International Baccalaureate Programs in the Bible Belt - Tennessee (Memphis: middle school, universities)

[SOMUTCH]

We are from Ca. and have been considering a move to TN. Recently, our local school has petitioned to become part of the IB Charter.

While investigating this org., I have come across a ton of web sites that oppose the IBO and alledge that they are anti-Christian, anti-American, Socialist, of a "one World citizenship" and disamrament agenda.

I ask because our local school is an absolute uproar over this and I was just wondering how this school system was received in "The Bible Belt".

I saw the Franklin HS and Cookeville HS have an IB program.

I realize that this topic has the potential to get real ugly and it is truly not my intention. I am open-minded and looking for an opinion, for or against, from folks that have been down this road.

I can expect that the left and right will have their own positions but I am searching for real life experiences here.

Thank you.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by SOMUTCH

We are from Ca. and have been considering a move to TN. Recently, our local school has petitioned to become part of the IB Charter.

While investigating this org., I have come across a ton of web sites that oppose the IBO and alledge that they are anti-Christian, anti-American, Socialist, of a "one World citizenship" and disamrament agenda.

I ask because our local school is an absolute uproar over this and I was just wondering how this school system was received in "The Bible Belt".

I saw the Franklin HS and Cookeville HS have an IB program.

I realize that this topic has the potential to get real ugly and it is truly not my intention. I am open-minded and looking for an opinion, for or against, from folks that have been down this road.

I can expect that the left and right will have their own positions but I am searching for real life experiences here.

Thank you.

Franklin and Cookeville are both fairly conservative towns, but I've not heard anyone oppose the IB because it's supposedly socialist or anti-American. I don't doubt that those sentiments exist, but as an educator and with friends who teach in IB schools in Tennessee I've never heard it. I've had students here at U.T. who went through IB programs in various schools, and none has said anything about the politics of the program.

The only time I've ever heard anyone complain about the IB is when they talk about the expense. Someone at a Putnam County (Cookeville) Board of Education budget hearing complained at the money spent on the IB, but the school administrator pointed out that the students enrolled in the IB pay for it themselves, and that was the end of that discussion.

I know Wordy has had at least one child go through the IB program at Cookeville HS. If she sees this thread maybe she'll be able to give more insight than I have.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by SOMUTCH

We are from Ca. and have been considering a move to TN. Recently, our local school has petitioned to become part of the IB Charter.

While investigating this org., I have come across a ton of web sites that oppose the IBO and alledge that they are anti-Christian, anti-American, Socialist, of a "one World citizenship" and disamrament agenda.

I ask because our local school is an absolute uproar over this and I was just wondering how this school system was received in "The Bible Belt".

I saw the Franklin HS and Cookeville HS have an IB program.

I realize that this topic has the potential to get real ugly and it is truly not my intention. I am open-minded and looking for an opinion, for or against, from folks that have been down this road.

I can expect that the left and right will have their own positions but I am searching for real life experiences here.

Thank you.

Mod Question: Are you asking this of folks in the "Bible Belt" or just of Tennesseans?

[akm4]

I have never, ever heard these complaints and I live in Franklin. I have known several kids who were in the IB program, and one of them has very, very conservative parents. Franklin is overwhelmingly right-wing.

Not a scientific sampling, I realize, but there you go.

Good luck.

[Wordy]

Hi! My child went through the IB program at CHS (Cookeville) and earned the diploma. Another child is enrolled in the diploma program now. I am quite politically conservative, and I view the IB program as quite a bit to the left of my personal politics, but that's one of the reasons I like it. It's good for my children to be exposed to stuff. Quite often it ends up being a topic of conversation and they get my two cents on whatever it is. One thing that came up was a project one of the kids did on that despicable, asinine, ignoramus-led Loose Change video, where some dopey young kid narrates in ominous tones all the stupid reasons he is convinced 9/11 was a government plot. Well, fortunately we had been to visit the site of United 93 in Shanksville, PA, a year or so earlier and knew from our own observations that his description of the site was an inaccurate bit of bumbleheaded foolishness. Additionally, friends of ours knew very well one of the men on United 93, and so we were able to ask "What about __________? If these people in this video are right and they were led off the plane and sent to a warehouse (whatever the story was), where did this man go? He is gone." Anyway, that's kind of one of the reasons I like the IB program. It fosters more of an openminded education, and more of a worldview education, than you generally get in a public high school. I am comfortable with my political/religious beliefs, so I don't view programs/people that hold an opposite view as any sort of threat when it comes to my children's impressionable minds. I just don't. And I love love love some of the literature they have been exposed to. The background she received in high school is really helping my college girl now. The emphasis on language is another thing that is top-notch. She graduated from high school with a near-fluency in Spanish.

I do think there is a bit of an undercurrent of that going on with the IB program here--that parents may view it as too liberal and prevent their children from enrolling--but honestly, a lot of parents of the kids who would enroll in IB tend to be on the liberal side themselves. I'm kind of not the norm in that regard, I suspect. Overwhelmingly, though, the issue here with it seems to be some exaggerated notion that the program costs Putnam County more than one million dollars per year to administer. That is completely untrue. I wish the people here could see that over time, IB will attract decent, solid-citizen families to the area. It's why we even heard of Cookeville in the first place, it's why we moved here, and I'd like to think we are pretty decent people! As the program grows in the state, it will continue to attract people. IF it is allowed to grow.

