To IB or not to IB

I have been a student at the International School of Curitiba (ISC) for the past thirteen years and, ever since elementary, I always heard about this mythical creature called the ‘IB’.  Supposedly, this was some type of monstrous course you had to take in High School-it took away your sleep and made everyone look like zombies. Now that I am a sophomore, only a quarter away from becoming an IB candidate, I see everything from a different perspective.

Every one is entitled to one unrealistic dream, and mine is of working for Amnesty International- or at least for any other NGO of this sort. Model United Nations is one of my biggest passions together with writing and public speaking. Still, I do not wish to work directly to the United Nations since, unfortunately, I believe the organization is not as transparent as it should and that, even if it helps countries and people deal with crisis, not all funds are used in an appropriate manner. If this was to actually be my future goal, my college major most certainly would not have anything to do with Physics, hence representing that me taking this course will be useless. Well, no knowledge is completely useless, but it will most certainly have nothing to do with my future. 

For the last few months, I have spent every available hour in my day pondering: what will I do with my life? This is the first question you need to ask yourself as an IB student- you must have at least a broad idea about what are your interests, your likes and dislikes.  I have been completely torn between my options, being that I am sixteen years old and I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with my life- I have dreams, everyone does, but not that will help me decide what classes I will be taking for the next two years. So many unanswered questions… and if it had been not for our career orientation sessions, I would perhaps be having a nervous breakdown right now. Our counselor has been making us take typology tests such as Holland Codes and Myer-Briggs tests and, they have helped me have a cleared idea of what my academic strengths are. Of course, I understand that they do not provide me with exact guidelines of who I am and what will I do in college; yet, it is a start for me to be working with. According to these tests, my ideal job would include an area that involves public speaking, writing and lecturing others; I am of social and enterprising nature. Not that I do not agree with these results, because I do, but they do not englobe all of my areas of interest. For instance, even though I am not one of those mathematics or biology prodigies, they are subjects I clearly enjoy and whose account was not taken into consideration by either of these tests.  

As my last few months as a student with a fairly regular sleeping pattern, I am very excited to choose my classes for next year, and presentations on each course have made me understand more about what I will have to choose from.  For instance, I previously had no understanding whatsoever of the difference between Literature and Language and Literature- now that I do, I am certain of which one pleases me more and where my profile matches best. I was almost absolutely sure of what High Level and Standard Level classes I want to take, but these plans were ruined as soon as the only class I did not plan to take, Physics, became an obligatory course if we want to earn the Brazilian Diploma. This was the one subject I knew would not make a difference in my future because, given that I have already had contact with it for approximately two years, never was I fascinated by the quantum world and all that Physics has helped us accomplish. I recognize that it is an important subject; still, not one that I would like to take. This ruined my plan of taking High Level Biology as my science option and Economic as my elective given that now I will have to take Physics as my science course and Biology as my elective.

Life at an IB School 

Even though I recognize that taking the IB will be to my benefit once I enter college, I constantly find myself reflecting about rather will IB or not IB. I am still not sure I want to study abroad, and I hope the remaining time I have before I need to send our college applications will be enough for me to make this decision. The work load of an IB student is significantly bigger from that of an average student in Brazil, yet I see this as woking harder now in High School to suffer less once I get into college- wherever that may be. After all, I know that I am not the quickest decision maker in the universe –it took me about eight years to ‘man up’ and face my IB choices-, but ISC offers a strong support for students who are as lost as I am. Just be sure that, if you are also facing though decisions regarding your future, that you apply yourself entirely to whatever it is you choose to do. IB will most certainly put you in front of other fellow students in college- you will be more prepared to face the challenges imposed on you by your upcoming adult life. Make sure to put enough effort so that you only have to do things once- it must be the worse feeling in the world to spend two years of your life preparing for an exam so you can earn a diploma and fail such exam. Furthermore, make sure you are not taking a burden heavier that you can carry- you do not want to end up like Hitler and fail HL Math.  

