Benefits of IB!

Do you wonder what the benefits of being an IB student are?

Have you been told that IB is hard?

Have you been told that being in IB is the same as or harder than AP and CCP?

Mythbusting!

#1 - IB Students have no life!

While there are times when the IB students are stressed and busy with school work, there is ample opportunity in the IB students' life to do activities and have experiences other than those related to IB.  IN the current school year, many of the IB juniors and seniors have jobs they go to after school or on the weekends, and many have friends outside of the program.

#2 - IB students do not get to take electives or participate in clubs/sports.

All IB students are encouraged, if not required, to do activities and clubs outside of academics.  IB students are responsible for completing requirements for a core IB element called CAS - Creativity, Activity and Service.  As for electives, a student is encouraged to pursue courses in areas of interest for them if they fall outside of the scope of IB courses; the only requirement is that if they are expected to take an IB course and another is placed at the same time, the IB course takes precedence.  Lastly, all IB students learn time management as a result of participation in sports and extra-curriculars; this is a significant personal skill!

#3 - There is too much homework in IB.

Homework does happen, and yes IB students have more homework than students in the general education courses; this is to be expected.  The material covered in the courses is more complex and conceptual, and students are expected to learn it, not just memorize it.  The time to complete the homework is dependent upon the student, however.  There may be areas where one student has a strenght and the homework does not take as long; on the other hand, the student may have a weakness in a different content area and the homework may take longer.  The significant part of all of this is that students need to communicate with teachers about the homework and the time it takes so that everyone can work efficiently.

#4 - If you don't get the diploma, then you have wasted time and effort.

At no point in time is it ever a waste of time to pursue a stronger, more rigorous education.  At no point in time is it ever a waste of time to challenge yourself to learn more, to put forth more effort to achieve a goal.  The Ohio legislature recently passed a law stating the expectation that all Ohio State Institutions award academic credits to students who achieve certain scores on IB assessments, whether they get the diploma or not.  LINK

#5 - There is too much stress.

No one can deny that there is stress with things that challenge you, and there is stress with IB.  Most of the stress is what we call productive struggle, challenges and stress that are manageable and help one to grow  as a learner and as an individual.  You might say that explanation is false and written by a teacher, which is true.  But, who is to decide what "too much stress" is?  How does one know what the appropriate tolerance level is for stress?  There are students who cannot handle the stress of too many activities and classes, all at the same time; and, yes, some have to make a healthy choice to limit some of their experiences.  The idea of stress and its negative consequences is dependent upon the student.  In reality, some stress is healthy, and we do our best at FCLC to work with students when their stress levels have peaked to an unmanageable point.