Critics attack advanced learning program being considered by Sullivan West

President Bush supports International Baccalaureate, but some say it is ‘un-American’

By FRITZ MAYER

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — It’s called International Baccalaureate (IB), and according to its mission statement, its goal is to “develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.”

But according to Shannon Bailey, a resident of Mileses, IB is “anti-American and anti-Judeo-Christian.”

Alan Derry, superintendent of Sullivan West, said he doesn’t understand where that charge comes from. He said IB is an alternative to the Advanced Placement program. He said that it teaches students to think.

“More than simply regurgitating information, the IB is going to train the kids to think more critically, and to make more connections from discipline to discipline throughout the academic world,” he said.

Derry has formed a committee of educators, students and community members to study the idea of bringing IB to Sullivan West.

Bailey strongly opposes that idea, and she is not alone in her opinion. At least one member of the Upper St. Clair school board outside of Pittsburgh, PA, called it “anti-Christian, un-American and Marxist.” Board members voted 50 to 4 in early March to end the program. More than 1,000 parents and students turned up after the vote to register their opposition to the board’s decision.

When board members argued that the closure was really about financial considerations, Governor Ed Rendell offered to give the district $85,000 to help pay for the program. Its future in Upper St. Claire is still up in the air.

According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, there was an attempt last year by some members of the school board in Minnetonka, MN to close the IB program in that district. Two board members said the IB rejects “Judeo-Christian” values, and instead teaches “multiculturalism, one-world government and moral relativism.” The Minnetonka board ultimately voted to keep the program.

Supporters of IB flatly rejected the notion that the program rejects Judeo-Christian values or is anti-American.

Beth Brock, the head of research, development and communications in IB’s North American program, pointed out that in January, President Bush specifically said one of his educational goals was to get more funding for IB. She said negative charges against the program always involve a very small minority of the community.

IB in Pine Bush

The International Baccalaureate Organization was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 to help educate the children of diplomats. IB is now offered in schools in 122 countries, with about 600 high schools participating in the United States.

Mark Cartisano is the IB program coordinator in the Pine Bush school district. He said the program is for juniors and seniors, and the school graduated its first IB class last year.

The results were “amazing,” he said. “We graduated 21 students with full IB diplomas (which means they took the entire IB slate of programs) and all of them got into their first-choice colleges. We sent three kids to MIT,” he said.

Asked about the charge that IB is somehow anti-American, he said, “The program teaches kids to think critically. Since when did critical thinking become anti-American?”