Tootsall

I'm going to weigh in on this one as well since I have twins in Grade 11 who both started out their H.S. in IB. My daughter dropped IB last year.... not because she wasn't getting good marks (her average has always run between 89 and 91%) but simply because she made a decision that the benefits just weren't worth the extra work. She has no intention of doing any kind of foreign education and there are only a few universities in Canada that honour an IB diploma with anything more than a "pat on the back". She has a part-time job, takes violin lessons and plays in a youth violin orchestra after school as well.... on top of playing tenor sax in the school jazz band and orchestra.

My son is still in full IB (although he's in Grade 11 he will write his Grade 12 Calculus final next week...he wanted to "get it over with"). He has to work a lot harder than she does (yet she can answer all of his questions!) and he gets lower marks than she does. On the other hand he plans to go into advanced engineering while she hasn't got a clue as to what she's going to do after H.S. (last heard muttering something about "doing the Europe thing").

I think (no, I KNOW) that he could do a lot better if he'd work a bit harder at home (he thinks "homework" is something that can be done during spares and while riding the bus!) but I've come to the conclusion that you can only "sermonize" to them so much and after that they have to learn for themselves. To his credit he is taking a "full load" of 3 math courses and 3 sciences plus both bands.... but doesn't that mean he SHOULD be doing more homework?

I guess what I'm coming around to is that AP (available through the Separate (or Catholic) school system AND IB (through the Public school system) aren't terribly respected by most Canadian universities except possibly for the top three or four. Only some schools within each system offer the more rigorous course study as well.

londonhusker

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