On cultural relativism:
Despite what the IB mission statement purportedly says, the IB program does not prescribe cultural relativism as a way of understanding the world. In fact, the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class required for the IB diploma is designed to get students to debate and think critically about various types of knowledge claims. As an IB student at Southwest some years ago (Diploma grad �97), I remember having a lively discussion in my TOK class about cultural relativism and I think that many students actually came away quite skeptical of the approach.
To get a sense of the types of essay questions IB assigns to students in the Theory of Knowledge class, take a look at this pdf file:
http://www.aisj.co.il/ToK%20Essay%20Titles%20May%202004.pdf
Generally speaking, I think it�s better to look at the actual content of educational programs than the rhetoric of their mission statements.
On French educational systems and inclusiveness:
French students take a standardized exam around 8th or 9th grade that determines which of a variety of specialized high schools (lycee) they enter. Some of these are vocational high schools and some of them are for university-bound students. Although the French Baccalaureate is largely equivalent to the International Baccalaureate, it�s simply not true that all French students take the French Baccalaureate. The vocational students don�t prepare to take the exam and there�s little to no flexibility in the system for them to switch into a high school that would prepare them for it.
In the Minneapolis high schools that offer IB, by contrast, all students are allowed, even encouraged, to take IB classes. You do not have to be enrolled in the IB program to take IB classes. The IB program is very rigorous and demanding, so it�s understandable that some students would want to take only a few IB courses, such as IB History and IB Math, rather than a full load.
Liv Coleman Fulton/Madison, WI
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