"Where else would you go when you have an ax to grind?"

Monday, March 13, 2006

Real Amuricans don't need no fancy book learnin'
Some people are born ignorant and some have ignorance thrust upon them. Across the U.S. it seems there is a movement to get rid of the International Baccalaurate - check this article in the Guardian about a school board of ignorant conservatards that are out to give Kansas a run for its money.

At the high school level the program is usually a two year, highly academic program for juniors and seniors which is recognized as a first year course credit at many universities and colleges. As it is internationally recognized, the program is especially popular in international schools here in Japan. It's aim is to provide students with a comprehensive background in English, a foreign language, social studies, mathematics, and science. Also required are three other components: study of a Theory of Knowledge course—an interdisciplinary course which encourages critical thinking; Participation in 3 - 4 hours of extra-curricular activities per week with emphasis on volunteer community service; completion of a 4,000 word essay written independently, with guidance from a faculty adviser

Read the Guardian article to get the exact statements, the gist of the objections to the IB are that it is anti-Christian, anti-military and anti-American, promotes disarmament, multiculturalism, evironmentalism, a more even distribution of wealth (read "Marxism") and the importance of international institutions such as the United Nations (read "One World Government" and is just plain "too foreign" -- it was, after all, developed in France and the organization that administers and coordinates the program is still headquartered there.

Even the President has embraced the IB program and called for its expansion in the U.S., but I guess that's not enough for those who think that Sunday School is all you need.




2 comments:

Bazz said...

Wow. We do get a very small amount of the anti-book-larnin' attitude out here in Alberta, but even here it never goes that far, not even close.

Do you think we could organize an airdrop of scholarly books over the Pittsburgh area, or something?

Rev.Paperboy said...

Keep in mind that Pittsburgh is the home of Richard Mellon Scaife - billionaire wingnut and Carnegie-Mellon heir. I suspect that may have something to do with it