In the West Wing a poster hangs up of Ms. Erickson’s IB profile. “I am not sure what IB is. Teachers talk about integrating IB in the classroom but I still don’t know what that means. IB takes away from learning and I’m not learning anything I don’t know,” freshman Gabe Mantione-Holmes said.
By ANEESA CONINE-NAKANO – Web Master
The term ‘IB’, standing for International Baccalaureate, is a commonly used phrase throughout Clarke Central High School however many students believe that it isn’t a term many people understand the meaning of.
According to the International Baccalaureate website “(IB) aims to do more than other curricular by developing inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who are motivated to succeed. We hope our students will help to build a better world through intercultural understanding and respect.”
“I think a lot of kids are still figuring out (what IB is) but hopefully the more kids will understand it. There are so many ways to look at IB so I hope (kids look at it) as something positive and global but also local,” English department teacher Brian Ash.
Despite Clarke Central High School being an IB school, freshman Michael Morris does not know the meaning of the word or the purpose of IB although his teachers’ reference it.
“I don’t think that the teachers (teach us about) IB but I think they are trying. I don’t really know what IB is and (teachers) talk about it but don’t teach it,” Morris said.
Junior Patricia Bustinza agrees with Morris that it isn’t elaborated on in class and many students do not know about the program.
“IB isn’t (taught) that often but some teachers mention it. I think that most of the time (teachers just) forget to mention (IB). When they do (talk about IB) they show videos or include it in the lesson,” Bustinza said.
Although Bustinza believes it isn’t talked about often, she says that the IB Sophomore Project raises awareness about IB.
“I did the IB Sophomore Project last year where I got to get more involved in the community. When I (did the project) it wasn’t mentioned a lot but now more teachers are talking about it. Students have relationships with their (advisors for the project),” Bustinza said.
Ash says in the future teachers and administrators are going to raise awareness by having teachers talk about global context and informing teachers about IB.
“I think teachers will use it more on a daily basis with more of the vocabulary. Teachers need to understand more of what it is too and we need to do a better job of teaching new teachers what IB is,” Ash said.
More from Aneesa Conine-Nakano
