Tuesday, December 16, 2008

IB Elitism

Okay, so there have been no student posts for almost a month now, in fact, about one day and 1.5 hours after this will be posted, it will have been for a month. Maybe we have nothing to say or wonder about, I don't know. At any rate, instead of silence, how about some odd self-analysis and judgement? I have heard from IB and Non-IB kids alike that there is a certain sense of elitism in and around our beloved program. Is there truth to this accusation? If such an attitude existed, is it justified, or if it exists has the majority of the IB community earned this sense of elitism? What does this elitism, or even this accusation (accusation is a bad word to use here because it implys wrongness which is not my intention, but I can think of no other that is more appropriate) of elitism mean about us and our accusers on an ethical or moral level? Thoughts, comments or further questions?
-Drivebracket

4 comments:

Flip said...

Well, first off, I'm not sure what the exact requirements to post on this particular blog page are, but I myself cannot post anything, so I'm not sure what one needs to do in order for the great and confusingly complicated seminar blog god to allow someone to do that.
But, on to the point.
I think that IB kids do get a lot of publicity coming from Poudre, and even I identify Poudre as 'an IB school.' As a result it seems as though many kids, Ib or otherwise, tend to label us (I say 'us' a bit uncomfortably, confining IB to a single group) as different, and since IB is an advanced programmme, tie us with over-exceptional skills and motivation.
This of course leads to the elitism idea that you mention. I definitely know its there, and I do not think at all that using the word 'accuse' is inappropriate in this situation. Many of you read that article in the silver quill about how a lot of the non-IB students were in fact angry or upset about the tendency for IB kids to get more credit and, well, glory? for their work at Poudre. But the fact is we DO have more requirements in our programme, and so generally DO do more than the average student, especially at the later grades when many of the less serious IB kids have left. I'm not saying that non-ib kids don't still do plenty of work, or that they can't be as motivated as us, but I believe that IB as a group has more people doing more things, and when we are publicized and grouped together, both parties are aware of that seperation.
I don't think that "elitism" is a concept that is justified, but I do think we should feel pride in taking that extra step. I don't know why anyone in IB would consider themself an elitist, but there definitely are those that see us (I did it again) as a group that believes we are better, even though we usually don't. I believe people who do think IB are elitist are looking at it from a bitter and negatively biased way. Its just another course.
In summary, I don't think IB or us IBers should at all be considered as elitist, but I, of course, as well as everyone on this blog are also in IB. So. Darn unescapeable bias.

Also, David, do you enjoy the anonymity that your screen name brings?

Flip S.

RayF said...

Yeah, i agree with flip. I think that IB kids do have a higher workload, which is highly publicized. When someone says "IB" many people automatically think nerd, or whiz-kid. Also, i agree with that if anyone believes that we are better, is definitely looking at it from a different, biased perspective. I think that there is likely a good chance however that the bell curve of students vs. intelligence peaks just a little higher, or with more intelligent students, compared proportionately.

Flip- "we DO have more requirements in our programme, and so generally DO do more than the average student" heh heh do do XD

Drivebracket said...

Flip brought up many good things, but one in particular, what did you all think of that Silver Quill article? And if you don't know what I'm talking about, hunt down a Silver Quill and just turn pages until you smell just a hint of hate speech, because I don't know what anyone else made of it, but it came off as a kind-of disorganized hate speech to me.

B. Wurz said...

After reading Crime and Punishment, I now understand that IB Elitism means that we are extraordinary individuals and have the right to kill who we want. Yay! But seriously...