Should Schutz Implement the IB Diploma Program
Alaa El Damaty
The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma program, as defined by the IB organization, is a challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19. It leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities.Most prominent international schools offer the IB diploma. In Egypt for example, Cairo American College (CAC), which is known as one of the best American schools in Egypt, has implemented the IB program into its system.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma program, as defined by the IB organization, is a challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19. It leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities.Most prominent international schools offer the IB diploma. In Egypt for example, Cairo American College (CAC), which is known as one of the best American schools in Egypt, has implemented the IB program into its system.
The benefits of the IB program are known to most educators. Firstly, students that apply to universities with high IB results have a better chance at being accepted in universities than students of the Advanced Placement (AP) program. Another important benefit is that the IB Diploma program allows a student with good grades to be exempted from a semester or even a year of college. In contrast, students in the AP program can only get credits for individual courses they take. Only in the case that they took enough individual courses to add up to a sufficient number of credits can they take off a year or semester of college.
A third benefit of the IB diploma is that it offers a variety of courses to be taken. Students in the program must take six subjects and must also complete three extra requirements, which are the Theory of Knowledge course (ToK), a 4000-word Extended Essay (EE), and at least 150 hours in CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) areas. The 150 hours of creativity, action, and service is a strong benefit because it gives the students a chance to interact with their community in many different ways.
Finally, since the program is usually implemented in the better schools, Schutz’s implementation of it will make it more prestigious among the international schools.
It might seem that the IB program is full of benefits, so why does Schutz not implement the system? The question is whether it is feasible or not. Cost is the biggest factor that makes it difficult to implement the IB Diploma program. The program is usually given to the school as a package, not by the number of students that take the course. Since the number of students that will take it is small, the cost of the program becomes very high for the school to pay. Also, after the program is implemented, additional costs have to be covered. IB requires IB certified teachers, which means that the teachers that are recruited will have to be given higher salaries. This again requires a high cost of money. In order for the IB program to work, trainers need to come to Schutz to establish the program and prepare the school for its implementation, which requires an even higher cost.
In a survey by 11th and 12th graders, 90 % of the students wanted to establish the program. This large amount of students that want IB is a sign that although Schutz will pass through a lot of difficulty to implement the program, it is a necessary step for Schutz to take. The school should find a place for IB in its budget, especially when they move to a different campus, since there will be an even larger number of students to take the program. It is a step that will enhance and make Schutz a prestigious international school.
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