Have you ever heard of the International Baccalaureate Program? A reader of the Teaparty911 site asked us to discuss it, so we are going to and I warn you, unless you are a card carrying socialist you are not going to like what you are going to read. Assuming you don’t know what it is, I will spend a little time explaining the program as they would like you to understand it, then give you some facts about what the program actually is and does.
You can find much more about the brief description I am about to write at http://www.ibo.org/general/who.cfm which is one link from their home website. “The International Baccalaureate® (IB) is a non-profit educational foundation, motivated by its mission, focused on the student. Our three programs for students aged 3 to 19 help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Founded in 1968, we currently work with 3,322 schools in 141 countries to develop and offer three challenging programs to over 989,000 students aged 3 to 19 years.”
Here is their mission statement: “The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”
A few thing to note, it is an educational program for students from age 3 to 19 taught in our local schools that sign up to become World Schools. It focuses on teaching emotional and social skills for a globalized world to caring young people who will create a peaceful world by understanding other cultures. It is designed to create citizens of the World that will support a one-world government. Sounds great to me, how do I sign my kids up?
Since this website is familiar to many residents of East Texas it seems appropriate to provide a few comments of local interest. If you live in Tyler you might be able to sign your kids up because there are already three World Schools in your city and there are three more in Longview including the Longview High School. If you live in these cities you shouldn’t feel singled out for World Schools exist in Plano (two of my grandkids are scheduled to go to this school), Dallas, Denton, Allen and many others in Texas and there is a total of 1307 World Schools in the USA.
A World School is a public or private school that has agreed to offer the IB program which is an entirely separate program from any existing program in your school such as Advanced Placement. Teachers must be trained IB educators and they are often hired by answering job postings such as “IB teaching and Coordinator Position”. Here is a link on How to become an International Baccalaureate® World School .
You probably would like to know what the curriculum is, I know I would, but apparently that would be too revealing because you have to be an approved IB teacher to discover the curriculum. Try it yourself at IB Curriculum. These are your kids signing up for this program in your tax funded public schools and you cannot find out what they are going to teach your kids other than the glorious statements like those in their mission statement and on their web page. Likely the school principal and the board of education don’t know either. Also remember that IB is a non-profit educational foundation, well it is funded primarily by hefty fees paid by you through your public schools to the foundation for the privilege of teaching your kids this secret curriculum. Turns out they have not always been as guarded about their curriculum and I have found a few examples that help understand why they have gone undercover that I will get to a little later. One more ominous little fact, the course work is graded by someone outside the school not hired by or working for our public schools. If it is disturbing that you can’t find out what they are teaching your kids in an IB program or even what the grading criteria is then keep reading for it gets even more disturbing.
From what I have told you so far I am sure it will not surprise you to know that IBO is a totally socialist organization in partnership with UNESCO of the UN. The first director of UNESCO, Julian Huxley stated the task before UNESCO… “is to help the emergence of a single world culture, with its own philosophy and background of ideas, and with its own broad purposes.” Agenda 21 is also from UNESCO and a thing called Rescue Mission Planet Earth being pushed by the IB program is the student’s version of the United Nations’ Agenda 21. (Articles on Teaparty911 explain agenda 21) I could but don’t think I have to take your time proving that all the familiar leftist people and organizations are involved in this attempt to indoctrinate our children into accepting or wanting an anti-American one-world government. They include George Soros, moveon.org, Open Society Institute, President Obama even before he was president, Bill Ayes, Arne Duncan the current Secretary of Education, and The Tides Foundation to name the familiar ones. We certainly miss Ronald Reagan who pulled the US out of UNESCO but then unfortunately George the Second thought we should give it another try.
To give an idea of what happens when the IB program is adopted by a school, let me give a quote from blogger Justin Blough a self proclaimed Constitutional rabble rouser, based on his own child’s experience when his school became a World School: “No more learning about American Presidents and the good values and inspirations. No more American History that he had even started learning in kindergarten. No more patriotic songs and plays. The school changed their school colors from black and purple to powder blue like the U.N. flag. All teachers are required to wear the powder blue T shirts as a uniform.”
