Mar 11 2008
IB program “anti-American”?
Published by Jason Welker at 7:50 am under
Technorati
Flickr
del.icio.us
Ice Rocket
WikipediaIn Utah, law-makers fear the IB program, which they believe is a United Nations conspiracy to take over the minds of young, patriotic Americans and corrupt them with a global-perspective of the world.
Lawmakers decided against helping Utah schools pay for International Baccalaureate (IB) programs after one legislator called IB’s philosophy “anti-American” today.
“I’m not opposed to understanding the world,” Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, told members of the Senate Education Committee. “I’m opposed to the anti-American philosophy that’s somehow woven into all the classes as they promote the U.N. [United Nations] agenda.”
Remind me never to go teach in Utah. This is an absurd and frightening statement about America. I understand these legislators’ views don’t by any means represent any sort of consensus among Americans; in fact, the US graduates more IB Diploma students each year than any other country. That any law-maker would vote against a modest proposal to fund this program on the grounds that it “anti-American” puts on stark display for the world the insecurity, fear, and close-mindedness a certain, right-wing section of the American population.
Powered by ScribeFire.
About the author: Jason Welker is a teacher at Zurich International School in Switzerland, where he teaches Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Economics. Jason was an international school student in Malaysia before studying economics at Seattle University then earning his Masters in Education. He calls Seattle and Northern Idaho home. In addition to maintaining an economics wiki and this blog for economics student and educators, Jason also gives presentations on using Web 2.0 tools in education at workshops and conferences around the world. His economics wiki won the 2007 "Best Educational Wiki" award from the "EduBlog Awards". 
![Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Z1scnqz1L._SL160_.jpg "Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything")
![The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410FGAGYGPL._SL160_.jpg "The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman")
The only think frightening is the willingness to let the UN run your kids’ education from some communistic bureaucracy in Geneva Switzerland.
Maybe if you opened your eyes a bit and did some reading you would see what the UN’s OWN STATED AGENDA is…..to ‘transform’ children in the school, politically.
I still believe and teach the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I do NOT teach ‘one world government’ and disarmament under the UN Earth Charter.
DO YOU?
If so you are a party to the overthrow of our constitutional republic.
All Hail Ban Ki Moon! In TOK I learned that the One World Government is the only viable form of government that will support disarmament, communist ideals and the creation of Geneva as the capital of the world.
Only by destroying the US constitution will we truly be free from the threat of capitalist imperialism and the nuclear war that the US so clearly desires.
Interesting response from “Teacher” above. I have read this comment to my year 2 IB economics students, with whom I’m sitting right here. I asked them if in their two years in the IB program they had EVER learned about a) “one world government”, b) “disarmament” or c) “UN Earth Charter”.
The consensus is that none of these concepts have ever emerged in their studies in the IB program. The last I checked, by the way, the UN was headquartered in New York, Switzerland was a flourishing capitalist democracy, and the United States was a founding member of the League of Nations and the UN itself.
Anyway, I’ve asked my IB students to post their own comments here, we’ll see what they have to say.
National sovereignty? Who needs national sovereignty in a global society? Central planning is the only way we will ever achieve social and economical equality. Anyone who has taken IB Communism HL knows this straightforward truth.
You are right in that it is about equalization and that just doesn’t work. Free markets work better.
As for the US being part of the UN, they should get out. They fight most wars on behalf of the UN anyway don’t they?
Maybe this particular teacher teaches free market economics and that’s good. But the goal of the UN is to replace sovereign governments with a supra-national one. They don’t hide it.
Quote:
Definition of Globalism
The UNESCO pamphlet published in 1949 stated it clearly:
“[Children should be taught] those qualities of citizenship which provide the foundation upon which international government must be based if it is to succeed.”
Along the same lines, the first Directory-General of UNESCO, Sir Julian Huxley said:
“Specifically, in its educational program it [UNESCO] can stress the ultimate need for world political unity and familiarize all peoples with the implications of the transfer of full sovereignty from separate nations to a world organization … political unification in some sort of world government will be required.” [Sir Julian Huxley, UNESCO: Its Purpose and Philosophy, 1947, p. 13]
Oh by the way, only an organization as arrogant and powerhungry as the UN would assume to be able to control ‘climate change’.
I find that stunningly nonsensical. Climate has changed for years with no help from man, and won’t be controlled by man either.
Correction to Mr. “Teacher’s” comments above. This commenter claims that the IB program was created by UNESCO. This is a lie, in fact it was created as an independent education foundation in 1968, and only later was it recognized by UNESCO as an NGO. The UN did NOT create the IBO, nor does the UN dictate what is taught in IB classes.
Politics make up no part of the IB Economics (which fulfills IB’s social science requirement). Free markets underlie everything the IB teaches in the IB program. Communism, indeed a large role for government of any sort, is quite explicitly understoond and taught to be inefficient and result in misallocation of resources. Clearly our “teacher” friend has never taken an IB course, nor anything anywhere near the caliber of an IB course in his own education.
He spews lies and misinformation, reflecting not only his racist, xenophobic, and bigoted nature, but his extreme ignorance about the world beyond his own narrow-minded, isolationist oriented views.
That said, I welcome any hard evidence you can provide that the IB program teaches communism, one-world government, anti-Americanism, or anything of the sort. Quoting 60 year old speeches made at the UN does little to convince we IB teachers and students that you are anything more than completely ignorant.
