The Foreign Service Journal, December 2006

D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 109 S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT sion on the IB carefully. “It’s a great program if your child thrives on that kind of academic challenge and is pre- pared to make the commitment, but there are many other students who find it burdensome and overwhelm- ing,” she says. “Some parents get caught up in the cachet of the pro- gram and push their kids into it when they really don’t want to do it.” Grappo raises another concern. Often, she points out, the most talent- ed teachers and kids and school resources go into a program that serves the top tier. “In many smaller schools there is no good alternative, or fewer alternatives, for a student who doesn’t want to do the IB,” she says. “But I want to make sure that stu- dents who choose not to do the IB program aren’t marginalized in the school setting.” Lesley Chritton, a freshman at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, attended the International School Nido de Aguilas in Santiago, Chile. Chritton is perfectly happy she chose not to do the full IB diploma. “I found that the U.S. schools I was interested in didn’t place as much importance on, or even recognize, the IB diploma as many schools in the U.K. or Canada do. Instead I decided to take IB classes and earned certifi- cates in two of them, which meant doing the IB requirements for those classes only. Earning the full diploma wasn’t necessary for me, so instead of stressing about CAS hours and the Extended Essay, I had time to do three varsity sports as well as Habitat for Humanity, journalism, the year- book — and even sleep every now and then.” On the other hand, Samantha Huffman, the George Mason student who went on to McGill, concludes, “Even though I remember my last two years of high school as probably the most sleep-deprived of my life, I am a fervent defender of the IB program.” For FS high-schoolers and their parents the best advice is this: while the IB is a great program, it is neces- sary to proceed with caution. (Continued from page 107)