In May, having received your high school diploma, you will stand on the lawn and toss your tasseled blue or white academic caps spinning into the air and you will rejoice that one long stretch of schooling has finished. Rowdy cheers, tears, laughter, hugs.
But there is still a lot of work for the next nine months.
In TOK this means finishing the curriculum (Social Sciences, History, Ethics), writing the TOK Essay (topics already posted on Edline), and giving the TOK Presentation. All of this we will introduce and begin to address in our first class. It also means giving as much as we can of ourselves in class discussions, listening actively, responding appropriately, weighing what we hear and say.
Before we begin, let's look again at the Mission Statement of the International Baccalaureate Organization:
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments, and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate, and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with all their differences, can also be right.
Let's take a look at the last paragraph. What does this paragraph mean to you? Please write a brief reflection of about 200 words.
