The real reasons for Thanksgiving, a quintessential American holiday, are being dismissed by internationalists to place the "focus" on Native American Indians. There is no denying that Indians have a role in Thanksgiving, but to whom were the Pilgrims giving thanks? God of course! With secular humanists threatening to sue schools for the mere mention of God, this revised version of history by IB eliminates the horrible threat of having to tell students that the colonists thanked God for their survival and bounty.
First-grade teachers Nancy Villalobos, who has 35 years of experience, and Chris Kopp, with 20 years in the classroom, said they teach their students about the outlines of the earliest American history: that Pilgrims came across the Atlantic seeking religious freedom, that there were established societies already here, and that in the beginning, at least, natives and immigrants cooperated with one another.
“We kind of leave it there,” Villalobos said. “We’re focused a lot on Native Americans who were here before Europeans.”
Jefferson Elementary offers an International Baccalaureate curriculum, which emphasizes cultures and traditions from around the world. As a result, students are introduced early on to American Indian heritage.
That wasn’t always the case for elementary school students, Villalobos said. In years past, teaching about Thanksgiving “was more weighted on the European side, and how wonderful that (immigration) was,” she said.“Now, we focus more on who was already there.”
It pains us to ask, but why wouldn't an international curriculum focus on the the political evolution of an American holiday and the reasons behind it? It should be noted that no Presidential proclamations regarding Thanksgiving, other than Herbert Walker Bush's decision to pardon a turkey, have been made since 1941. Each of the following proclamations explain the real reason for giving thanks:
1623 -
Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.
Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.
Captain General and GOVERNOR in Chief in and over His Majesty's
Province of the MASSACHUSETTS BAY in NEW ENGLAND.
A Proclamation for a Public THANKSGIVING.
WHEREAS it hath pleased Almighty GOD (notwithstanding the provocation of His holy displeasure by our sins, testified in divers instances, and particularly in the late infectious and mortal distemper [small pox]) to favor us with many undeserved blessings in the course of this year, which do justly demand our humble adoration and thankful acknowledgment of the Divine goodness.
I have therefore thought fit, with the advice of His Majesty's Council, to appoint THURSDAY the TWELFTH of NOVEMBER next, a day of Public THANKSGIVING throughout this Province, hereby exhorting both ministers and people in their several assemblies, religiously to solemnize the same by offering up their sincere and grateful PRAISES for the manifold blessings and favors which GOD of His undeserved goodness hath conferred upon us; PARTICULARLY, in continuing to us the invaluable life of Our Sovereign Lord the KING, with His Royal Consort Our Most Gracious QUEEN, His Royal Highness the PRINCE OF WALES, and the rest of the royal issue; In succeeding His Majesty's wise councils FOR RESTORING and establishing the peace of EUROPE; In prolonging the ecclesiastical and civil privileges of this people; In granting his gracious conduct and assistance in the administration of the civil government of this Province; In restoring HEALTH to many of our towns lately visited with a contagious distemper [small pox], and preserving others from the infection thereof; In maintaining our PEACE with the Indian Natives, and granting us a plentiful HARVEST, in giving success to our MERCHANDISE AND FISHERY, and protecting it from the insults and ravages of PIRATES, with other numberless instances of the Divine beneficence: And all servile labor is prohibited on the said Day.
GIVEN AT THE COUNCIL CHAMBER IN Roxbury the FOURTEENTH Day of October 1730. In the Fourth Year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Second, by the Grace of GOD of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, KING, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH, and etc.
By His Excellency's Command, with the Advice of the Council,
George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789. _________________________________________________________________________________ Washington, D.C. October 3, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln _________________________________________________________________________________
FDR screws up Thanksgiving: In 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared November 23rd, the next-to-last Thursday of the month, to be Thanksgiving Day. This break with tradition was prompted by requests from the National Retail Dry Goods Association to extend the Christmas shopping season by one week. Roosevelt had rejected the association's similar request in 1933 on the grounds that such change might cause confusion. The President's 1939 proclamation proved him more right than he probably would have liked.
As always, the president's 1939 proclamation only directly applied to the District of Columbia and federal employees. While governors usually followed the president's lead with state proclamations for the same day, on this year, twenty-three states observed Thanksgiving Day on November 23rd, twenty-three states celebrated on November 30th, and Texas and Colorado declared both Thursdays to be holidays. Football coaches scrambled to reschedule games set for November 30th, families didn't know when to have their holiday meals, calendars were inaccurate in half of the country, and people weren't sure when to start their Christmas shopping. The nation was again divided over the date of Thanksgiving Day in 1940.
_________________________________________________________________________________ THANKSGIVING DAY - 1941 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - A PROCLAMATION I, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate and set aside Thursday, the twentieth day of November 1941, as a day to be observed in giving thanks to the Heavenly Source of our earthly blessings. Our beloved country is free and strong. Our moral and physical defenses against the forces of threatened aggression are mounting daily in magnitude and effectiveness. In the interest of our own future, we are sending succor at increasing pace to those peoples abroad who are bravely defending their homes and their precious liberties against annihilation. We have not lost our faith in the spiritual dignity of man, our proud belief in the right of all people to live out their lives in freedom and with equal treatment. The love of democracy still burns brightly in our hearts. We are grateful to the Father of us all for the innumerable daily manifestations of His beneficent mercy in affairs both public and private, for the bounties of the harvest, for opportunities to labor and to serve, and for the continuation of those homely joys and satisfactions which enrich our lives. Let us ask the Divine Blessing on our decision and determination to protect our way of life against the forces of evil and slavery which seek in these days to encompass us. On the day appointed for this purpose, let us reflect at our homes or places of worship on the goodness of God and, in giving thanks, let us ray for a speedy end to strife and the establishment on earth of freedom, brotherhood, and justice for enduring time. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed. DONE at the City of Washington this 8thday of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-sixth. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Can You Hear Us Now?
It is the question being asked by hundreds of thousands of Americans at tea parties across our great land, "Can you hear us now?" Yet despite this unprecedented outpouring of public demonstrations against legislation being put forth by this administration, it seems that the Democratic representatives in Congress and our President remain deliberately deaf to the will of WE THE PEOPLE.
In Denver public schools at a November 16th Board of Education meeting, opponents of a plan to scale back and re-start the school’s struggling International Baccalaureate program with a new principal and staff, turned out in force. They dominated Thursday’s marathon hearing of more than four hours, which was said to be the highest speaker count in 15 years.
The vote is scheduled for November 30th. But politics as usual will most likely ignore the objections of teachers, students and parents. Why? DPS hopes to receive at least $13 million in federal funds over three years to make dramatic changes at the long-struggling campuses, part of President Obama’s push to turn around the country’s worst-performing schools.
So, the glitterati of "free Obama money" will clearly convince these elected Board of Education trustees that this is the right path to reform. Except there's a problem. The money ISN'T free, it is borrowed money that is bankrupting American taxpayers, and the people most affected by this plan DON'T WANT IT to be used to socially manipulate their district . Once again, IB appears as the puppetmaster, supported by an Hispanic minority group and opposed by the masses.
TAIB stands by the Denver opponents of this plan and can only hope that their BoE will remember that they were elected to represent the people, not the New World Order.
IB Marketing
The following IB power point presentation from a Catholic high school was sent to TAIB from one of our readers. Please feel free to write us atinfo@truthaboutib.comto let us know if this would convince you to send your child to this school:
Further down on this page, TAIB has provided readers with the link between IB's Chair of its Board of Governors and George Soros's TIDES Foundation. We know that IBO regularly checks this site and apparently, this is information that IBO doesn't want the general public to be able to verify. IBO has wiped Carol Bellamy's profile from its site:http://www.ibo.org/council/members/
The new interim CEO of World Learning is Adam Weinberg. Interestingly, TAIB has uncovered a press release from World Learning which stated that Bellamy wouldn't leave until March, 2010, with no mention of her move to IBO:http://www.worldlearning.org/14497.htm
NH Capitol Access TV IB Interview
TAIB would like to congratulate our friend Ann Marie Banfield, Education Liason for Cornerstone Policy Research, on her recent cool and composed half hour interview on NHCATV. We are proud of Ann Marie for representing American parents who will be silent no more when it comes to IB, and for adding her face, principles and name to our effort to spread the word. TAIB would like to express additional thanks for her shout out to this site.
