Thursday, September 17th, 2020
As we have moved to virtual learning only and class time has de facto been cut in half a number of parents have gotten together to proactively work with the school on enhancing education. All of us are parents of IB Diploma students. Our students will be tested to an international standard and teachers have already expressed that there is no way they can cover all the material which the students will be tested on in the reduced teaching time they have.
The parents created a list of all IB classes we know of suggesting the school share it with all parents so we could form study groups (whether virtual or in person) and if need be share tutors for these groups to cover what the school cannot cover. The more affluent among us were willing to subsidies those who could not chip in to pay for tutors. The reaction from the school – they will not support this initiative, even though the students thought it would be very helpful.
We then asked if we could share this idea via the IBListserv and were told that would only be possible if the school supported it.
We discussed using the 8th period which our school does not have and the unstructured self-learning time on Wednesdays to teach an additional HL class. Again, we were told this was not possible.
We suggested a fundraiser specifically for the IB program as the coordinator really would like to build a community, but does not have resources. Again, we were told by the school that this was a specific academic program for which parents could not organize a booster.
Strangely enough, programs like music, theater, sports, all of which are school activities can do such boosters. I am hard pressed to see the difference. So far every proposal parents have made to enhance the learning experience have been blocked by the school and of course students whose parents cannot afford additional support will end up performing worst as the rest of us will get together and organize additional support; starting in February when exam preparations become serious.
I acknowledge that the IB program is only a sub-set of the high school students. However, no one is stopping AP parents from organizing themselves in a similar fashion. For all those just taking Maryland high school certificate classes, the problem is less dire as they will not have exams at a national or international level. The concerned parents are at a loss of what to do.
The New York Times Corona brief today has a lot of interesting news. I did not get around to scanning any other news sides today as it has been super busy. Most notable in the summary is that two of the three most advanced companies developing vaccines have disclosed the blue print for their trials (Moderna and Pfizer). Both of these suggest that trials and evaluations are unlikely to be completed before early next year, so no vaccine until at least spring, if not summer 2021. These disclosures came amidst fears of the vaccine being politicized and licensed before it was safe. Confidence in a viable vaccine has - in the USA at least – been on a steep decline since May. I assume mainly because the moron in chief keeps stating a vaccine will be available by election day and people feel due process will not be followed. The consequence of course is that online learning is very likely going to be the mode of instruction for the entire school year and instruction is simply not enough.
The world has passed the makr of 28 million infections. The USA hovers at 6.85 million.