More US Schools Offering International Baccalaureate Programs

 

High school students in the U.S. increasingly have a new option to challenge themselves: the International Baccalaureate, or IB. The program is a demanding two-year curriculum¹. It aims to prepare students for college-level work, support independent research, and teach the value of a diverse world.

To earn an IB diploma, students must spend their third and fourth year of high school in the program. It requires the ability to use English, as well as the study of another language. It also requires classes in math, science, social science, art, a class on theory of knowledge, a 4,000-word paper, presentations and 150 recommended hours of community service.

Colleen Duffy is the marketing² manager for the International Baccalaureate Organization in the Americas. She said what many people do not understand about IB is that it is not a study abroad program -- students do not travel to a different country to study. Rather, it was created in Switzerland for families who often moved from one country to another and wanted an internationally accepted curriculum. The program began in 1968.

“But we’re in public schools in almost every U.S. state now,” says Duffy.

Currently³, IB is offered in more than 900 American high schools. As Duffy noted⁴, the majority are public schools, and the program is most common in the states of California, Florida, and Texas. But many more schools across the U.S. have begun the long certification process.

However, it is still much less common than another option for high-performing students in the U.S.: Advanced Placement classes. AP classes are single-subject classes that permit students to earn college credit if they do well enough on a final test.

But Colleen Duffy argues that IB better shows how subjects are related. She says, “It’s much more holistic⁵ than a few AP classes here and there.”

Not for every student

Critics say the IB program is not for every student, or every community.

Kelly Osterhout taught middle school in Virginia for four years. She says she believed in the IB program but still fought against having it at her school. She thought it was too difficult to follow the state school requirements while still running an IB program.

She said, “We felt that there weren’t enough resources available to teachers to do it the way it should be done, and we had to deal with parents who got upset about elements of the program like teaching global tolerance⁶ and respecting the opinions of others. Just mentioning the LGBTQ movement, for example, caused a stir.”

Teachers at her school voted to remove the IB program at the middle school level but it remains⁷ in place at the high school.

Other people feel uncomfortable with the program’s connection to the United Nations. The program received money from UNESCO from 1968 until 1976, and continues to be linked with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Others object to its cost. The organization charges $11,650 a year per school, $172 per student and $119 per exam. Critics say AP classes are less costly⁸ and likely to reach more students, since the IB curriculum is too difficult for most.

Yet IB is gaining popularity⁹ in the U.S. and around the world. Currently, IB schools total more than 4,700 among 150 countries. About 2,000 more schools are expected to add the program in the next five years.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

diverse - adj. made up of people or things that are different from each other?

diploma - n. a document which shows that a person has finished a course of study or has graduated from a school?

theory - n. the general principles or ideas that relate to a particular subject?

certification - n. official approval to do something professionally or legally?

holistic - adj. relating to or concerned with complete systems rather than with individual parts?

tolerance - n. willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own

LGBTQ - n. The acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer

1 curriculum   

n.课程，（学校等的）全部课程

参考例句：

• Is German on your school's curriculum?你们学校有德语课吗？
• The English curriculum should stress both composition and reading.英语课程对作文和阅读应同样重视。

2 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

3 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

6 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

9 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。