TAIB just received an anonymous e-mail with questions regarding the cost of the IB program in the Locust Valley school district in NY. They are all very good questions. TAIB has researched all of these costs over the past 5 years. It has been personally stressful, hostile and non-transparent. Even though the new Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction quickly and cordially provided TAIB with the IB Diploma results from 2009 (19 out of 28 students earned the Diploma, mean score of 29, 67% pass rate), TAIB feels as though it is no longer in the position to attempt to grill the district to come forward with real numbers. We are tired of the games. Locust Valley is supposed to have its five year IB Review this year. Rest assured the results will be "glowing" and IB will urge continuation of the program to keep the checks flowing. But the fact remains that for 2008 and 2009, one out of three IB Diploma candidates failed to earn the Diploma. Over$1,000,000 has been spent over the past seven years to buy77IB Diplomas. Of those 77 diplomas, less than10earned scores high enough to attain sophomore status at university. This is a gross imbalance of appropriation of funding for a failed pilot program that must be shelved.
training of teachers (how many have left) How many teachers used for subjects outside of their subject area (additional staff needed to run program) salary of IB coordinator stipend of CAS director stipend of extended essay coordinator cost to maintain IB membership how much spent on buying back of old tests how many ap courses left running how many courses out of compliance with NYS regulations rumor this year is that the district will be covering student test costs Overall quality of program? district contract up this year?
How much cost for LV residents next year?
Phwew!Dear anonymous LV reader - it is important for you to know, THERE IS NO CONTRACT!!! There never was a contract, the district is free to drop IB at anytime. You should also know the district doesn't factor teacher or substitute salaries into the cost of the IB program. The annual membership fee has increased to $9,600. LV pays IB a $129 registration fee for every single student who takes a single IB exam. The fee for the exam itself is $88 per subject. And this reader heard a rumor that the district will tax us for the exam fees next year???? TAIB will certainly check into that. The overall cost is in excess of $200,000 per year. Please urge fellow LVCSD taxpayers and parents to attend the budget meetings and vote this program out!
IB's UN Agenda in Black and White
IBO has spent years trying to dance around its affiliation with the UN. Administrators flatly deny any connection. However, today IBO released its 2008 Annual Review:
Once your eyes have gotten past the truly horrific artwork IBO has chosen to include in this report, please read page 12 carefully:
"The IB Diploma Programme Geography syllabus was revamped to reflect the most pressing threats to the future of the planet and ways they can be addressed. The new syllabus, for which students will first sit exams in 2011, is designed to encompass theUnited Nationsmillenium development goals, particularly those concerning poverty reduction, gender equality, improvements in health and education and environmental sustainability.Students must evaluate progress towardsUN goalsand take a close look at major global issues..."
So parents, if your school tries to tell you IB has absolutely NOTHING to do with the UN, or they don't teach the IB Geography course so not to worry, we hope you will tell them HOGWASH! If this is written into the Georgraphy syllabus, we also know that IBO has agreed to incorporate UN goals in ALL of its curricula as agreed to here:http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/Report/IBO.pdf
These are IBO's words, IB and UN/UNESCO agreements. How much more proof does anyone need? With the UN Copenhagen Climate Change agreement hanging over the head of U.S. sovereignty, do you really need your children being indoctrinated this way?
IB gleefully announced a $2.4M grant from the Gates Foundation to prepare low-income and minority students for future participation and success in the IB Diploma Programme.
“This work will positively impact the IB’s efforts to increase access to our programmes in US public schools, allowing more students to experience and benefit from an IB education, regardless of their personal circumstances,” said Jeffrey Beard, director general of the IB.
E-Mail from Former IB Student
TAIB was very pleased to receive this e-mail from a student at Henrico High School in Virginia. If that name rings a bell to some of you, scroll down this page and refer to the article about Mrs. Biddle, Henrico's IB Coordinator. We are withholding this student's name for privacy reasons, but want to thank this student for writing and wish them all the best in the future. TAIB encourages all IB and former IB students to e-mail us with their experiences with the program, pro and con. But for those of you who feel compelled to e-mail comments like some of the recent ones we have posted to the "pro-IB comment" section, our advice is to keep your nasty, unhelpful comments to yourself because we WILL post them and they really don't bode very well for the alleged "value" of IB.http://truthaboutib.com/proibcomments.html
Comments:I am a former IB student at Henrico High School. After fully participating in the IB program since sixth grade, I decided to drop most of my IB classes and take regular classes. After hearing about this website I decided to check it out for myself. After reading it I completely agree with the statements made on the site. You are separated from the non-IB students for a vast majority of the time. The only real time you are with the non-IB students is when you go from class to class or at lunch. Even at lunch, it is set up so that you are with mostly IB students. In my sophomore gym class I was not allowed to participate in the activities that the non-IB students were doing, even when my class did nothing. We were forced to sit in the top level of the gym and watch the non-IB kids. Other times the teacher would have us leave the gym to go to a classroom so we could finish our homework, instead of doing some activity. We also received hours of homework every night. I would talk to people every day that said they were up till 1 o’clock in the morning doing homework. If you missed one day of school it was almost impossible to make up all the work you missed. Also, many of my friends do not participate in sports anymore because they do not have the time for anything but school. In my opinion the IB program is a pointless program, all it is, is harder and extra work on the student. And as far as college goes, you don’t even find out if you get the IB Diploma until after your freshman year in college has already begun.
Buffett Foundation Funds IB in Omaha, NE Lisa McLoughlin - 10/07/09
Something is happening in Omaha that is very dangerous.
This past March, I did a radio interview withScott Voorhees of KFAB.which was followed by Scott's interview with Millard North's IB Coordinator.
This morning, I read anarticle at Omaha.comthat the BoE approved 11-0 to expand IB to another HS and a middle school in the district. Wow, I thought, that's expensive. I wonder how they are going to pay for it.
EnterSusie Buffett.Ms. Buffett'sSherwood Foundationis oh so generously footing the bill to spread this indoctrination through Omaha.
Yes, this is Warren Buffett's daughter. Haven't heard much from Mr. Buffett since Obama won the election, have we? But what is Buffett's MAIN ideological concern? Population control, charity andsocial justice.
From IB's former Chair of its Board of Governors, Monique Seefriedin her speech:“Learning to Give; the gift of an IB education”. She wrote, “We need to fully realize and make students realize that thesocial justiceof tomorrow, is built through the charity of today.”
Glenn Beck exposed The TIDES Foundation (Soros) and The Story of Stuff. This is equally big money attacking our public schools with a globalist, NWO agenda. Tell Omaha BoE toREJECT Buffett's moneyand maintain the integrity of the public schools, free of socialist indoctrination and coercion.
The Ultimate Radical Connection - IBO & the Tides Foundation
While watching Glenn Beck's September 22nd show, a light bulb went off after TAIB viewed his presentation of "The Story of Stuff" by Annie Leonard:http://www.storyofstuff.com/
And who was this decidedly left-wing interpretation of our "government" funded by? The Tides Foundation, baby of George Soros! It never occurred to TAIB before to search out the connections between the Tides Foundation and IBO. But as soon as we did, the trail was incredibly simple to follow. Begin withIBO's Chairof theIB Board of Governors,Carol Bellamy and take one giant step backwards. One. That's all it took. Please follow the path in the document to the right. Thank you.
Gulf High School in the Pasco school district in Florida, is an American public high school.http://ghs.pasco.k12.fl.us/ But because it is an International Baccalaureate school, it seems normal American liberties and freedom of choice in reading selections gets over-ruled by IB:
"So when it came time to read two complex novels and write an essay on their magical realism over the summer, Marí didn't complain. She didn't even blink at the notion of tackling the 611 pages of Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, translated from the original Japanese.
Then she got to the passage on Page 11 that began, "She said, 'I'm in bed. I just got out of the shower, and I'm not wearing a thing.' Oh, great. Telephone sex." Marí thought the text was getting iffy.
Less than half a page later, the writing had become so sexually graphic that she gave the book to her mom, Mindy, with an "Eww, gross."
On the first day of classes, instead of handing English teacher Jan Ledman her 1,500-word paper, Marí turned in a note from her father, Rafael. It said the family agreed that Murakami's book — described in part by Publisher's Weekly as a detective story that moves to "explicit sexual fantasy" — was pornographic and that if the assignment had to be based on that novel, the assignment would not be forthcoming."
Well, kudos to Mari's Dad! Surely the student could select a different work of "literature" for her IB English class, right?
