Reply to Workload at Richard Montgomery IB magnet program

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[quote=Anonymous]I went to RM IB for high school--coming up on 20 years since graduation (scary).  It doesn't sound like things have changed that much.

Yes, it was a TON of work, much of which was not useful.  In particular, we had these long exams on European history that basically involved memorizing chapters of a book by RR Palmer.  History was so intense that I remember I got a 5 on the AP European History exam literally without studying for it, even though the curriculum for AP Euro was somewhat different from the IB.  A number of what could have been electives had I attended another school were instead consumed by quirky IB curriculum requirements, like these endless European History classes which left no room for World History, and a completely useless class in "Theory of Knowledge" taught by an English teacher.  I wanted to take Creative Writing, but had to take four years of "IB English" instead.  I really missed having freedom to explore different things, which I didn't have as much of in college since I majored in a technical subject which had a ton of requirements.

The foreign language department was excellent.

College humanities seemed very easy relatively.  I was not, however, well prepared in math or science.  At the time, RM science was not strong.

Many of my peers were amazing and have gone on to become well known doctors, professors, musicians, attorneys, etc.  That said a lot of the folks coming out of RM who went to colleges like Northwestern or Oberlin would easily have been valedictorian of their home schools and gone to Harvard.  Things were very competitive; not just in the classroom but extracurriculars--lots of competition to be Features Editor for the Tide, or Fiction Editor of Fine Lines, or to make the "It's Academic" TV show, for example...so that meant there were often less opportunities then there might have been in a smaller pond.

I live in the RM boundary now, and have young children.  I am not sure whether or not I would want my kids to go to the magnet.  I think I would prefer them to go somewhere like Churchill where they might have many of the same opportunities, but more freedom to explore things, and maybe less pressure.  But RM was an excellent experience academically.[/quote]

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