I am currently in Dusseldorf, Germany at the Global Issues Conference (I know a database driven site for a conference, I was confused too), which is the annual gathering of the Global Issues Network. The network is made up of a number of private school, mostly international schools (as in schools that are deisgned for students who grew up somewhere other then were they are living, often diplomat’s children).

I gave a keynote speech after lunch on Thursday, which I am proud to say seems to have been well received. Being an 18 year old who just went thought to IB program seemed to resonate well with the crowd of 8th to 12th grades, most of whom are or will be in the IB program.

My talk was also well received well by their teachers who thanks me for mentioning in a quick side note that it is not a good idea to wait until the week before your Extended Essay is due to start writing it. The conference is fantastic and I will write more about it later and much more on the R&S Fellow Blog but I wanted to talk a little bit about the IBO.

IBO stands for the International Baccalaureate Organization. More importantly, the IB is a curriculum that cumulates in a series of tests that if you get a high enough score on you receive and IB diploma (Below).

The IB is comparable to the Advanced Placement (AP) program found in most high schools throughout the US. There are a few big differences though. The biggest difference is what the IB focuses on. It is very much focused on skill building as opposed to just memorizing facts and dates.

So, on top of classes focused on skilling building there are three things that IB students must do. First is 150 CAS or Community, Action, Service. The thought behind this is to really prepare students for life, they need to interact with it, not just learn about in a classroom.

Also, each IB student is require to take a class called Theory of Knowledge, also know affectionately or spitefully by some as TOK.

Finally, each IB student is required to write a 4,000 word essay call the Extended Essay or EE. You EE can be about just about anything. I wrote mine on the concept of community centered conservation as a means of conflict resolution between governments and people, specifcily using the conservation effort in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the conflict between the Maasai people and the Tanzanian government as a case study.

All in all the IB is a pretty cool program, I know what those of you who went through the program are thinking right now, Dave what the hell?

This conference in Germany helped me really start to appreciate the program. Anywhere that an IB student goes, they are going to run into other IB students and immediately connect with them. For me, that was worth the caffeine driven all nighters, the TOK T-Bone, the beloved IAs and EE and Beloved (the book, of which we burned 3) for that matter.

More about the conference soon!