"Deborah Lepley, Gulf High's IB administrator, said the school had to tell the International Baccalaureate Organization years ago which novels the students would write essays about. If students do not write on the chosen texts, she said, they will get a zero, which could affect their chances to successfully complete an IB diploma.
Alicia Durbano, a diploma program manager for the International Baccalaureate program,said once a school selects books for the essay, those are the ones the students must use.But she stressed that the list of choices included more than 500 titles, and that it was up to the school to pick appropriately. "
Guess they didn't pick very appropriately, now did they? Where is it written that the student can't select one of the other 499 books? And for this Florida taxpayers are shelling out how much?
Gulf High IB student gets reprieve on book she objected to
It appears Marí Mercado won't have to readThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicleafter all. And she won't have to take a reduced score on her required International Baccalaureate program world literature essay, either.
Marí's father, Rafael, told the Gradebook that he sat with officials from Gulf High School this afternoon, and they agreed to give his daughter a new novel for her assignment.
"They're going to ensure that it's something more appropriate for her, in our view," Mr. Mercado said.
Marí, a 16-year-old junior, hadobjected to the required readingofThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, saying she was offended by the graphic sexual content in the book's early pages. Initially, school officials stated that they could not change the assignment. After additional review directed by the Pasco school district's curriculum department, the position seems to have softened.
Deborah Lepley, the IB coordinator at Gulf High, declined to comment to the Gradebook.
After thestory became public, readers took strong positions both for and against Marí's stance. Her father said he couldn't be prouder of her for standing up for what she believed to be right
UK Kings College for the Arts and Technology Dumps IB 08/09/2009
TAIB doesn't need to add any commentary to this article. The quotes speak for themselves:
~A GUILDFORD school has turned its back on an examinations system which former parents had claimed was failing students
~The International Baccalaureate (IB) is being scrapped at Kings College for the Arts and Technology because of a lack of interest from pupils.
~Now the number of students going into the sixth form has doubled as a result of A-levels being offered, and parents who felt their children were let down by the IB have welcomed the news it will be abandoned.
~Results of the IB exams were a major concern among them, as the proportion of students passing the diploma - the equivalent of three C grades at A-level - was usually less than 50%.
~In 2007, it was as low as 42%, after which 30 parents wrote to the school asking for an explanation of the grades. They also set up a website - www.kingscollegeguildfordparents.com - providing information on the IB.
~Ms Mayhead was pleased to hear other promising students would not be disadvantaged at the school now the IB was being scrapped.
~“We had a lot of trouble with the IB,” he said.
~“It was expensive to train staff [to teach the IB], it was always a case of fighting a losing battle against staff.”
~Parents who expressed concern about teaching or their child’s progress were made to feel it was ‘their child’s fault’, Ms Mayhead said, and it also proved difficult for them to see statistics to compare the IB results to those of other schools.
~“They really wanted an opportunity to work towards A-levels. It gives children more flexibility in terms of what they want to do.
Thousands of IB students in the UK have met with tremendous disappointment after improved A-Level results and limited space in UK universities has forced the rejection of admission to their universities of choice. In many cases, rejections extended to second and third choices as well.
"IB students also need to know if they are at a disadvantage because they do not have AS results when they apply, as many students sitting A-levels do."
For an IB student who attained a '43' on the Diploma not to gain entry into his university of choice speaks to the lack of weight and value admissions officers in the UK give to the IB.How devastating, after all of their hard work, they may have to take a year off and go back to the drawing board.Our hearts go out to those students who were sold the bad IB bill of goods.
IB Authorizes School that Teaches "Jews are Apes and Christians are Pigs" 08/27/09
Thanks to a heads up from an astute UK reader of TAIB, we have learned that the Islamic King Fahad Academy in London was authorized to be an IB World School in June of 2008:http://www.ibo.org/school/000484/
The principal of an Islamic school has admitted that it uses textbooks which describe Jews as "apes" and Christians as "pigs" and has refused to withdraw them.Dr Sumaya Alyusuf confirmed that the offending books exist after former teacher Colin Cook, 57, alleged that children as young as five are taught from racist materials at the King Fahd Academy in Acton.In an interview on BBC2's Newsnight, Dr Alyusuf was asked by Jeremy Paxman whether she recognised the books.She said: "Yes, I do recognise these books, of course. We have these books in our school. These books have good chapters that can be used by the teachers. It depends on the objectives the teacher wants to achieve."In another exchange, Dr Alyusuf insisted the books should not be scrapped, saying that allegedly racist sections had been "misinterpreted"....[SNIP]...Pupils have allegedly been heard saying they want to "kill Americans", praising 9/11 and idolising Osama bin Laden as their "hero".
IB claims to represent fostering intercultural understanding and world peace, yet authorizes a school that breeds hate. This is an organization without standards, ethics or moral integrity. Why should a single American taxdollar be sent to an organization that knowlingly collects fees from an Islamic school that perpetuates hate and jihad? Despicable.
In the middle of the summer recess, 50 parents have put their names to a petition to make participation in IB at Midlothian Middle School in Virginia, voluntary. Yet school administrators claim that the "vastmajority of comments have been positive". The article only refers to the annual $6,000 IB membership fee while ignoring the $60 per student registration and $640 per subject fees also charged by IBO.
We already know that IB requires PYP schools to implement its program "schoolwide". This is an outrage and parents in Midlothian need to wake up and stop this fascist takeover of its public school.
TAIB's question from the first announcement of this scandal was, "Well, who is the leak in Geneva?" It appears that IBO, true to form, is trying to make the Greek school take the fall and absolve itself of any responsibility.
A spokesperson for the school said an internal probe “suggests the existence of an organized racket around the IB program".
IB Eliminated, Jobs Saved
Amazing what bankruptcy can do for the educational mindset, isn't it? We'll just add Santa Ynez Valley to our growing list of IB schools on the chopping block!
UK Parents Call IB a "Shocking Mistake" 08/01/09 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5949536/Parents-furious-as-new-diploma-leaves-private-school-pupils-floundering.html "Several of the 37 pupils in the first group of pupils to take the IB narrowly avoided failing altogether.Pupils claimed that initially just six of the group - all described as academically strong - got the results required for their first-choice university. More than 20 did not get into either of their chosen two.The school, which boasts that "virtually all" its students typically get into their first choice, say that following negotiations, 22 now have a place, meaning 15 still face a year of uncertainty."
This is exactly what happened to Long Island IB students and parents who were sold a bad bill of goods that an IB Diploma is the "golden ticket" into the Ivies. In TAIB's opinion, there's nothing worse than adults and UNESCO duping kids into believing they are working hard for something that ends up being a dud.
Remember, IB was pushed by former PM Tony Blair and is not as well considered by the current politicians in power in the UK. IB is an extraordinarily political animal.
For brevity's sake, TAIB will simply highlight the most telling statements in this article. If there is ANY pro-IB person out there who can find ANYTHING positive about this article, please e-mail us. We need the entertainment.
Joe, 19, who was head boy of his school and has a string of A and A* grades among his 12 GCSEs, says: “I wasdisappointedwhen I received my exam results a couple of weeks ago. They were not what my teachers predicted.”
His mother, Yvonne, nods vigorously. “I feel the boys have been used as guinea pigs in a disastrous experiment,” she says.
“They werereally pushing people to join up,” he says. “It was offered only to people who had done well at GCSE because it was thought to be very demanding. We asked what risk there was in being in the first cohort. They said, no risk at all.”
It’s important that parents realise that introducing the IB to a school is a really risky option,” Yvonne says. “I would say, ‘Do not go near it,’after Joe’s experience. The IB is far harder than A-levels and not well understood by British universities.”
In German, Joe’s IB class was taught by five teachers in two years, and his physics teacher, who suffered from stress, was on leave before the exams.
Although the Universities and College Admissions Service has created a conversion table for A-levels and the IB, many universities ignore it when making offers.
The IB ombudsman, Anthony Flatley, hasrejected demandsthat the results be re-assessed, saying there is no precedent to change grades because a school is inexperienced at teaching the IB. He suggests that thefault lies “in the classroom”.
Flatley’s response hasinfuriatedthe father of the boy at Verulam whose Cambridge place is in jeopardy. “The school says it can’t do anything; the local council says it can’t do anything; the IB organisation says it can’t do anything,” he says. “From their point of view our son took a gamble — which he didn’t even know was a gamble — and it didn’t pay off. How would they feel if it was one of their children that had been put in this position?”
