Fear is an excellent and wise teacher

By LEAH SOUTHWELL/Special to The Press

In the May 14 edition of the My Turn column titled, "Fear is a poor teacher," Derek Kohles describes quite aptly that the opponents of the International Baccalaureate, Primary Year Program and the Middle Years Program are motivated by fear. Mr. Kohles, you are 100 percent right. Your observations and understanding of our objections showed your willingness to understand our perspective and you are to be commended for it.

However, rational fear is not a poor teacher, it is a necessary teacher. Fear is a natural warning system. Have you ever considered the possibility of a home invader? Do you have locks on your doors and use them? Do you perhaps own a gun? Do you have a situational awareness at all times that would warn you of danger? Does this make you fearful or paranoid? Or does it make you a realist and wise enough to anticipate possible dangers and cause you to prepare and try to prevent these dangers from happening?

As an American I am a realist and recognize that there are real dangers to our country. I have done enough research to conclude that our American values of liberty, limited government, free enterprise and personal responsibility have been under attack for a very long time. The values that made us the envy of the world are the reason why immigrants from around the world were willing to risk everything to come here. We have been under attack and the attacks on our American values and principles are coming at a time when our own understanding of this, is at its lowest point. If we care to preserve and return America to its former greatness it will be by understanding what it means to be American, not on how to be a better "global citizen."

I admit: I am fearful. I am afraid that socialism and dependency will replace personal responsibility, that individualism will be replaced by collectivism, that limited government will be replaced with ever larger and even more intrusive government, that free enterprise will be replaced with government controlled and regulated commerce, and that our liberties and freedom will be replaced with tyranny and force. My fear is a rational one based on personal life experience having lived in a socialist country for 10 years. As someone who has lived an international life I can see, our unique American values need to be protected from possible threats. Tolerance is one of the IB values. You cannot tolerate something that would bring about your own destruction. Real threats must not be tolerated, just as a real invader of your home must be stopped. Moral relativism is another value taught in the IB program, where there are no absolutes or truth, truth is whatever you determine it to be. We don't need to be tolerant and open-minded of political systems and values that would fundamentally alter our Constitutional Republican form of government and that have been proven faulty throughout history. Just because the U.N. and U.N.E.S.C.O. have good intentions, doesn't make them good or a good influence on our children.

The IB program is a political and values minefield! Politics and values teachings have no place being taught in our government-run schools. As a nation, we are failing miserably in the basics of education. K-12 is a time for laying the foundations of learning and leaving the values teaching to the parents. We are not opposed to "critical thinking skills, having diverse knowledge, empathy for others, and understanding of what and how they have been learning." All of this can be taught without paying a foreign entity and having international influence imposed upon our kids.

Mr. Kohles, you truly understood and heard our objections, proving that open-mindedness and a willingness to understand both sides of an issue can lead to conflict resolution. The conflict to resolve this issue is not a matter of "choice" as the school district contends. Where is the choice for the neighborhood families that don't want their kids exposed to this? The school district says, go to another school. Where is the choice for the parents that can't drive or pick up their kids to another neighborhood school other than Hayden Meadows or Lake City High School? Where is the choice for the taxpayer that doesn't support the political and value driven curriculum? Do they have a "choice" in how their tax dollars are spent? Where is our choice in determining if our government schools have a right to teach topics such as Sustainable Development and Social Justice to our elementary school kids?

As a believer in free markets, I most definitely do believe in choice. If parents agree with the values of the IB program they should be free to choose a private school that teaches this, paid for with their money. Government schools are paid for by the taxpayers. This limits them to teaching what all the taxpayers can agree on, which is general education. The Advanced Placement (AP) system works, it doesn't need an expensive and controversial competitor in the IB program. This program has been controversial in many school districts and has been discontinued in many.

The hallmark of an American is in the desire to improve and experiment, but also to admit when our attempt was not well received, too controversial and to then go back to the drawing board and try again. As a community, not just as parents and teachers, we need to continually work together to find ways to improve our educational systems.

We, the opponents of IB, have faith in our local teachers to provide our children with a great foundation of knowledge and the skills needed to be successful in the world we live in, without needing the International Baccalaureate Organization to do this. The question is: do our school district teachers, superintendent and their school board trustees have that same faith?

Leah Southwell is a Coeur d'Alene resident.

Students flourish in an IB environment

By JOSHUA COOPER/Special to The Press

I was sitting at my desk in my dorm in Minneapolis and decided to check to Coeur d'Alene Press's website to see what was going on in Coeur d'Alene before I come home. I was looking through the page, and saw something about the IBPYP, known as the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program, being put into Hayden Meadows Elementary. This caught my eye because it seemed as if it was a controversy, and as a former International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program student, I felt urged to respond to this article.

I attended Letha Raney Intermediate School in Corona, Calif., also called an IBMYP school because it is one of the few with the IB program for middle school students. I can tell you that without a doubt, that program was one of the best things to ever happen to me; and without that program I would not be where I am today, or even who I am today. The IBMYP taught me about time management, how to study, be culturally diverse and successful, both academically and in the professional world. If I was not in the IBMYP, I would not have been capable of graduating high school a year early, attending one of the most prestigious universities in the nation, and receiving my Certificate in Spanish after only my first year, after being required to take Spanish while I was in the IBMYP and continuing to study it in high school. I only wish I would have also been able to have been enrolled in the IBPYP as well.

I do not understand why parents are upset about this program being put into Hayden Meadows Elementary. If anything, they should be ecstatic that they now have the opportunity to set their child up for success at a very young age. Being in the IBMYP also taught me how to plan ahead and complete the necessary courses of action to reach your long-term goal, which I am very thankful for because I have done this ever since and have been very successful because of it. I can't even imagine how much more on track I would be if I would have had the opportunity to be in the IB program in elementary school as well.

As a former IBMYP student, I have no idea where parents are seeing these "anti-American directives." If you think that being knowledgeable about other cultures and countries is "anti-American," then by all means call the IB program anti-American. There is a keyword in the IB Program, and it is "international." If you don't want your children to know about the world as a whole and come to appreciate it through the IB Program's five areas of interaction (Approaches to learning, Community Service, Environment, Health and Social, and Human Integrity), then home-school your child or switch your child to another school, but do not let it ruin the future of thousands of other kids that will enroll in that program over the next decade.

As I said before, the IBMYP was one of the best things to happen to me in my life and allowed me to set a path for my future, giving me the tools to accomplish whatever dream I have. As a former IBMYP student, I don't have one negative thing to say about the program and started out in it in the sixth grade, only wishing I would have been able to start in the IB program even earlier. This program will change kids' lives, for the better, so please do not take that opportunity away from them; and if you want to see your child be pulled back by not having them enroll in the IBPYP, then do so, but do not ruin the future of all of the other children.

Joshua Cooper just completed his freshman year at Hamline University.