It's all part of my paranoid high school fantasy...
I saw this earlier on someone's journal and it totally pissed me off:
People keep saying that IB (International Baccalaureate) isn't worth it. Let me tell you why IB is worth it. When you want to get into a tough school and you didn't do IB, the school will ask you why you didn't do IB and not let you in. Yes, IB is tough, but I mean, is college going to be easy? At least I'll be prepared.
First of all, I don't have anything against the IB program itself; if it's the route you wanna take, then it can be very beneficial. But I think that teenagers are told too often that they'd better do such-and-such if they want to get into the right college. High school students should be allowed to make decisions about their own future instead of having pushy teachers, administrators, counselors, and parents trying to map out their entire lives and careers for them. You know what? There are a lot of things that high school can't prepare you for, educationally as well emotionally, and I think college is one of them. And let me tell you why IB is not necessarily worth it. It's called having a social life and engaging in independent study outside of a classroom setting. Some people do not work well within the confines of a highly structured educational environment, and so those people simply won't get a lot out of IB. Hell, those people will have a tough time in college no matter what! (If they decide to go, that is.) And I'll bet you that if you didn't do IB, the tough school will probably let you in anyway as long as you have a good essay and nice SAT scores. IB is good for some people, I think, but saying that it is unquestionably worthwhile and implying that it is imperative for getting into/surviving college is just bullshit. This kind of rhetoric is everywhere in high school, and what it really boils down to is an obsession with forcing the college your parents you want into accepting you. What really scares me is that the person spewing this rhetoric is actually a high school student.
People keep saying that IB (International Baccalaureate) isn't worth it. Let me tell you why IB is worth it. When you want to get into a tough school and you didn't do IB, the school will ask you why you didn't do IB and not let you in. Yes, IB is tough, but I mean, is college going to be easy? At least I'll be prepared.
First of all, I don't have anything against the IB program itself; if it's the route you wanna take, then it can be very beneficial. But I think that teenagers are told too often that they'd better do such-and-such if they want to get into the right college. High school students should be allowed to make decisions about their own future instead of having pushy teachers, administrators, counselors, and parents trying to map out their entire lives and careers for them. You know what? There are a lot of things that high school can't prepare you for, educationally as well emotionally, and I think college is one of them. And let me tell you why IB is not necessarily worth it. It's called having a social life and engaging in independent study outside of a classroom setting. Some people do not work well within the confines of a highly structured educational environment, and so those people simply won't get a lot out of IB. Hell, those people will have a tough time in college no matter what! (If they decide to go, that is.) And I'll bet you that if you didn't do IB, the tough school will probably let you in anyway as long as you have a good essay and nice SAT scores. IB is good for some people, I think, but saying that it is unquestionably worthwhile and implying that it is imperative for getting into/surviving college is just bullshit. This kind of rhetoric is everywhere in high school, and what it really boils down to is an obsession with forcing the college your parents you want into accepting you. What really scares me is that the person spewing this rhetoric is actually a high school student.