The elimination of the International Baccalaureate program in Upper St. Clair was front page news on the Post Gazette this morning. It's great to see education issues getting such coverage in this day and age, but maddening to see the reason why.
Read the article, and then hit the comments section. One comment in support, and countless against. Every comment against this action by the school board expressed dismay and disbelief that people want to limit educational opportunities for students.
And that's what has happened here; an opportunity to prepare extremely gifted students for the highest colleges in our country has been eliminated. Go to the IB website and browse around a little. I didn't see anything there that suggested any comment, positive or negative, on religion. Look at the diploma program curriculum. Languages, computer science, service and an extended essay. People, that is what isn't being taught to students around this country, but what is expected of those same students when they get to college. The service requirement is one that is required by some school districts here in Pittsburgh, and is also a part of several different honor programs students join to pad that college application. All of this wrapped into one integrated curriculum and taught by the best teachers the school has, who also must undergo extensive training.
The excuse of cost-cutting is laughable. Has anyone been to Upper St. Clair high school recently? Beautiful facility. Looks only a few years old. Has A/C. (My high school didn't and doesn't to this day.) Great athletic facilities. A pool. Nice synthetic football field. Lots of land around the school, plenty of parking for the cars the students drive in every day. Am I describing a school system in financial peril here? If anyone really wants to see the numbers, download the district's budget. Be patient, it's a big file, but the $184,000 paid for tax collection services I found to be rather interesting, or the $1.15 million for the guidance department.
I've been seething about this all day. I talked to the FC guys about it today, something I usually wouldn't do. Subjects like this fall in "blog zone" where discussions can be more free-form and people can express their opinions without names attached, if they prefer. However, I felt that my role as mentor to the guys called for a comment on my part.
I've written this more times than I can count, but will write it here again: please, PLEASE THINK. REASON. TELL ME I'M WRONG. I want that here. I welcome that. Write out your position and defend it, because that is what is expected of people out here in the real world, in the business world, in every facet of our society. People who can express themselves and their positions sell more stuff, make better deals, read and comprehend better and generally kick more ass.
If people had a problem with some facet of the IB program, or how something was taught, why didn't they talk to a teacher, or (gasp) educate their own kids on their values? Perhaps some people feared their kids might examine their values and......find them wanting? Isn't that part of raising your kids? They are supposed to become their own people, with their own thoughts and ideas.
Anyone who reads this blog can guess my political leanings pretty quickly. However, I defy anyone to accuse me of being a socialist or anti-American. Read two posts down. I believe our students should be taught about the wider world, because they will come to the conclusion I have: the world has lots of problems and lots of cultures. There's good ideas in most cultures. But I believe my culture (western) and country (America) to be the best in the world, and unlike some politicians here and in Washington, I can speak on that issue with some intelligence and logic. The IB program helps the brightest kids to form their own conclusions, and isn't that what education is supposed to be?
So answer the question: How have the students of Upper St. Clair school district benefited from dropping International Baccalaureate?
Categories: Politics
8 comments:
As a high school counselor with many years experience in a school with IB, I have to wholeheardedly agree with Jay about the elimination of IB at Upper St.Clair. It appears the school board there has been taken over by people who are so unsure of their values that they feel that close examination of all cultures different from our own is somehow dangerous. How can education be dangerous? The parents who value the program must band together to throw these self appointed mullahs out. They need a recall election. I hope they have the guts to fight this. IB, unlike AP, is an integrated program that requires students to take a college level curriculum in all academic areas. In AP, students can pick and choose subjects based on strength and interest. In IB, everything is college level, including a second language, a philosophy course that ties all the courses together called Theory of Knowledge (that is probably what they object to, examination of what we "know" to be true), they sit for externally scored exams in both the jr. and sr. year, they have guided course work, papers that are sent for scoring as well as the 4,000 word Extended Essay, a research paper in an academic area. They have a 150 hour service component. IB students do not have to be the very brightest, but they do have to be willing to work very hard, to love learning, to be willing to think and defend their arguements with evidence and research. IB is the very best training possible for college and living in a diverse and changing world. For that reason, the best colleges seek out IB students where ever they find them. I am very sorry for the students who have been blindsided by this school board. I hope the parents will stand against this. I am reminded of the good Episcopal prayer: Almighty God, Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name.
In lighter news, my English teacher informed me that the College Board (the AP guys) are moving towards making AP tests mandatory at the end of the year. He also informed me that the school can (and should always) foot the bill for the AP exams. I'm not quite sure of the details, but it should be looked into.
Why should AP tests be mandatory? Some of us take AP courses not for the tests, but because they're the top course offered for the subject and we'd be frustrated with the level of the accelerated or "merge" classes. Also, the college I have been accepted to doesn't even take all AP tests, so why should I be forced to take a test that won't count for anything? That being said, I think you should take an AP test for a course unless it doesn't matter anymore or you didn't do well in the course and/or would feel very uncomfortable taking the test. I am not very good at writing timed essays for tests (I take too long) so I didn't take the AP English 11 test.
The only things I know about IB programs are from the articles in the newspaper, the commets, and the IB website, but right now I don't think they should have eliminated the program. For God's
sake (no pun intended), it's voluntary, isn't it? My 10th grade history teacher is a Marxist, and I'm definitely not.
Actually AP tests are great even if your college doesn't accept them as they are a standardized indicator of how much you learned. At the end of high school, I had 10 AP tests completed, and I used none of them in college. However, they were a marker of how I compared to students across the country on the same subject. Kind of like SAT II tests. They have a purpose outside of acceleration.
Listen chubbs, I got C's in all of my AP courses last year and scored 3, 3, and 4 on Biology, English, and History (respectively). Just because you didn't do well in a class doesn't mean you don't know the subject (proof=me).
And if the CB were to tack on the AP Exams as mandatory, wouldn't it take the place of a final? One of the problems I had was having to take AP Exams, and then the final a month later. Making the AP exams mandatory would make it much easier.
Hmmm,
Steve, I sense a little anger. In my high school, we didn't have finals, we just had the AP. That did cut down on the work load quite a bit.
I've never gotten out of taking a final by taking an AP exam. The only course in our school that I've heard of that happening in is AP Spanish V. I really wish we could take the AP exam instead of the final. In every case (for me) the AP exam has been more challenging than the class final for the subject.
That's a good thing.
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