paper so only way to distinguish is random.[/quote]

This feels like sour grapes. If you count the regional IB magnets, there are plenty of spaces for kids who are qualified and interested. Most kids accepted to RMIB are also accepted to their "regional" IB program, which means a ton of spots often open up in the regional program. Now, you may or may not think that choice is valid or worth the commute, but it is a bona fide magnet program offering four years of cohorted classes and a full IB diploma option. [/quote]

That's great as long as they offer equivalent access to every flavor of IB class that is available at RMIB to any student at the regional/local IB programs.  Is that the case, no matter how few request that at a particular school in a given semester/year?[/quote]

You're the pedantic parent who keeps yammering on about this based on schools your kid didn't attend, and IB programs you've never seen.

To the best of their ability, the regional programs offer a wide variety of IB programs, and no, they don't offer AP calc and call it IB. HL IB math is its own thing. Actually there's more than one version of it at my kids' regional IB, and no, I don't know the specifics because my IB kid is a math dum-dum who takes the two-year SL class. There's not that many who do.

I would really like if we could talk about regional IBs without having people chime in to tell us:

1.) They're inferior 
2.) All IB programs are inferior.

This isn't true. And I'm very tired of explaining.

You're just coming across as someone who may be a bit ND and can't let go of the fact that they have to show us how their child is superior. Repeatedly. When I say you come across ND I don't mean that to be cruel, it's just the kindest reason I can come up with as to why you feel like you need to repeatedly contribute to this thread about schools your kids don't attend, and won't attend.

I wish you and your family all the best. And I'm very happy our children don't go to the same school. [/quote]

I think IB may have some benefits, but we’re restricting this discussion to the math pathway, consisting of algebra, geometry, (statistics), precalculus, calculus, multivariable, linear algebra, differential equations that form the foundation of high schools/undergraduate general education in mathematics for many majors and career paths.

IB along with AP and DE are some of the ways to access these courses, there’s nothing magic about the IB program that makes it notably better than the other options. If anything the IB HL math is an awkward combination of precalculus, calculus and statistics that is not the most complete or flexible arrangement. Ok, maybe it’s passable because you also have to write a ten page essay on theory of knowledge. Not sure why this is so amazing, but you can argue it’s different from the problem sets you typically do in other classes.

The question in the previous post was why chose the IB path if other options like AP and DE are available. If you’ve done AP calculus BC there’s zero reason to take two years of HL math and I maintain it’s a waste of time compared to following the sequence with multivariable, linear algebra and differential equations. If anyone has a good argument I would really like to consider it.

Often the defense of the program is something along the lines “my niece was at RMIB and she’s now at UVA and is totally not afraid to tackle on essay assignments that are 5 pages single spaced.” While I agree that knowing how to write well is important, I don’t think it’s a substitute for rigorous math education and it’s much easier to learn how to write than to build up a solid foundation in math.

[/quote]

The person who started this thread has a daughter who doesn't like math. For some reason, with the tenacity of a shark you've clamped down hard on math pedagogy and are now insisting on mathsplaining to us all, for pages and pages, why IB is inferior, especially regional programs.

I understand that you have genuine, obsessive questions about AB Calculus, questions that seem to have more to do with you explaining to us that you've taken it than anything relevant to us.

Some people are math people, PP. There's no shame in that. From your narrow perspective, you probably wonder why we're all still talking at all since you've shown us how wrong we all are. Why don't we concede the point and agree with you? From your perspective, what you've said is a proved therom. It's done. Finito.

But let me posit my own therom: you may think writing is easy because you never learned to read. [/quote]

We’re discussing some aspects of IB and some poster linked to the RMIB with MVC, AP calculus etc.

I agree with you that writing is important, although not sure the type of writing done in the IB program is that good at preparing a student for college. I looked up some math theory of knowledge essays and they are really underwhelming, not sure they are representative, but essentially they are in a humanities format about a mathematical topic. Maybe other places better prepare the students for this task.

What I believe is missing from a high school education is how to write a technical exposition that most people do in their job. for example collect some data, present it in a visual format, interpret and discuss it, draw some conclusions, do some background research to give context, use logic, mathematical equations, and sentences to make a coherent argument. Most recent college grads that I see at my work don’t know how to do this, although they’ve been hammered for years with the five paragraph format. Professional writing is different, the language needs to be more precise, clarity is very important and is a more complex task in general because you need to integrate different types of information.

When I say it’s easier to learn how to write is because from my experience you can take a fresh grad with solid background and teach them how to write with some guidance, but if the technical background is weak they usually are a lost cause.

I think the better preparation and exposure for this type of writing is to do an internship or volunteer and participate in writing a report or a paper. [/quote]

Interning and participating in research is something many people do. In college. Are you dunning MCPS for not offering its high school students enough internships? Sad that the NIH doesn't want more of them to co-author papers?

If so that is... An opinion.

The true purpose of your post seems to be to present yourself as an expert among laymen, to emphasize to us all how important your job is, and how this makes you an authority on the International Bacc, although you have not taken it or had a child who took it. I'm sure you're quite distinguished in your field and have the best of intentions, but, as with science, perhaps you should defer, at least in part, to people with experience in the field. 
[/quote]

DP. Yeah, I'm a bit confused about that myself. As far as I can tell, this PP

-hasn't done the IB Program
-doesn't have a child who did the IB Program
-hasn't taught in the IB Program
-nonetheless has very strong opinions about the failings of the IB program[/quote]

I see you’re confused but that has probably something to do with you not being that bright. By your silly argument, nobody ever should have an opinion about anything unless they’ve personally experienced it. [/quote]
dp..  You have no clue what/how the writing is taught yet you have opinions about it.

I bet if someone opined about something that you have experience with but others don't, you'd tell them, "[b]You aren't too bright to have an opinion about something you have never experienced.[/b]"

I worked with a guy who didn't have kids, yet he had endless amounts of opinions on how to parent and would share those opinions with those of us who had kids. He thought he was so smart and was full of himself. You sound like that guy.

You aren't too bright yourself.  Maybe stop posting your uninformed opinions.[/quote]

Bolded is proof that writing is not your strongest suit. But hey, your kid was in the IB program and that makes you an expert.

Logic isn’t your strong suit either. I actually researched the program for my kid and decided it was not a good fit for the reasons I outlined above. Some people might find those arguments useful if they consider that choice. Then you’re whining that whatever I say is not valid because I don’t put my kid through the program. [/quote]
I can research a car, but without ever test driving it, I really don't know what it's like to drive the car.  But, I'm more likely to take the opinion of someone who test drove the car than someone who only researched about it.

My kid at least learned some critical thinking skills in their IBDP.  So, yea, my kid and I are more of an expert on the IBDP than you are.[/quote]

Test driving a car and attending a school are vastly different in terms of opportunity cost. You can’t do two programs at the same time for a direct comparison and the sample size is usually very small.

Of course you’ll talk to people that went through the program, visit the school, talk to the teachers, and do the same for the alternatives under consideration. You also need to do your own research, like a course catalogue, syllabus, typical course sequence, college admission outcomes to ultimately evaluate if it’s a good fit for your student.

Not sure why when someone points a potential negative aspect of the IB, people react so negatively and take it so personally, it’s almost cult like. I have no problem if someone criticizes the AP or DE route my child followed, as with everything, each have their strengths and weaknesses.
[/quote]
Pointing out negatives of the program is fine, if you have experience with it.  I will admit to some negatives. But, you opined about the writing, something your research would not give you much information about. That's why I called you out.[/quote]

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