There's a lot that appears to be unsaid in this article. Clearly, there appears to be a divide in ideological administrative support for IB and games being played with teacher positions. What is most telling, however, is that the MYP IB Coordinator was moved to teach English to students who weren't passing the California exit exams and a push for an IB Charter school in 2010. Oh yes, and a teacher (former school board member and councilman who is now a Stockton Unified program specialist) whose child is in the program(me) who says he won't lose any sleep over the future of the program.
What will it take for American school districts to understand that IB does nothing but divide and cause controversy? How many students must be subjected, how many taxdollars wasted, how many teachers must be shoved around... before administrators and Boards of Ed get the message - IB doesn't work! It is a poorly designed, expensive program that needs to be shelved.
TAIB Underestimated IB Costs We know. It's hard to believe. TAIB has endeavored to present accurate information regarding the onerous cost of implementing IB in a school. Based on our read of IB regulations, we were under the impression that the $129 student registration fee only applied to full Diploma students and was therefore, negligible. After a heated discussion with an IB teacher over this very issue, we are actually pleased to announce, we were wrong. IB charges the $129 registration fee for every student who intends to take just one IB exam in addition to the $88 per exam fees.
Now, this doesn't just apply to the DP. It also applies to the MYP where the IB charges a $60 per student registration fee. Apparently at the PYP level where IB requires the entire school to participate in PYP, it couldn't bring itself to tack on this userous fee.
So why is this an issue? Let's take a small public high school like Locust Valley, NY. Last year, the graduating class was 203 students. LV's administration has proudly proclaimed that "at least 80% of the students are taking at least one IB class!" Great! So on top of the annual $9,160 to "belong" to IB, this small district pays an additional $20,640 just for the "privilege" of students being able to register to take an exam. Think about it. $30,000 a year - for WHAT? And that's just for a tiny district. What about districts where there are 400-600 or more students in a grade? That $20,000 becomes $40,000 or $60,000,just for registration fees!
Offering AP instead of IB could immediately eliminate a minimum of $30,000 in superfluous expenses from a budget.
This item will also be posted under IB Fees and IB Buyers Beware/Locust Valley.
"One World" IB Mural http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/07/vernons_new_mural_takes_the_gl.html No, Addie Boswell isn't a student. In April, students from 25 classrooms painted flags of other nations along the Vernon SUN's surrounding wall during a playground beautification day. Karla Powell, Vernon's 2008-09 Impact NW/AmeriCorps volunteer, thought the other artwork needed a unifying centerpiece. She was able to get children's author/illustrator Addie Boswell to donate the design for the mural above. Paint and supplies were provided courtesy of AmeriCorps.
Art is interpretive, no doubt. But TAIB feels compelled to provide you with our interpretation of this "project". So here we go. AFTER flags of a plethora of other countries are painted to surround the site, it occurs to Ms. Powell that, oops, they "forgot" the American flag! Let's get a professional to design the unifying centerpiece! (so much for creativity and originality on the part of these IB PYP students).
The children, black and white of course, stand stiff and unsmiling with their hands dutifully placed on the "One World". Note how the black child is larger and appears healthier and taller than the meek, skinny white child. The black hand supports or lifts up the world, as the white hand presses down or oppresses. Step by step behind them, a partial American flag appears to be waving, not proudly in the breeze, but because it is being taken down the flagpole and resting on the dirt. Less than half of the State stars are represented.
Will this flag be lit at night? Doubtful. Mr. Gerald Halpin, the Inspector General for Americorps, was recently wrongfully fired from his position by the Obama administration because he was investigating fraud in AmeriCorps. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. But this picture, isolated from all of the surrounding flags and the IB ideology and agenda, is presented by the media as a patriotic symbol when in fact, it is just the opposite. Read between the lines and the disappearing stripes on the American flag. Stars and Stripes forever? Not if it's up to IB and AmeriCorps.
IB Gets Reference to IB Pulled Pronto! July 22, 2009 - ib-news sends out a Twitter alert for the following article:ib_newsCPS Launches Probe Into Enrollment Practices - CBS2 Chicago: CPS Launches Probe Into Enrollment PracticesCBS2 Ch..http://bit.ly/14bdgT TAIB read it, always interested in "probes" regarding IB, and saw that the article dealt with the admission process for International Baccalaureate schools in Chicago. (below on this page is the report on how all 16 IB schools in Chicago failed to meet State benchmarks). Unfortunately, we did not "capture" the article as it appeared online this morning. Now there is no mention of International Baccalaureate in the article! How odd! Why on earth would ib-news send out a Twitter on Chicago schools if it had nothing to do with IB?
Governator Slashes $6 Billion to CA K-12 Education
California has more IB schools than any other state, 110 in all. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that almost immediately following the Governator's announcement that he will be slashing $6 Billion from California's K-12 educational system, an announcement out of Santa Ynez finds its Board of Education contemplating the elimination of IB:
http://www.santaynezvalleyjournal.com/archive/7/30/4828/ One parent at the meeting said certain students shouldn’t be forced to participate and deemed the program a “waste of time.”Board member JeffreyLittledisagreed, noting that big-name colleges such as the University of Texas are impressed by students with International Baccalaureate credentials. If money is a problem, he said, perhaps it’s time to prioritize the budget.
As demonstrated in news flashes below, TAIB has already connected the dots between Obama/Ayers/Duncan/Annenberg and IB. Chicago has THE highest concentration of IB schools in the country. The following press release from Chicago Public Schools was issued in 2005:
“We ’re proud to be leading the nation in incorporating this program, ” CPS Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan said. “We want as many students as possible to have access to a challenging and innovative curriculum like the one IBMYP provides. ”
Except it isn't really a curriculum, now is it Mr. Duncan? IB Battle in Wake County, North Carolina
It's happening again. Another Board of Education is grappling with divisiveness and controversy over an IB magnet program. This morning, 12/10/08, the Board will decide whether to keep or oust the IB magnet program from its general public HS in Broughton:
TAIB would like to give kudos to the young man writing the News Observer blog for what appears to be fair and balanced reporting of the situation. It appears that the Board is leaning towards ousting IB, which is good news. TAIB will follow this issue and report the outcome of this morning's meeting.
UPDATE: 5-4 Vote with Board Chair Breaking Tie, Ousts IB Magnet from Broughton
With every day bringing news of more and more bailouts, the announcement that CitiGroup was "too big to fail" came as no surprise. Besides the ridiculous $400M naming rights for the new, domeless Citi stadium in NY, TAIB has learned that Citibank is promising $18M for an IB school in Nigeria:
It's one thing when in a capitalistic society, a huge corporation decides to invest in projects like these of its own accord. It's quite another when American taxdollars are being used to fund such frivolous ventures and we the people, have no say.
Wake County, N.C. Duped by Magnet Excellence Award
The News & Observer of Wake County, North Carolina, keeps readers abreast of happenings in the county's schools. A recent update reveals the following:
Everybody like awards, right? They make us feel good and help us earn "prestige" in the eyes of others. But the thing is, when it comes to IB, there always seems to be a conflict of interest. TAIB has featured the IBO Inspiration Award (which was presented to one of the plaintiffs in the ACLU lawsuit against Upper St. Clair, PA), elsewhere in this site. Remember, the award was for "control of local education at its finest". Words like that send shivers up our spine.
Now, Wake County is celebrating five of its magnet programs (at least 3 of which are IB) being recognized for excellence by The Magnet Schools of America. Who serves on the Board of The Magnet Schools of America?
TAIB knew a wonderful Irish woman from Galway. She only had an 8th grade education and 11 children. The poor dear departed us long ago. But she was fond of a saying, "Self-praise is no praise". In IBO's case, it can't get independent outside organizations to bestow awards on its students so it sets itself up on a Board of Directors to make sure IB schools are recognized.
Mrs Morgan said: “This decision has nothing to do with the recession. It is a decision which has been taken despite the great success of the International Baccalaureate which is due in part to 20-years of dedicated service by the team in Cardiff. These are highly skilled professionals who will struggle to find the same jobs in South Wales. The majority have families and are unlikely to move to Amsterdam.
“It is a real slight on Wales, a country which has served the International Baccalaureate so well for so long. I think it is absolute nonsense that Cardiff does not have the right profile to host an international company and the transport links are really not that much of an issue. We are two hours from London by train and directly linked by motorway. The decision is disgusting and staff are devastated. It is a huge blow and while the numbers are yet to be confirmed it appears that we are talking about retaining around 40 jobs.”