Oh my, your arrogance is only surpassed by your ignorance “teacher,”
“As for the US being part of the UN, they should get out. They fight most wars on behalf of the UN anyway don’t they?”
If you think that the US should leave the UN just because it fights most wars on behalf of the US, you clearly do not understand the purpose of the UN. Furthermore, generalizing that the US fight most wars on behalf of the UN is an ignorant generalization, ignoring the countless conlicts that prevail in South-East Asia (to which the US has made minimal commitents to).
You also cite the words of a former Secretary-General and claim that his aspirations for the UN are what define the nature of the orgnaization to this day. If you opened up your eyes and read the news, you would realize that the UN is far from being a one supreme world government. Despite the rapid rate of globalization, national sovereignty is still a concept cherished by all the signatories of the UN.
Obviously communism is the only way that can bring the world to prosperity and equality. The IB program prepares us to follow the path of the great leaders such as Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao, and continue to strive for a perfect world. Today, the IB has infiltrated into the land of American Imperialists, and will soon reeducate all of them into global communist citizens.
Oh my gosh, “TEACHER,” I totally agree with you!! I mean, I never thought I’d find somebody as pessimistic and cynical as me! MY TWIN! Look at all those dumb sops hoping that an international government will somehow ameliorate the climate problems we have right now. Psh. What airheads. Like you, I do not care what’s going to happen to the Earth if global warming’s not treated, just as long as, like you’ve stated, there is no “organization as arrogant and powerhungry as the UN” thinking that, God forbid, they can do something to try to save the human population. And I disregard all the evidence that the increasingly crappy climate is caused by men (I mean, come on, we don’t pollute at all!) cuz, like you’ve said, “Climate has changed for years with no help from man.” So, uh, I just tell myself that all those greenhouse gases were caused by flatulence, and if we want them to go away, we’ll just have to wait for a miracle.
I completely agree with this guy from Utah, I think in order to protect our perfect US education system, we should abolish the IB program immediately.
hmm teacher’s apprentice… more like teacher’s pet. anyways, while i am currently developing my own conspiracy theory on the International Baccalaureate program, I will have to disagree with Utah on this one. The fact that this lawmaker is against the idea of expanding the already shallow horizons of American citizens is absurd. However, everyone should know that IB is front for an alien organization that will use methane produced from cows to take over the world. Tin-foil caps on everyone!
For the people agreeing with the not-so-aptly named “Teacher”, I suggest you actually sit in a few IB classes before opening your mouths with completely ridiculous lies. I myself am an AP student, and in no way believe that the IB program can have an iota of “Anti-americanism” within it; the same holds true from my IB friends, and those who take both AP and IB.
Inductive reasoning, my friends.
If anything, I’d say IB classes are more global relative to AP courses. Think of our AP courses, all we talk about usually is America. AP Language essays are usually focused on America, and in Economics we study the “Fed” as an example of central banks. I take IB French, and I’ve realized the class’s focus is extremely centered on global issues, rather than America based ones. This, however, by no means makes IB courses anti-American.
HAHAHAH. why does it seem to me that most of the comments on this article have been made in jest? mr. welker maybe you should consider changing the settings so that only your students can comment on the blog.
Hahah, Alice, glad you picked up on that, apparently Tim missed it. :p
I take both AP and IB, and IB is in NO WAY anti-american, unless you count some of those snobby European kids who enjoy poking fun at the States, despite wearing American Eagle and Abercrombie.
I had much fun reading this thread. I think it’s pretty obvious that the IB program, for reasons other than the fact that it has the word “international” in its name, is more attuned to the global situation. I don’t think anyone needs to be told to take this with several very large grains of salt. AP students are OBVIOUSLY smarter than IB students but this does not mean IB kids are subjugate to the will of the UN either.
I personally think this “debate” (more like Welker dominating “teacher”), is hilarious. I don’t understand how “teacher” can possibly be so narrow-minded. Sure, if he/she stated some cold, hard, not to mention, up-to-date facts, then maybe he/she could be taken a bit more seriously. The situation as it is right now; however, just makes “teacher” look like a fool. I actually hope “teacher” responds, i do enjoy a good laugh. Go Welker!
Well I guess you also have to take into account that a large part of the population in Utah is Mormon and supporting IB programs would influence students to view Mormonism in a objective light, which would be a less than undesirable effect.
Being a student who has been in both AP and IB classes, I can say without doubt that IB courses address the subject with a more global perspective than AP courses. Another difference that I noticed was the different emphasis of the courses. While IB focused more on developing one’s ability to critically analyze and evaluate, the AP courses were more mechanical and straight forward, especially since a major part of the AP Exam is the multiple choice in which you just regurgitate what you have memorized. When I took IBSL Economics, the major part was being able to evaluate certain economic policies and situations. Also, many examples that were given were world-wide, not just examples from US. So, I wouldn’t say which one is better or not because the learning emphasis itself is different.
Haha that’s pretty funny. I guess it shows just how ignorant some Americans are. The fact that the US graduates more IB Diploma students each year than any other country disproves this man’s remarks. I’m sure that if the IB program was indeed anti-American, there would be no way it would be taught here at SAS.
Maybe it’s the teachers that teach IB that might make it seem anti-american. I know Mr. Lerner teaches me IB Business and he teaches it in an American manner. In addition, although the US graduates the most IB students each year, it is probably a very miniscule percentage of the total students graduating.