Knowledgeable, open-minded, thinker....

Bright eyed and bushy tailed i was in 2008, signing what become to be my life away to the IBO...

The years studying the International baccalaureate left me mentally drained indeed, and the years since i have been vocally critical about not only by decision to study a course plainly too hard for the common man to take, but also the organising of the course itself at my school.

However, upon reflection, it was not perhaps as bad as i might make it out to be. While you might enjoy a blog about the pitfalls of IB a bit more, this blog is actually going to lavish some praise on the IBO, and it starts with giving credit, to the IB Learner Profile. 

The IB Learner Profile

At the time it was a big joke, we would laugh about how the IB was supposed to make us: Principled, Risk-Takers, Knowledgeable, Balanced, Communicators, Reflective, Caring, Thinkers, Open-minded and Inquirers. All a bit to good to be true. When we were told this is what we would become, i couldn't help but sense the undertone of a children's TV show, i can imagine somewhere there is a program installing these values into five year olds...

Do the IB they said, it'll make you better people they said. Bah! I scoff at your perfectionist model of how we can be brilliant. Excelling individuals? I just lost my virginity and i'm doing just fine thanks. 

Two years on, and i did not have much to show for my efforts. One grade less and i would have failed. Two years of study and i nearly had no qualifications at all. You may read with concern, I wear my sixth-form under-achievements as a badge of honour.

Second lowest point score of all my class mates. Yet, I look at where i am today with disbelief. 

Okay, i am not the Maitre'd a the Ritz, nor am i a Professor at Cambridge. But...University of Hull, about to do a years placement in Whitehall? Things haven't turned out so bad. I have no doubt this recovery, coming "back from the brink" in the words of many a famous writer, is down to a certain resiliency and desire i have to do well. Was i born with it? Did it come from Mum or Dad? Or did it come from that course i did when i was 18? (We don't actually talk about the IB in our house anymore).

The IB taught me - admittedly the hard way - about how to cope with big workloads, with reading endless material and in general, taught me about how to give up a social life in order to get my head down and meet a deadline. For sure, this is something my peers lack at University i have found. Yet, i tend to come out of deadlines relatively unscathed. No meltdowns, only two all nighters to my name thus far. I'm taking Uni life in my stride. I have no doubt because i've done this all before, i know how it works. I've been there, and i actually did by a teeshirt...

Nonchalantly i walk into the exam hall. Slight smirk on my face, other people are sweating, crying, in the distance someone is actually loading a gun and putting it into his mouth. Meanwhile, smoke off the page, i'm churning out acceptable work, if not good work, no problem at all. There is no panic revision, there are no tears to mum and dad on the phone, embarrassed at the pending idea of having to resit the year. 

I'm sure this sounds like i'm tooting my own horn. I'm doing that a bit yes. But the point is when it comes to working, i'm pretty much the definition of the IB learner profile. I'm coping just fine. For that, Thanks IB.