Ouch. Let's see what IBO's response was:
It is expected that a team of around 40 out of the current staff of 330 will remain in Cardiff. Instead of running as the UK headquarters involved in formulating the curriculum this base will now be involved in assessment and marking of exam papers. The company would not confirm how many jobs would be lost and have said that current staff will be offered the chance to relocate. The Amsterdam base will be one of three global centres along with Washington and Singapore which the IB wants to be fully operational by 2020. A spokeswoman for the International Baccalaureate said: “In Cardiff, parts of the assessment operations associated with the marking of thousands of exam scripts twice a year will be retained indefinitely, and a new director is soon to be hired to oversee this critical area of the IB’s activities.
If we go with the rough estimate of a mere 40 employees left behind still in IBO's good graces until IBO re-establishes itself, it will have reduced its entire global workforce to ...... drumroll please.......90. According to IBO's 2007 Annual Review, it only has380staff members in 12 offices worldwide, apparently330of those are in Cardiff. But the best is the line that follows:"All working for 500,000 students and their families" All 90 of them. http://www.ibo.org/facts/annualreview/2007/documents/IB07reportweb.pdf
Why Amsterdam? Well, TAIB knows that weed and hash are legal and abundant in Amsterdam but other than that, why would IBO simply abandon Cardiff in this manner? As to Washington, would that be Washington D.C. or Washington State? Has President Obama already set up a nice cushy office for IBO in a wing of the White House that we don't know about? But back to Amsterdam. Homeschoolers in particular may want to take note of the following: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/1121 http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Netherlands/200310240.asp "And yet, as if they have nothing better to do, the Belgian police and judiciary are conducting an “inquiry” into our homeschooling to see whether we “rear our children along the lines of theUnited Nations Convention on Children’s Rights.”
Whooooaaa! Are we getting the bigger picture now? TAIB rescinds its prediction about IBO setting up in Dubai. This move isn't about financially growing a company, this move is entirely based on gaining socialist UN control of public schools globally. Good for the Belgians who had the common sense to oppose this sort of educational tyranny.
Why would any sane and concerned parent place their child's education in the hands of this gang of 90?
Duncan's Chicago Chicanery
Whatever happened to the days of looking at actual data and results and determining whether something worked, or didn't? What ever happened to the days of looking at history to teach us the errors of our ways and hopefully make us wiser so we don't repeat the same mistakes? Is this now an "old fashioned" life view, abandoned for promises of "trust us" and pseudo "global readiness"? When promises of CHANGE quickly turn to rhetoric of RESTORE, we are left scratching our heads and asking ourselves, exactly whatis it they want to restore?
The following article comes out of Chicago, IL, circa 2008.
The article describes how Chicago's Lincoln Park High School is considered by Duncan to be "underserved" while two other schools sit completely empty. What the article doesn't tell you is that Lincoln Park became Chicago's first IB school in 1980. http://www.ibo.org/school/000158/ Considering that under Duncan's watch Chicago added 25 more IB schools after 1997, one would have thought that it was based upon a successful model. Yet the 2008 Illinois School Report Card states that only61.6%of Lincoln Park students meet or exceed state standards and the school didnotmake Adequate Yearly Progress in 2008. http://iirc.niu.edu/School.aspx?schoolID=150162990250047 Please note that the average teacher's salary is almost $75,000 while Chicago spends a hair over $11,000 per student. Can anyone in their right mind declare these to be outstanding results after 28 years of IB?
Is it worth it? Do you care? Because it's coming to your neighborhood just as soon as Obama stuffs billions into the stimulus package for "educational reform" to be distributed under Duncan's oversight.
You can stop it. Say NO to Federal money for bloated wasteful programs that don't produce results. Tell your Boards of Education that you have looked at IB's track record in the United States and it stinks. Take back your schools from the megalomaniacal Democratic machine that is trying to coerce and bribe local school districts to buy IB. You don't need it, you can't afford it so just say NO. Grow a backbone America and take back your schools!
IB Undercover
TAIB has noticed something significant going on in the marketing of IB in the U.S. over the past two years - IB has gone undercover. We see it in the press and in our local districts. Rather than discuss IB in public meetings, it is not referred to at all. To demonstrate the most significant example of this tacit tactic, we present to you the following from The Schott Foundation of Garden City, LI, NY.:
The Long Island Index 2009 highlighted areas of the country that have successfully addressed many of the critical issues in education. One innovative initiative on equity took place here on Long Island. Administrators in Rockville Center school district were troubled by the persistent achievement gap between on the one hand, Black and Latino students, and on the other, Whites and Asian-American students. They were troubled, too, by the over-representation of Blacks and Latinos in low-achieving classes. In the late 1990's, under the guidance of Superintendent William Johnson, they started de-tracking their classes. Instead of isolating all the "gifted" students in one class, the "slow learners" in another, they mixed the classes by ability and race, and theytaught a new, more rigorous curriculum to everyone. Intuition might tell you that the low-track students might go up, but the high-track students would go down. That is not what the research showed. In class after class all groups went up and the achievement gap closed. Carol Corbett Burris, principal of RVC's South Side High School concludes, "Give all student access to first-class learning opportunities and everyone wins."
First, let's establish that Rockville Centre/SouthSide HS has been an IB 'World School' since 1981. According to IBO's website, the Diploma programme is offered to 97 students.http://www.ibo.org/school/000193/ This would indicate either the Schott Foundation is misrepresenting providing a "more rigorous curriculum to everyone" or IBO hasn't updated its website since the 80's. The Principal of SouthSide since 2000, Dr. Burris, used the district as a case study to write her doctoral dissertation on detracking: http://epicpolicy.org/author/burris-carol-corbett I challenge any reader to find an educator who produces a dissertation on a system in which they have tenure to produce a thesis with a negative conclusion. Please note, nowhere on the Schott Foundation site is IB ever mentioned. However, there is a link which takes us to the January 30th conference held at Hofstra University which was also attended by Nassau and Suffolk County Executives:http://schottfoundation.org/press.php?section=press_releases&article=1849227595
Dr. John Jackson, President and CEO of the Schott Foundation and former member of theObama-Biden transition team, will serve as thekeynote speakerat the lunch. Dr. Jackson advises, "According to OECD data,to remain globally competitive, the U.S. will need to have 60% of its citizens possess a college degree or postsecondary credential by 2025. That is more than 16 million additional college-educated workers. The only way we will meet this need is to provide a fair and substantive opportunity to learn for all children."
According to Ann Golob, Director, Long Island Index, "While many reports have been written about Long Island's educational system, this is the first that systematically looks at our region from the dual perspectives of how and where we spend our money compared to overall academic achievement. We didn't always find what we expected. The study showed that high-needs students in relatively wealthy districts significantly outperformed high-needs students in poor districts.Access to more resources and interaction with a more diverse student body promote better achievement.The study noted that isolation of students in small districts, regardless of income or race, limits opportunity."
**Editor's Note: Upon re-checking the Schott link above (02/05/09) one discovers that the above information has mysteriously disappeared and readers are met with the infamous Page Not Found message.
Promote positive outcomes for young children, ages newborn to six, with particular focus on those with adisadvantaged socio-economicstart. Our first priority is tosupport programsthat facilitate systemic change for those children and their families.
Protect the environment and improve the quality of life on Long Island and in Maryland.
Strengthen the organizational effectiveness ofnonprofit institutions that work on these issuesthrough capacity building and leadership development.
The Foundation focuses its work in the places where Rauch family members have lived and worked - Long Island and Maryland.
This is a politically powerful, dangerous machine that has been set in motion and our unsuspecting County Executives listened to PhD's and EdD's with one specific agenda - the "equalization" of education throughout Long Island with special attention being paid to minorities who believe their kids are getting the short end of the stick. It is an effort to blur all lines between school districts and make Nassau and Suffolk Counties huge bureaucracies like Fairfax, manipulated by excessive busing costs to ship students all over in order to "equalize" the Free and Reduced Lunch Rate among schools. Any savings in the elimination of over 120 Superintendents and over 250 Assistant Superintendents is cancelled out by the altruistic desire to "equalize" student populations through massive redistricting and redistribution of students.