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The Ruins of Standardized Testing

On Seatle's MAP Boycott

Standardized tests have been a debated issue for the past few years, regarding their effectiveness and until which point they actually evaluate the true nature of the students with all the potential they have to offer. In January 2013, teachers from Seattle’s Garfield High School refused to apply the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test on their students. The boycott came after the district decided to make the scores the students obtain part of the teacher’s evaluation this year. This meant that all those students who do not take the test seriously and just guess through all the questions would be hurting their school’s and their teacher’s image upon the district- the test has no effect whatsoever on their grades of on their image.

 Schools all over the country have shown support to Garfield High School by sending them gifts, monetary support or simply congratulations. Others have been considering to also strike for this cause, as was the case of teachers in Chicago and in Washington State. The movement appears to be gradually gaining support from students, parents, educators and administrators around the country- they have even been praised by the American Education Association and the American Federation of teacher: [We] proudly support their efforts in saying ‘no’ to giving their students a flawed test that takes away from learning and is not aligned with the curriculum.

 Indeed, this test will eventually fall out of use. Not only does it not test all areas of student knowledge, but it also tests them on content that does not match their curriculum. It adds nothing to student’s knowledge and is of no interest to students. With the experience I have had with MAP testing myself for the past few years, I can affirm that, after a while, the test just becomes dull. If we, students, know how to solve the problem or analyze the poem, chances are we will do our best to get the right answer. Yet, if we have no idea on what it is talking about, we rather skip it than actually try- after all, our scores will not impact us. Before reading this article, I had no idea my scores actually affected my teachers, I believed they were only used to access student improvement over the years. Perhaps, many people do not know about the end function of this test either. Not that I do not apply myself to the test, because I do, but if I knew that my performance was affecting the image of my school, I would have tried harder to get the challenging questions correct.

Standardized testing is a concept that will eventually descend into oblivion. Student creativity, independence and uniqueness are characteristics being emphasized every time more by society and schools, skills that are not tested by these sorts of tests. Each person learns through a different manner and has different academic strengths, strengths that are not properly evaluated of valued by any of these tests. The future lies in essay writing and personalized tests, designed to assess the different perspectives students have to add to a college or an institution rather than their ability to memorize dates and events. Who knows if by the time our younger relatives get to high school is we will still be using these types of meaningless tests?

 I congratulate Garfield High School teachers on their courage to stand up and fight for what they believe, to challenge the paradigms of the system. Perhaps, if other institutions had the same audacity to do what Garfield’s teachers did, the American education system would be in a much better condition.

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Future Paths

"You briefly met with a college recruiter last week, and you reviewed a number of questions to ask about colleges. This must have gotten you thinking about your future, so tell us about it: Without any strict requirements, write about your expectations, goals, fears, concerns, questions that you have concerning your future in college. Additionally, now that you know that recruiters want to hear about you and your intellectual interests and pursuits, how do you think being an aware Academic Leader will give you an advantage when applying to the college of your choice?" 

            Meeting this college recruiter was a reality shock: it made me aware of how close I am from deciding what I will do for the rest of my life. IB is coming up next year, and I will already have to start making some choices, such as what courses, that requiring me to have a brief notion about what I want to study in college. This entire college experience, for the moment, seems surreal. Imagine living in another country, all by yourself, studying hard and being responsible for all your actions; it’s quite a lot to handle at once. I do not yet know what I want to do with my life or if I am even going to study outside Brazil, and these are some options that I have no idea how to narrow down. Still, even before I decide where I want to study, I shall decide what. If I decide to stay in Brazil, I need to first decide my major, than what university I will be attending. If I rather study in the USA, all I need to choose primarily is the college- which would make my life easier. Yet, I seriously consider medicine and law as viable options for a future career, and if I want to practice in Brazil I need to graduate in the country. There are so many options and so many possibilities that I only wish that there was some clear method that could give us a clear answer of what we were most fit to do, and still, that would not mean it would be something we loved. The only certainty that I have is that, in whatever area I choose, I will somehow involve it with community work and human rights. These are two areas I particularly enjoy, caring for other people, and are some of the activities that I enjoy the most to do. Dancing and playing soccer are also two of my passions, yet I see them more as being a hobby on my future rather than a career. Or maybe not, I just really have no idea. I am afraid to take vocational tests and dislike the results they give me- what if, for instance, it tells me I have more aptitude for the areas such as engineering and physics (those involving exact numbers) when, really, those are the two areas I most dislike. Then I choose a completely different major and fail it, and I will forever blame myself for not having followed the tips on the test.  

