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<p>Hunt, the Groucho quote is most appropriate and useful. I made the comment about people who have experienced the IB mystique to defend such choice with zeal, based on on … my own eyes. In real life and in this forum in past threads. </p>
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<p>Hunt, please read my comments and check the tenses. What I wrote was:</p>
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<p>In answering the “un-american” stigma, I noted that it would HAVE BEEN better for the opponents of the IB programme to focus on the historical deficiencies of the organization. The creation of the IB program in 1968 was in response to the need of ultra-mobile familes who faced different systems of education. The families of diplomats, international public servants, and foreign executives had few options in the OFFICIAL education system, and had great difficulties to transfer credits from one year to another. This often resulted in children having to attend boarding schools or experiencing delays in graduation. </p>
<p>This created a cottage industry of schools that were outside the official (recognized) education sectors that comprise BOTH public and private schools. It is no accident that the IBO saw its first schools in cities such as Geneva, Brussels, or Luxemburg. Such unofficial schools, however, were not controlled by the education ministries and their main selling tools were that students could “regain” lost ground, hence the remedial component. It took years for the IBO to obtain the recognition of the local education systems. It should be noted that such education and the IB diploma was NOT viewed as a better education and that nobody who could attend a recognized school would have been interested in what was considered an inferior and palliative education. </p>
<p>After decades of a checkered success, the harmonization of the education sector in Europe, and the unexpected success in the United States, helped the IBO to gain a better acceptance and official recognition in several countries, and slowly start to shed its image of providing educational shortcuts to an elitist clientele.</p>
<p>But, unfortunately, the time to scrutinize the IBO has passed. As I wrote earlier, the organization has found a fertile ground in a rudderless public system that has shown a great eagerness and capacity to adopt programs that effectively segregate students according to class, wealth, and race, and this despite its mission of common good. It is NOT surprising that the program finds supporters in well-off districts. And, fwiw, were such programs restricted to schools such as Stanton in Florida, the criticisms would be muffled. The real drama is when such boondoggle of a program is introduced in a school that cannot break 500 on any parts of the SAT and the strong division between the have and have-not is exacerbated. In lower performing schools, most of our resources --including the best teachers-- should be devoted the ones who need it the most. </p>
<p>Our public system of education simply believes that it is easier and better to cuddle the top 10-20 percent.</p>
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<p>I am not sure why the statistics of private versus public schools are particularly relevant in this discussion. There are great schools in both the public and private sector. And also plenty of mediocre ones. The IB program in the US follows the overall distribution with probably well over of 90 percent in public schools. With a 9 to 1 advantage, it should not be surprising that top colleges accept students from public schools. This is a statistic that hardly relevant, and can be manipulated at will. For instance, is 90 percent of students and 50 perfect enrolled in top schools positive or negative? Eye of the beholder!</p>
<p>PS I find the discussion about The Hague, Belgium, and Geneva rather amusing. Yes, The Hague is in the Netherlands, Brussels in Belgium, and Geneva on the shores of Lac Leman. The IBO is, however, mostly directed from the exotic location of Cardiff, Wales. Not that cosmopolitan, eh!</p>