TAIB has a better plan. Should there be consolidation of the number of top administrators? Absolutely. But expanding each County's public school system countywide is not the way to go. What is needed is a consolidation by Townships and the creation of five large districts per County. All of the schools within each of the 10 districts become "schools of choice", meaning that if a student from Hicksville for some unexplained reason really really wanted to attend school in Oyster Bay, they would be allowed to do so. But all magnet programs, like IB or BOCES, would only be offered in a centralized location that students from anywhere in the county could attend. The old neighborhood boundaries would remain in place for school assignments, but the option to cross-lines has been created. The number of students who would opt out of their neighborhood schools for others will always be minimal. We must avoid at all costs the desire by "well-meaning" individuals to set F & R mandatory minimums at each of the schools. This is nothing more than politically correct terminology for forced integration and social manipulation.
TAIB urges Long Island readers to write to their County Executives and make them aware of the hidden agenda of the Rauch and Schott Foundations. Long Island's educational system, while perhaps in need of some revision, has established a level of national excellence because of parental involvement in schools and the positive effect the schools have had on our real estate values. People buy homes in certain communities for a reason, they feel comfortable with their neighbors. It is the reason NYC has Chinatown, Little Italy, the Russian section of Brighton Beach, etc. Pulling a child out of their neighborhood environment for six hours a day and shuffling them around the County like chess pieces is not the way to improve education for minorities. Let's call things by their real names. If IB is ideally designed as a "magnet program", from a scientific perspective, what are magnets designed to do? Draw kids away from their home base schools, of course. The time has come to put things in perspective, to stop clouding educational issues with vague feel-good terms and to not just feign transparency, but to come clean about the true agenda. If SouthSide is so in love with IB, make it the central Nassau IB magnet and set the SouthSide kids who might prefer AP free to attend Garden City or East Williston schools. This is a workable, fiscally responsible, equitable and emotionally reasonable plan.
It's not often that we here at TAIB are left speechless. We had heard rumblings about IBO wanting to pull up its Welsh roots and hop across the English Channel to the Netherlands. Cardiff has been IBO's curriculum headquarters for 40 years and where more than 80% of its employees are based, contrary to common belief that they are mostly in Geneva, Switzerland. Now, in TAIB's way of thinking (capitalist), we presumed that IBO was making such a move because of the plunging value of the₤which IBO uses to claim its "expenditures" under, to jump over to the slightly better Euro. Keep in mind IBO records its "income" in U.S. $$s. An economic reason would have made sense.
Imagine the concern of the Welsh MPs (members of Parliament) fighting for their own economy and citizens when instead of economic reasons, IBO was relocating because: Mrs Morgan said: “The other MPs were annoyed when they heard the International Baccalaureate organisation thought Cardiff was ‘remote’and that there would not be the necessary skills available for the expansion planned by 2020.“I was able to read to them from the staff’s letter to the management sayingthey felt insulted at being considered ‘too Anglo-Saxon’ and not international enough.
“I hope the strength of feeling shown by the staff and the dismay expressed by politicians of all parties will make the International Baccalaureate reconsider and give a vote of confidence in its 330 members of staff in Cardiff.”
Tsk, tsk, IBO. That just doesn't strike us as a terribly bright approach for an organization that tries to claim it holds the key to all knowledge and global peace. Going and upsetting the nice Welsh people. Two of the nicest, most dignified, intelligent and polite ladies we know are from Wales. And if that's politically correct thinking for the 21st century, then count us out.
TAIB is going to go out on a limb here and make a prediction: IBO's next curriculum headquarters won't be anywhere in central Europe but Dubai. Follow the money. Dubai is "international enough", right?
In IBO's Own Words
"Schools may offer select IB classes, but 'the meaning of what we think is a valid international educationis lost" if overdone, Richardson said. "The meaning of a program isonlyreally understood once you get the diploma'.
The date on this IBO document is November 2007. Mr. Bradley Richardson is no longer the IBNA Regional Director, Mr. Drew Deutsch has taken his place. But it is doubtful that the educational philosophy of Bradley's successor will be fundamentally different and so TAIB has to take Bradley at his word that BY ITS DESIGN, the only way to really reap the "benefits" of IB is to be engaged in the full diploma programme.
If that's the case, if the IBNA Regional Director allows himself to be quoted in IBO's own paper, then why is IBO allowing public schools to implement it any ol' way they please? Why is IBO encouraging public schools to sell its programmes to parents under the "anyone can do IB if they apply themselves and if they don't want to do the full diploma, that's okay, they'll benefit if they only take one or two IB classes anyway."
Why? We'll tell you why. Because IBO has no integrity and is looking to shove its programmes into as many schools as it possibly can by telling them the programme is flexible and will only improve the school, no matter what form it's implemented in. Just make sure the funds are there to cover your check to Geneva and you're good to go.
The results out of Singapore completely support Bradley's statement that the full IB Diploma is the only way the programme can be properly administered and produce the desired level of achievement among students. If a public school is unable to implement the full diploma only option, then IB is not a good fit for your school and it should no longer be considered as an educational option. When the Regional Director is telling you that the meaning of the program is LOST when you break it up, does that not translate into wasted dollars and failure?
When only four, or 18 or 32 kids opt for the full IB diploma and 250 others have to have their schedules disrupted, courses lost, hundreds of thousands of taxdollars spent on the programme, is that fair? Is that what IBO sold the public school system? Or is that what the public schools have bastardized IB to be and IBO doesn't care?
You be the judge.
First Hand IB Experience
Over the years as members of TAIB have explored the IB realm, we have constantly been accused by IB students and supporters of not knowing what we are talking about because we haven't taken IB ourselves. Jay Mathews has said, "Until you visit an IB classroom and experience the learning going on there, you can't appreciate IB." We at TAIB respectfully disagree with Mr. Mathews. We don't need to sit in on a staged lesson for a Washington Post reporter. Also, as mostly 50+ year old adults, we believe we are capable of critically analyzing the cost, design and rhetoric surrounding the program without going back to high school. However, we do appreciate first-hand reports from IB students regarding their experiences and whether or not they think the program was beneficial or detrimental.
TAIB would like to welcome Saynoris to our site. We received the following e-mail from her:
My favourite page on this site is your "Is IB a Cult?" page. Well done! There's no stronger evidence than that backed by science. I wrote an IB Blog chronicling my journey through this exhaustive program through my secondary schools years, perhaps you can include it on your site so it helps other students get through the agony I lived through.
TAIB is elated to have your permission to include your blog. Readers should note that this outstanding student earned a42on her IB Diploma. Be sure to check out what the actual IB Diploma looks like on Saynoris' site!
Real time demonstration of the hypocrisy of IB's TOK and one of its IB Coordinators can be found, or not found as the case may be, on Mrs. Biddle's blog for Henrico High School in Virginia. Several of TAIB's readers took the initiative to write to Mrs. Biddle. Not only did she refuse to post their comments, she wiped her blog clean of NH's comment and her responses from November 2008!
Unfortunately for Mrs. Biddle, TAIB copied and pasted her words below. Unlike IBO and its minions, TAIB believes in a free and open exchange of ideas and opinions. In fact, TAIB will be adding a section for pro-IB feedback we receive. E-mail addresses will be kept private so feel free to write to your heart's content. Postings will not be edited or corrected for grammar or spelling. So far, the only pro-IB comments TAIB has received from IB students and supporters have been rather nasty and poorly written. We challenge you to make your case.
IB Student Objects to TAIB
TAIB has noticed a lot of hits from a forum called IB Survival. Unwilling to barge in on their little party, TAIB is going to respond to one of the more detailed posts here. The following was posted by an American student named"Biochem/IB Addict":
"since most students in IB schools do NOT earn the full IB Diploma they are usually unable to obtain credit for these SL courses. "
"intimidated other members who found limited or no value in the program."
I really get..belligerent when I see that. How sad. a really sad attempt to squash and humiliate an international goal to raise awareness through education. the attempts and persuasion, are of course validated by most Christian families who fear that TOK will once gain, like most of the scientific-based world, find fault within a spiritual belief. Most students DO get hte Diploma, and the ones that dont have honestly not applied themselves or are NOT ready for college. I think some other facts need to be put up there. That america associates itself, president and flag as being a christian counterpart. the site is a pitiful attempt, that's all I have to say. EVERY POINT. EVERY. can be countered with a positive aspect and a lie. thank you, for TOK class, history class, math class and science class which have allowed me to see the stupidity of others..and keep on laughing..as I move on..