[SOMUTCH]

SmokeyMtnGal,

We are considering a move to TN. so my question was directed there but, I am certainly open to hearing anyone's perspective. So far, this topic seems to have been handled very well. I appreciate that. I mentioned the "Bible Belt" because I am really wanting to hear from Christian-Conservatives and how this has affected them (good or bad).

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Wordy

Hi! My child went through the IB program at CHS (Cookeville) and earned the diploma. Another child is enrolled in the diploma program now. I am quite politically conservative, and I view the IB program as quite a bit to the left of my personal politics, but that's one of the reasons I like it. It's good for my children to be exposed to stuff. Quite often it ends up being a topic of conversation and they get my two cents on whatever it is. One thing that came up was a project one of the kids did on that despicable, asinine, ignoramus-led Loose Change video, where some dopey young kid narrates in ominous tones all the stupid reasons he is convinced 9/11 was a government plot. Well, fortunately we had been to visit the site of United 93 in Shanksville, PA, a year or so earlier and knew from our own observations that his description of the site was an inaccurate bit of bumbleheaded foolishness. Additionally, friends of ours knew very well one of the men on United 93, and so we were able to ask "What about __________? If these people in this video are right and they were led off the plane and sent to a warehouse (whatever the story was), where did this man go? He is gone." Anyway, that's kind of one of the reasons I like the IB program. It fosters more of an openminded education, and more of a worldview education, than you generally get in a public high school. I am comfortable with my political/religious beliefs, so I don't view programs/people that hold an opposite view as any sort of threat when it comes to my children's impressionable minds. I just don't. And I love love love some of the literature they have been exposed to. The background she received in high school is really helping my college girl now. The emphasis on language is another thing that is top-notch. She graduated from high school with a near-fluency in Spanish.

I do think there is a bit of an undercurrent of that going on with the IB program here--that parents may view it as too liberal and prevent their children from enrolling--but honestly, a lot of parents of the kids who would enroll in IB tend to be on the liberal side themselves. I'm kind of not the norm in that regard, I suspect. Overwhelmingly, though, the issue here with it seems to be some exaggerated notion that the program costs Putnam County more than one million dollars per year to administer. That is completely untrue. I wish the people here could see that over time, IB will attract decent, solid-citizen families to the area. It's why we even heard of Cookeville in the first place, it's why we moved here, and I'd like to think we are pretty decent people! As the program grows in the state, it will continue to attract people. IF it is allowed to grow.

Nice post. I am a Democrat with a nine-year-old and I want her to be exposed to lots of things, too.

I don't really understand what IB is and wonder if they have that in Knoxville?

Oh, and I think that plot thing is nuts, too. I've been reading a lot about the Taliban. What they do to their own people is beyond horrendous. I believe they are responsible.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by SOMUTCH

We are from Ca. and have been considering a move to TN. Recently, our local school has petitioned to become part of the IB Charter.

While investigating this org., I have come across a ton of web sites that oppose the IBO and alledge that they are anti-Christian, anti-American, Socialist, of a "one World citizenship" and disamrament agenda.

I ask because our local school is an absolute uproar over this and I was just wondering how this school system was received in "The Bible Belt".

I saw the Franklin HS and Cookeville HS have an IB program.

I realize that this topic has the potential to get real ugly and it is truly not my intention. I am open-minded and looking for an opinion, for or against, from folks that have been down this road.

I can expect that the left and right will have their own positions but I am searching for real life experiences here.

Thank you.

OHMYGOSH, I cannot believe what I am reading!! I just have to say IB programs are a huge success in NC (sorry to jump in on the TN board, was just cruising by... ) and I have NEVER heard of them causing any controversary in our part of the Bible Belt. All the schools with IB programs here are highly sought after.

I have NEVER heard of them having a socialist agenda or being anti-Christian or ANYTHING negative at all!

Do some more research because I'm just not sure why people would have those opinions of such a highly successful educational process.

Oh, and I'm a conservative Christian myself.

Maybe this link to our school systems IB programs will offer you a little more info...

http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/cmsdepartme...alaureate.aspx

[JMT]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Nice post. I am a Democrat with a nine-year-old and I want her to be exposed to lots of things, too.

I don't really understand what IB is and wonder if they have that in Knoxville?

Oh, and I think that plot thing is nuts, too. I've been reading a lot about the Taliban. What they do to their own people is beyond horrendous. I believe they are responsible.

I wish the IB was offered in the Knoxville area. I think you would love it, hik.

IB stands for International Baccalaureate. It was started in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968. It's a very, very rigorous academic program that encourages extensive studies of languages, sciences, intercultural respect and understanding. I believe it's patterned after the French baccalauréat which is kind of like a high school diploma on steroids. If I'm not mistaken, the IB diploma is recognized by universities throughout the world, something that a normal American high school diploma is not.

Even though the IB has a curriculum that starts for 3 year olds, in Tennessee it's available only in a few middle and high schools, mostly in Nashville. Only one school in all of East Tennessee offers it, Science Hill HS in Johnson City.

The International Baccalaureate in Tennessee

Bellevue Middle School (Nashville)
Brick Church Middle School (Nashville)
Cookeville High School
Franklin High School
Germantown High School
Goodlettsville Middle School (Nashville)
Hillsboro High School (Nashville)
Hillwood High School (Nashville)
Hunters Lane High School (Nashville)
JT Moore Middle School (Nashville)
Neely's Bend Middle School (Nashville)
Oakland High School (Murfreesboro)
Ridgeway High School (Memphis)
Science Hill High School (Johnson City)
West End Middle School (Nashville)

Here's its web site:
International Baccalaureate (IB)

[Beretta]

loves - you are welcome here anytime!