Letter:

I reject that, as IB DP coordinator Heather McKinney told the Vision, “The students who chose to pursue the IB Diploma Programme . . . are risk takers who deserve our utmost respect.” Although I agree that all of my peers deserve respect, the insinuation that IB students are more deserving of respect than other students is something which sits uneasily with me. Taking IB was a choice–not an ultimate sacrifice. Students who chose to pursue the diploma desired a rigorous course load, investing considerable time to ensure the course was right for them. Hopefully none of these students would enter the program believing that they were making a great risk that could damage their education.

It has become difficult to have an honest and open conversation with my friends about our differing academic perspectives and desires. If I question a part of the IB curriculum, the assumption is that I am criticizing the IB diploma candidate at an intense and personal level. I respect that every student has the power to make decisions regarding their academic future. However I do not believe that students who enter a specific academic pathway intrinsically ‘demand respect’. As a student who has chosen to obtain college credit not through IB but through AP classes, I can wholeheartedly say that the decision was right for me. Although briefly considering IB as I am sure every student now will, compelled by administrators who would like to grow the program, I realized that the demands of IB would not bring to fruition my academic goals as well as AP does. I appreciate the track record of the teachers who have taught the class for numerous years and know the curriculum inside and out. With AP I have concrete results, classes which last only 1 year, and confidence that I can achieve scores that will result in college credit. Because our school has not yet graduated an IB cohort, there is a lot more uncertainty about how IB translates past graduation.

For some students the IB program is an amazing fit. However the IB program also impacts those who have not chosen to pursue the diploma or certificate and have no desire to be affiliated with IB. Regular junior English and Spanish classes have been replaced with English and Spanish SL. As a student currently taking Spanish SL it is frustrating to complete IB assignments when I have no desire to take any IB tests. Instead of using junior year to prepare for the difficult AP Spanish exams, I am forced to focus on IB standards. Although I could take the SL exam, it seems pointless to spend $160 to register for IB and $110 dollars for the exam when I will be taking AP next year.

My peers in IB have often told me that because I am not in the program I have no right to object to the IB curriculum. However, neither do IB students withhold the right to push their passion for the IB program onto underclassmen. Instead the administration and students should work together to encourage a more open conversation about the benefits of both programs. Students shouldn’t be pushed to join IB just because they fit the profile of a high-achieving student. Instead, we should consider that IB and AP are both excellent college-preparatory programs, and leave students to make their decisions more independently. As one cannot truly understand the IB experience unless in it, it makes sense that IB students should consider that not every student will take to the curriculum as they have. Just as I respect the decisions of IB students, I hope that IB students will also respect my right to pursue my own academic path.

As politics have become increasingly polarized, it becomes difficult to reach a middle ground. No one can seem to agree and everyone feels that “their side” has been personally wronged by the opposing view. Just like larger world issues, the controversy of IB vs AP has achieved such polarization. I would love for our school to engage in open and free discussion regarding this matter. The student body would all benefit from the objective truths of IB. Until we can receive information about IB outside of promotional meetings and “mythbusting” articles, there exists a restriction within the flow of information regarding IB. With such bias, how can the reported information really hold the weight of ‘facts’? I am still unsure about whether East’s motivation for certification was not motivated by the status of an IB world school, displayed proudly on East’s official website. I have yet to see proof that the Top 10 will not be substantially composed of IB students, whose weighted GPAs surely benefit from weighted and extra classes. Many ‘facts’ regarding IB lie in the shadows of the administration’s need to recruit IB candidates, leaving the whole IB program with a commercial air, with the first and second cohort seeming like products proudly displayed. Never before has East so blatantly recruited students for classes, leaving me with the question, does the curriculum really stand for itself or does the East administration have something to prove after investing considerable time and money in the certification process? Only time will tell how the investment pays off.

— Audrey Pyper ’19

Response:

Audrey,

My intent with the IB Mythbusters article was not to resolve the IB issue once and for all; instead it was meant to start a conversation which others (like you) can continue. I was willing to explore IB’s impact on EGRHS because I believe I am obligated as a journalist to cover newsworthy, interesting, and controversial topics. Although my article put forward the myths and mythbusters in a very straightforward way it’s hardly a straightforward matter to address. This can be seen in how I often put qualifiers in the mythbusters, which means that although I mostly refuted the myths I also somewhat confirmed them as being at least partially true.

I completely agree with you that one article cannot even begin to come close to resolving all the many questions and issues presented by the IB Diploma Programme. As a school community, we definitely need more open discussion on both sides about how the IB Diploma Programme is changing East Grand Rapids High School for the better and also maybe for the worse.

To continue this discussion, I would like to point out your astute comment about the “commercial air” of the IB Diploma Programme. There’s no question that AP classes have never been as heavily advertised as IB ones. Despite the fact that IB is considered by many as being harder than AP, the stance of the school is that the IB is open to everyone and their expectation is that everyone should be able to participate. (As someone who was heavily discouraged from taking AP as a freshman even though it was an available option, it does seem strange to me that another rigorous course should be the object of so much advertising and publicity.)

Once again, thank you for taking the time to respond to my article!

— Lauren Vanden Bosch ’19, Web Editor

Read the article this letter is addressing here.