MOST IB failure should be blamed on stupid teachers. did u know out of 50 selected tapes, 10 were blank for a language oral. One case I know. some teachers didnt even bother to check..Ib dioesnt have enough time to go through each tape and make sure, that some idiot, actually recorded it or not. So sad..
p.s. I love the american flag. right away, spoke volume about the tactics which would be used. This site should be used in a TOK presentation. I would have SOOO done it, but I finished mine. what a great topic. how certain emotional aspects twist the nature of reasoning and inability to function under valid syllogisms. tsk tsk
So facts regarding IB DP participation in American public schools make IB students "belligerent"? In most American schools with the IB DP, on average less than 15% of a student cohort earns the IB Diploma, often less than 20 students in any given year. We have pointed to exceptions like the ACS school in Singapore where all of the students are required to take the full Diploma and do so with great success. But here in the U.S., most schools have adopted a "self-select" policy resulting in underqualified students being forced to "choose" IB because other levels of study such as Honors and AP have been eliminated.
Not to pick on a student, but TAIB loves the line "EVERY POINT. EVERY. can be countered with a positive aspect and a lie." That's why this site is called the Truth About IB. In order to present positive aspects of IB, one must lie. TAIB's primary purpose is to counter the lies being sold to our students and public schools by IBO.
Most disturbing is the student's claim that IBO doesn't "have the time" to review the language oral tapes. How interesting. IBO is charging a hefty sum for its "external examinations" and mailing expenses. TAIB is guessing thatBiochem/IB Addictis quite oblivious to the fact that he/she just exposed major fraud in the program.
TAIB finds it interesting thatBiochem/IB Addicthas learned the word "syllogism", but apparently not the definition. For example:
Major premise:IB is a cult Minor premise:Biochem/IB Addictis a member of IB Conclusion:Biochem/IB Addictis a cult member
Valid? You be the judge.
The Curious Case of Mrs. Biddle
We don't know her personally. TAIB is sure Mrs. Biddle is a very sweet, incredibly dedicated teacher. TAIB has a mental image of an Aunt Bea from Andy of Mayberry type. She appears to believe with a deep, deep passion that IB is the best thing since sliced bread. Her blog,Biddle's Bits and Bytesis well organized and informative.Unfortunately, she is providing misinformation.
Ironically, Mrs. Biddle is the IB Coordinator at Henrico High School in Virginia, where the school mascot is a Native American with a feather headdress and the teams are named the Warrors. Go figure.
TAIB's first visit to Mrs. Biddle's blog discovered that our good friend NH had already been there in November of 2008. At that time, NH questioned Mrs. Biddle as to why TOK was being delivered over the course of two years. Mrs. Biddle was clearly rattled by what she considered NH's snarky response and reference to the UN:
Theory of knowledge is an epistemological study which challenges students to become critical consumers of information. I do not know where you get your “propaganda” from, but IB is not aligned with the UN. IB’s values can be judged by its mission statement and Learner Profile, which espouse universal human values like hard work, knowledge, intellectual curiosity, caring, risk taking. So, your accusation of “global socialist values” is without basis in fact. We used an article from the Washington Post because it provided an alternative position to a documentary the students watched, allowing them to be analytical of both arguments. Finally, as to the “real purpose of the UN,” that is not part of our curriculum. I have included your comment in this forum as an exercise for my students of the IB mission statement — that others, with their differences, “CAN” be right. In this case, you are not, but I am affording you the respect that you, in your sarcasm, did not afford our program.
TAIB finds Mrs. Biddle's response to NH down right insulting, and of course, true to form, TAIB attempted tolink this site to Mrs. Biddles' blog to no avail. You see, Mrs. Biddle only allowed NH's response so she could belittle and try and hold herself out like some American hero supporting the First Amendment and the right to dissenting opinions. But give a link to factual evidence contradicting her sermons? Nope. Sorry. Verbotin.
While TAIB tries not to focus intensely on IBO's connection with the UN, it wouldn't be such a big deal if IBO and its minions honestly and openly admitted to the connection. Why is that so difficult? We're surprised Mrs. Biddle didn't accuse NH of seeing black helicopters as that is the usual response, instead she chose to insult and reprimand her for being disrespectful to the almighty IB. When faced with irrefutable evidence, Mrs. Biddle seeks to hide it at all costs:
"Some teachers still say they do not have enough time to cover the syllabus, so we have made peace education an integral part of our subjects." ~Ian Hill, Asst. Director General of IBO
TAIB knows that Mrs. Biddles has visited our site and previewed TAIB's comments which she refused to post. It would be interesting if other TAIB supporters wrote to Mrs. Biddle's blog to see what kind of response or rejection they receive. Please send TAIB feedback if you have the time:
TAIB would like to congratulate the 59 (nearly 20% of all Intel semi-finalists nationally) hard working students from Long Island who earned the distinguished title. These students have learned the true meaning of "scientific inquiry" and earned a prestigious addition to their HS portfolio. And, of course, congratulations to the rest of the winners across the country.
Of the 27 schools which produced Intel Semi-finalists on Long Island, only one, Northport High School, is an IB school which produced one winner. Why oh why does TAIB have to add this caveat, you ask? Simple. There are only four (4) IB schools on Long Island. SouthSide HS in Rockville Centre has had IB for over 20 years, yet only a handful of recipients over the years have ever been recognized by Intel and there were none this year. However, year after year, the list consistently contains multiple winners from Jericho, Ward-Melville, Syosset, Roslyn, Wheatley and Great Neck, all public non-IB schools. It is important to note that this year, Locust Valley's new Superintendent brought the science research teacher from Jericho with her to the district, so hope springs eternal that Locust Valley will produce Intel winners in the future. TAIB believes that based on the localized outcome of the Intel results, IB has not only not contributed to the achievements, it actually serves as a detractor.
Recently on a forum in California, a teacher lauded IB for its focus on "scientific inquiry". TAIB believes there are many other less expensive and better ways for students to master scientific inquiry, validated by these recent results.
At an IB presentation in the Corono-Norco district in California, the Principal proudly announced, "Since it began a program proposed for Eastvale's next school, test scores at an elementary school in Walnut rose 41 percent." Sounds impressive, but did they really?
Our good friend the Anti-Corruption Republican in Texas did a little digging. Guess what? According to the online data from the State of California, the scores only rose 1%! One, not forty-one percent. Please take a look at the outstanding legwork conducted by ACR:
Congratulations to the diligent anti-IB crusaders in Bow, NH for bringing fiscal awareness to its school Board and Superintendent. TAIB applauds the efforts of NH Teacher and supporters for their technological use of the Internet to bring awareness nationwide. We CAN make a difference.
From sea to shining sea, IB continues to cause problems and controversy. Let's start out west at Redwood High School in Larkspur, California, where they are fortunate to have an astute and alert social studies teacher by the name of Gary DeTore. Mr. DeTore took the bold step of writing a Letter to the Editor in his local paper and also allowed himself to be quoted in a subsequent article. TAIB commends Mr. DeTore for his foresight and appreciation of U.S. History and the value of an AP course compared to IB's History of the Americas. Of course, Mr. DeTore is pitted against the Superintendent who splutters the IB rhetoric we have heard over and over again:
"Advanced Placement traditionally offers survey courses. They're a mile wide and an inch deep," said Laurie Kimbrel, superintendent of the Tamalpais Union High School District. "International Baccalaureate is different in its focus, offering critical thinking and using information to solve problems. It's a better match with our values."
Are these Superintendents taken into a back room and waterboarded until they properly parrot IBO's propaganda? "Mile wide and an inch deep", critical thinking skills, better values.....puhleeze! TAIB is pleased that Mr. DeTore didn't drink the Kool Aid and we wish him much success in bringing awareness to his district. http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_11419281
The former IB Coordinator disagrees with the Principal's decision to allow any student to take an IB course and OPT OUT OF THE EXAM. The former IB Coordinator is of course, correct in her objections. What the Principal is proposing is in direct violation of IBO policy. If allowed, it will further skew IB results and the school's ranking on the Newsweek List.
"If a student wants to try an IB-level course, then I will let them," she said. "The exposure to the program is so rigorous that if they want to try a little piece of it, I think the exposure is worth it. ... You can take the college test if you are well-prepared and feel you can get adequate college credit."
Oh dear, O'Nan. You just don't get it, do you? As demonstrated in TAIB's previous news alert out of Singapore, it would appear that the only case where IB is "worthy" of the gross expenditures on the program is where ALL students must partake in the complete DP. If this model doesn't fit your school system, then IB doesn't fit your school and should be eliminated.