            About advantages that being an Academic Leader and applying to college, they are truly innumerous. For instance, the college recruiter cited that some of the characteristics they most look for on applicants are leadership and creativity, both which are highly developed in this elective. For instance, once we create our portfolios we will be using our areas of interest and engaging them in academic subjects- not only using creativity, but also developing innovative ways to ripen our studies. In addition, this elective transforms us into well-aware students; another quality college recruiters are interested in. Having this experience to actually talk to a recruiter was truly life changing, and I am very thankful for this elective and the opportunities it is bringing me. 

   

On Academic Leadership

"In our first two weeks, you have read several articles, seen several videos and been engaged in several discussions related to the concept of academic leadership. At this point, and in your own words, what does the concept mean to you? What subjects or interests do you have a sophisticated, intellectual understanding of that you may want to turn into a major academic project in this class? How do people sometimes abuse academic knowledge to manipulate others? How would you feel if someone used your work to manipulate others (as Jared Diamond claims Mitt Romney has)? How can creating academically sophisticated, intellectual leaders help prevent such people from taking advantage of others the way they do? How can this create a stronger democratic society?"

 As defined by John W. Gardner, leadership can be seen as the process of persuasion or by example which an individual, or a leadership team, induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his or hers followers. Analyzing leadership under an academic perspective may result in a concept where it really stands for the ability to lead people in different ways, during different activities, and connect any ability a person my have as an academic advantage- its requires the skills to lead by example and involves multiple strengths of each person, thus allowing for anyone to become an academic leader. Extending the idea about leaders and their diverse abilities, I would like to incorporate some of that into the portfolio I must do this year. For my Personal Project, I have had quite a few different ideas, and I have narrowed them down to connecting something that has to do with dance and history- yet, I would also like to have a social application to my project, something that could apply it to my community- or a relation between biology and dancing. I have not been able to choose between these two ideas for the moment, though there is plenty of time and I know I will do something that involves dance, my only question is with what and how am I going to clash it with my project. For my first option, I would probably do something related to the origin of dances and how they influenced society and each other. If I chose my second option, perhaps it would have something to do with what types of exercises could be used to optimize ones abilities and capacities in order for the extreme dancer- it would have something related to the necessary exercises for muscle strengthening and the required dance basis (mostly classic) for such goal to be achieved. There are still various aspects that I need to revise before making my final choice, and yet I am already leaning towards involving history, social studies and dance for my project.

 If I was ever caught up in a situation such as that between Jared Diamond and Mitt Romney, I would have perhaps done exactly what Diamond did- only it might have included suing Romney for using my work without my consent and improperly. If he had sited his sources and used the information correctly, I believe I would not have minded- yet, not only did he put himself in a complicated position, but he also made transmitted the wrong idea about somebody else’s work. If only Romney had properly read the book and used its information in the correct manner, all this confusion could have been avoided- and he would have fulfilled his position as an academically sophisticated leader, which most certainly would solve the problems of people taking advantages of other’s work. In this case, for instance, Romney would have read the book, cited it correctly and used the information for as a source of information and not a manipulative tool, all issues could have been avoided. In addition, if the world was led by intellectual leaders, maybe they would not see the need to manipulate the people in the way that so many politicians do, given that they would want to be evaluated by their actual abilities and goals rather than their promises and how much money they have got. This could then help build a stronger democratic society where the educated leader knows the importance of listening to the people and aiding them in their issues- and given that he would have enough knowledge for thinking issues through on his own would mean that they would not be manipulated by counselors with an agenda. It would also prevent various wars, given that leaders would see the importance of overcoming issues diplomatically rather than just wasting so many resources and going into war- indeed, what the world needs most right now are intellectual leaders who can see and differentiate the general good over their personal wishes of enrichment.