Reply to why do people prefer AP schools to IB?

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[quote=Anonymous]From that same NYT series, with contributions from multiple authors, including Patrick Welsh (a retired English teacher and well-known contributor to both the Washington Post and The New York Times):

"Our son, who is a strong writer, graduated from an I.B. program and our family was very satisfied with the program and his experience. But we chose not to enroll his siblings in an I.B. program because it simply wasn't right for their learning styles, which are more mathematical and science-focused. Saying the I.B. is beneficial for some students in some situations is one thing. Saying, however, it should become the standard, or even the only option for all U.S. schools, is another."

"American schools’ and students’ experience with. I.B. is a mixed bag...Several programs have low completion rates, 39 percent in some cases. Students beginning but not completing I.B. can find themselves in academic limbo, worse off than if they had never started one."

"In the more affluent, homogeneous sections of Fairfax, high schools such as Langley, where about 2 percent of students are on free or reduced lunch, have rejected I.B. and stuck with the College Board’s Advanced Placement program. And with good reason."

"And for all puffery about the prestige of an I.B. diploma, in many schools the majority of I.B. students end up with only meaningless I.B. certificates awarded to anyone who pays for and takes an I.B. exam regardless of whether he or she passes."

"The International Baccalaureate is also more prescriptive than Advance Placement, boxing in teachers and forcing them to teach courses such as epistemology, the last thing most high school students need."

"The I.B.s breadth poses problems. State schools found that ordinarily intelligent students quite often could not pass all the elements necessary to receive the award. Instead they were given certificates for the bits they had passed. These partial awards proved much less useful in gaining entry to university or employment than the national awards. Schools also found that the I.B. placed heavy demands on scarce resources, including the most important of all, the teachers, since all students had to do all parts, rather than specializing in a few subjects. "

"[F]or those with particular abilities, interests and aspirations single-subject qualifications are often more appropriate. The International Baccalaureate occupies an important niche in England’s education, but adoption of the program has not grown in the way that might have been hoped."

"For school officials and parents to think that getting an I.B. Diploma will turn the next generation into better educated, more productive citizens is, as many of the promises coming from self-appointed education gurus, delusional."[/quote]

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