Singapore IB School's Remarkable Results
After years of reviewing mediocre IB results in American public schools, it would be irresponsible of TAIB to ignore this story out of Singapore. The Anglo-Chinese School began offering IB a mere 3 years ago. The 2008 graduating cohort of 407 students produced 406 IB Diploma recipients with a mean Diploma average of 40! Nine students attained the perfect score of 45. What are they doing in Singapore that is different from the way IB has been implemented in most American schools?
For starters, every student at ACS is required to go for the full diploma. There is no choice of A-Levels or a basic track, it's full IB DP or nothing. So based on the incredible accomplishments of the entire class minus one student, it would appear that this all or nothing approach is the way to produce outstanding IB results.
However, a blog following the story finds a local student questioning ACS's overall rating compared to other top notch schools in Singapore. A poster named Sausageman poses the following:
Among the seven schools offering the Integrated Programme ACS(I) actually rank at the bottom based on average PSLE scores of 2007 for 2008 secondary one intake. The data from the MOE website are as follows.
RGS (271), NYGH (268), RI (268), HCI (265), Dunman High (263), River Valley (258), ACS(I) (256 for non affiliated and 248 for affiliated)
If ACS(I) is now among the worlds best in IB, will the other IP schools achieve the same if not better if they were to offer the IB as well?
If the "bottom" school can be among the worlds best then maybe the IB is not really that difficult after all.
Interesting questions and observations. TAIB discovered something else very interesting on this blog. Another poster linked the actual IB results from the school. Concluding the results was the following paragraph:
Conclusion
We are truly thankful to God for His bountiful blessings to the school. We want to
attribute all our success to Him. To God Be the Glory.
The support, encouragement and prayers of the BOG, BOM, OBAMC, Alumni, Church,
PSG and all our well-wishers have been invaluable. Our assurance to our partners and
stakeholders is that the school will not rest on its laurels but will look to God for His
continued blessings and your support for “The Best is Yet to Be”.
Could it be that when IB is implemented in a school where God isn't a dirty word and isn't controlled by Left-wing American educrats it IS a good program? Or did these results merely prove that IB is a relatively easy program which can be mastered by diligent students who had no other choice?
TAIB finds it fascinating and disturbing that in the ongoing Israel/Gaza conflict, a UN school has been bombed. According to Fox News, Israeli forces were responding to mortar fire coming from the school. However, according to CNN, there is no mention of fire coming from the school:
The CNN story does report 3 Hamas terrorists being killed at a Gaza elementary school flying under the UN flag, so the question needs to be asked - are terrorists hiding under UN cover to launch ammunition while using women and children as "shields" to be able to claim Israeli crimes against humanity? Is there any difference between a UN school and an IB school? In the case of the Gaza school, the ideology is sure to be the same, perhaps due to the unrest IBO has given it a pass on the exorbitant fees in order to maintain a foothold. TAIB was able to locate an IB school on the Palestinian occupied West Bank: http://www.ibo.org/school/001109/
Regardless of whether the Gaza school is IB or not, it is a tragedy if children and education institutions are being used as political pawns under the despicable guise of "world peace" while reloading their AK-47s and advancing terrorism.The UN is pressing for a ceasfire which places the onus on Israel. The US has rejected the proposal to date. What will happen once Obama is in office? The Liberal desire to placate terrorist "victims" by punishing big bad Israel will soon echo through the halls of Congress and cave to UN demands.
Please read the following document which was presented at a 2006 IB International conference. There are direct references to Israel and Palestine and the audacity of the Western World "whilst too often remainingsilent on the non-implementation of UN resolutions on the state of Israel". Two years in advance! Either the UN/IB/Hamas planned this in advance or history is repeating itself. You be the judge.
TAIB received good news yesterday from a reliable source whose identity will be protected. After considerable research by a districtwide AP/IB committee, the affluent district which is ranked in the top 10 in Nassau County, has decided not to subscribe to the IB program.
In 2004, after an IB representative told parents in Locust Valley that "all of the top districts on Long Island areclamoringfor IB", a survey of the Directors of Guidance in those districts was conducted. At that time, only Garden City was "considering" bringing in the IB program.
Kudos to the clear heads in Garden City who didn't drink the IB Kool Aid!
As we enter the Christmas season, it saddens us when we see fellow truthseekers being persecuted for asking questions about IB. In Michigan, one Board of Education Trustee resigned due to "board disagreements over reasonable levels of transparency and accountability."
Can we guess what the district was not being transparent about?
"Kurdys and Mazer also have pushed for greater scrutiny of curriculum, such as the district's International Baccalaureate program for high-achieving high schoolers. They've questioned the expense, the effectiveness and the focus of IB, and Kurdys has referred to IB as "un-American" because some work is graded by educators outside the country.
Bob Schafer, a regular attendee at Portage School Board meetings, said he'll miss Mazer on the board. "She asked a lot of questions that weren't being asked before she came on," Schafer said. "Transparency remains an issue" for the board."
Mazer and Kurdys were accused by fellow Board members of causing conflict which "lengthens board meetings, complicates decision-making and feeds mistrust among some community members. Most importantly, it makes it harder to get things done, for both the board and administration."
"Feeds mistrust". Interesting choice of words. The Board majority immediately casts the dissenters as liars and propagandists. Troublemakers. Obstructionists. What a shame. Keep up the good fight, Ms. Kurdys. Truth About IB supports your right to make inquiries about this allegedly inquiry-based program.
IB likes to tell prospective IBers "talk to the students, talk to the teachers". Here at TruthAboutIB, we're all about communication and hearing both sides of the story. Here is a young teacher's blog about her recent IB training session in London:
"The workshop was good and I learned quite a bit about IB. I'm not sure that I've really bought in to the wholecultof IB, but it certainly has its posive [sic] aspects. Even the IB types say that it's like areligon[sic] ! Everyone in my group was new to IB, so that was handy. I met some nice people that I will stay in touch with as I'm teaching."
OBAMA/BIDEN SUPPORT DISSOLVING LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN FAVOR OF IB CHARTER SCHOOLS!
"........the school district and teachers worked together to close down a large, low-performing high school and open 6 new small schools to let parents and students choose between schools that focus on the arts or on technology, offer an International Baccalaureate (IB) program, or focus on workplace internships or world languages."
ANNENBERG CHALLENGE FUNDS IB MYP IN CHICAGO
Like something out of a bad Kafka novel, it may seem hard to believe, but the TruthAboutIB.com is going to report it here first - due to the courageous and diligent efforts of Stanley Kurtz, the release of the Chicago Annenberg Challengeexpenditure filereveals that money was allocated to the Beverly/Morgan Park IB MYP Program in 1997-1999, the years when Barry Obama and Bill Ayers served on the CAC Board. (Box 5,6)
In the linkedarticle, Mr. Kurtz describes the "type" of educational reforms Obama and Ayers funded for Chicago's public school children:
This irrefutable evidence of funding of the IB program by an unrepentant domestic terrorist and IBO's willingness to accept the money, speaks volumes about the organization's integrity and ideology. If you look further into the Annenberg disbursements, you will find the South Side Community Network. This caught TruthAboutIB's attention because IBO seems to have a thing for U.S. schools with South Side in the name. A quick search of this "network" turns up theWoods Foundation:
Please form your own opinion as to the legitimacy and goals of this "charitable fund". The lines and paper trails become extremely blurred at this point when trying to diffierentiate between what constitutes a "community organizer", an "educational non-profit" a "network", a "Challenge" or a "Fund". The ONE thing that binds them is a radical left-wing philosophy.
Even the left-leaning CNN released a segment on theObama/Ayers/Annenberg collaboration. Note the reference to the Peace School with the United Nations curriculum.
Upper St. Clair,Pa. IB teachers and citizen study panel reject IB (clickHERE)
A recent review of the IB program in the Upper St. Clair, Pa. School District was performed which clearly demonstrated NO PREFERENCE for IB over AP among more than one hundred colleges surveyed. In Fact, only ONE of the more than ONE HUNDRED queried professed preference, despite the fact that more than 2/3 of the review committee members were vociferously pro-IB and conducted the study. Some of the Pro-IB committee members were so intimidating to other members of the committee, that some members expressed fear for their well-being. One member even threatened another ACLU lawsuit if the members of the committee who disagreed with the final report were allowed to publish their own minority report; even though a minority report is allowed by school policy (See Upper St. Clair for more details)
