Put this down to something I find humorous in our complex society, that one cannot always be sure who is for or against them. Take SCV International Charter School’s (“SCVi”)seemingly innocuous announcement this morning that they would seek to implement an International Baccalaureate (“IB”) program; the first and only one in the Santa Clarita Valley.
Now I am enough of a cynic to believe that this constitutes a marketing ploy by the defenders and backers of SCVi, somewhat wounded by criticism in the local blogosphere of late, to fool suburban parents into enrolling their students. “International” sounds exotic and “Baccalaureate” sounds enough like “Bachelor’s” that one might conclude the kids are already in college. So I checked to see what is out there as far as folks denigrating IB programs.
It turns out there is a whole organization hostile to the idea of IB in the United States, and it surprised at least me to find out who they are: It turns out that Tea Party and other like minded folks see IB as a rather stealth effort to promote Marxism, Socialism and One World Government through its European content born in its headquarters of Geneva, Switzerland and actively promoted by George Soros. (Cue the black helicopters now!) In fact, according to the website, there are currently active campaigns to stop IB programs in Arizona, Texas, Idaho, Connecticut, New York, and Arkansas, with varying degrees of success, primarily led by nascent Tea Party organizations .
Now among all the nutty chaff there is always a kernal of grain. The anti-IB folks point out that, unlike the rival AP program, the IB organization provides no peer reviewed statistical data on the results of their 40 year program, which makes it appear even more like a mere marketing ploy.
So an open question: Will the local Tea Party notice SCVi and move to stop public money from funding this program most hotly promoted by the Socialist in Chief, President Barack Obama? Time will tell.
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