I have found a few indications of the true curriculum. In every discussion of curriculum I have found they state the objective is to “develop citizens of the World” as apposed to citizens of the country you live in. The International Baccalaureate design technology course claims that “an additional benefit of the design technology course is that students will gain insight into the moral, ethical, social, economic and environmental implications of global production and consumption.” And an IB teacher using the theory of knowledge (TOK) curriculum had a class decide on what were the important issues in choosing whom to vote for. What could they be I wonder. I am not going to provide a link to the sources for these statements for fear they will be removed from view by the IB Organization before I have a chance to complete my review.
Let me finish this first blog on this subject with this information. The Obama Administration is granting waivers to states so they do not have to participate in No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Not surprising since NCLB precludes federal funding of an IB program since it is a “special” program graded by outside sources with a secret curriculum. To obtain a waiver a state must submit a request for a waiver describing how it will modify it’s statewide educational program to satisfy the requirements of the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. Since Arne is a strong advocate of the IB program it would not be surprising if the waiver requirements made states implement IB program requirements. If the waiver is approved, states can then apply federal grants to implement the new program.
Colorado is one of 11 states so far that has gone through the waiver process and their request for waiving NCLB has been approved. Their entire waver request is online, all 407 pages of it. What I have found that ties their new program to the IB program is the requirements for post secondary and workforce readiness. This is essentially the whole ball of wax since it is the skill requirements for all high school graduates. The emphasis in Colorado’s the new program is on “learning and behavior skills that include critical thinking and problem‐solving; the ability to find and use information, especially through information technology; creativity and innovation; global and cultural awareness; civic responsibility; work ethic; personal responsibility; communication; and collaboration.” This description is almost right out of the IB Diploma Program (DP) requirements for high school graduates. It gets worse for states are encouraged by additional federal grants to join a coalition of states that pledge to standardize and honor these graduation requirements. Would I be out of line to suggest that federal dollars are being used to create a national educational program based on the leftist views of our current administration as incorporated in the IB program?
This would be an interesting subject to pursue since it appears to me that the whole purpose of the waiver process by our current administration is to change our public education system such that it will indoctrinate our children into accepting or wanting this anti-American one-world government.
If you are concerned about your school’s participation in the secret IB program apparently being sponsored by covert federal government actions go to the IBO website and see if your school is a World School. If so get organized and go fight it with the school board. It is also a fight that the Tea Party and other patriotic organizations can take at the state level by attempting to pass legislation outlawing IB type programs in our schools.
First, a little about myself. I am a former military aviator with an honorable record and green ink (combat time) in my log books. I consider myself to be exceptionally patriotic, and have installed that call of duty to my children, one of whom is currently a Seabee in the Navy. I also teach two IB subjects, one of which is the dreaded Design Technology class that you mention in your post.
Let me correct you on a few items in your discussion. My children’s work is indeed graded by someone else, often in a different country. This is done after I have graded the work, and only for a sample set of students, not all of them. The reason for this is to ensure that I meet the high standard of grading, or, if you will, it is a test of my skills. This ensures that every graduate of the program, worldwide, has met the same level of requirements.
I do not feel that the curriculum that I am asked to teach is in any way subversive, anti-American, or threatening to the American way of life. I talk about supply chains, resource requirements, manufacturing methods, and sustainable practices that are as relevant to Europe or Asia, as they are to the United States.
Yes, the cost of this education can be high to local schools. If I remember, it’s pretty expensive to go to an Ivy League school as well. You often get what you pay for. In this case, students, (at least at the high school level) must take college level classes in all subjects, for which they will receive college credit in many secondary schools if the meet the minimum requirements. I have had students that have earned more than 40 hours of college credit, and my average IB student earns more than 20. With AP, you are free to pick and choose your classes, so seldom do you really have to work (and thus improve)in your weak areas.
I strongly believe that this is the best classical high school education a child can achieve in the public school system, period. While I support the Tea Party, this particular track is total BULL. In order to have a strong democracy, you must have an informed democracy. Unfortunately, educators in general lean to the left, The individual educator might be the problem, not the material the Ib. requires that we cover. You would be surprised, I believe, that the students that I have…the most educated ones, tend to lean towards being more conservative.
Like all Tea Party members I thank you for your military service to our country.
My problem is that being exceptionally patriotic and teaching students by following the IB curriculum doesn’t seem to go together. Of course the curriculum is still secret I assume so I am only going by what has been reported by some that have been exposed to it. But maybe you could answer a few questions about the IB program.
In a World school covering k-12 how many years and at what grade level is American history taught and who grades it?
Is the Constitution and American Federal Government taught?
Can graders in foreign lands adequately grade American students understanding of what it means to be an American?
When your students graduate do they believe in American exceptionalism?
Are they taught to be World citizens first then American citizens or Americans citizens first or neither?
When you teach students to think for themselves does that really mean don’t believe what your parents tell you?
When you talk about supply chains, resource requirements, manufacturing methods, and sustainable practices is not the message that American gluttony is unsustainable and needs to be stopped?
As you can see being firmly planted on the right I am very suspicious of what these leftist UN organizations teach. The left has been trying for at least 100 years to destroy American culture and this just seems like another well funded attempt with a hidden agenda.
The IB is extraordinarily difficult program. Students spend enormous amounts of time studying–sort of like we all say school should return to this type of academic rigor. Parents are encouraged to become involved with the program. In fact, it is difficult for me to see a student succeeding within parental involvement. It is not a socialist program. It is a program that requires students to carefully study all of the isms of the world. The program requires the students to examine all the major systems in the world along with accelerated work in math, English, languages, literature, etc. This is a classical education.
Chris,
Great point about schools in “candidate” status. It is at that point of the IB “authorization” process that citizens stand the best chance of halting IB.
I am the administrator of Truth About IB. I have a page of helpful suggestions for parents and taxpayers as to how to throw a monkey-wrench into the IB machine:
http://truthaboutib.com/whatcanido.html
http://www.truthaboutib.com has all you need to know.
People in NH are fighting this… a group started by a NH teacher is a good place to start.
uspein@yahoogroups.com
And for a little humor, this is a joke that is real — this is what they really told us at a meeting with school officials…. who do they think they are kidding? You can’t make this stuff up….
http://goanimate.com/videos/0XEppW8EvdBU
This article touches on a couple aspects of IB here are several aspects of IB that can be used to get “mainstream” support. I had moderates and liberals on my side when I stopped our schools from forcing IB on all our students K-12:
1) Compared to AP, IB will increase college costs for most students.
2) The IB diploma required TOK class is composed entirely of questions like, “When can it be right to disobey the law? Can suicide bombers be right?”
3) IB will not improve student performance.
4) IB’s pedagogical method is one of constructivism and inquiry based learning to promote a specific ideology.
5) IB is extremely expensive.
6) Many schools drop IB, learn why at article below.
7) Some people have religious concerns with IB.
8) IB is an NGO of UNESCO (UN) and the goal is to promote the UN ideology.
9) At the elementary level IB is forced on all children in the school and the stated goal is to “develop attitudes,” and to get students to “take action.”
10) With IB, schools give up some local control to a Swiss organization.
11) AP is the best fit for gifted students.
12) When IB/AP classes are combined the IB material must take priority.
13) For the IB diploma students must complete 10 required classes in 11th and 12th grade.
14) IB is implemented in a deceitful way over and over throughout the United States. Once someone questions IB an open and honest discussion is never allowed, and the community becomes divided.
To find proof supporting all the points above read the entire article.
http://myinclinevillage.com/2011/07/31/what-all-parents–students-should-know-before-enrolling-in-ib.aspx
When looking ot find out if your school is an IB school, make sure to check the list of IB Regional Associations, their sites will list those schools that have begun the IB program but have not yet attained World School Status. These are call “IB Candidate Schools”
The School locator at IBO.org will only show you fully Authorized “IB World Schools” and not those that are Candidate Schools. So be sure to check the Regional Associations as well.