A Reflection on Rufino's implementation of the International Baccalaureate Program

Originally written for "Current Issues in Music Education (MUSIC 4V03)"

Vincent Rufino contributed to the March 2007 issue of the Music Educator's Journal (MEJ) in order to put forward his opinion of the International Baccalaureate Program (IB), as well as its implementation in school districts throughout the United States. He reflects on the successes of the program, as well as its drawbacks, and attempts to persuade other educators to adopt the program. As a music educator himself, he also provides a reflection on his own experiences in implementing the program, and strategies toward resolving problems that may arise. As the IB program is an international program, its pros and cons can be extended for use in Canadian schooling systems as well. An important distinction must also be drawn here, in that the IB program is in essence, a replacement of the local provincial curriculum in favour of a foreign standard that does takes into account neither the educational level of the community, nor the individual learning challenges inherent to each child.

The International Baccalaureate program was introduced in 1968 in an attempt to “create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.”¹. To that end, the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) has created programs to cater to three different age groups. Rufino chooses to focus on the secondary school, or “diploma” program, as this is his experience. These IB programs include a specific curriculum and examination set which must be followed if the student is to achieve the diploma. Throughout Canada, the program is steadily gaining ground, as more and more schools realize the impact of the program on university admissions and student scholastic achievement, and as of October 2009, there were 288 schools in Canada offering a combination of IB programs to their students. To an objective bystander, the IB program seems to be a tougher, more rigorous set of academic standards, with its own curriculum and examination to follow. Its implementation may be to bring about world peace through internationally recognized education, but is this a feasible plan worth investing time and money into? From a music educator's perspective, is there a significant difference between the information taught in the program, compared to local curricula provided by the province?

Rufino begins his article by outlining his experience in the field of education, and believes that the many years he has taught both with and without the IB program allows him to give an impartial verdict regarding its implementation in American schools. He details the history of the program, and notes how by the time of the article's publication, approximately 460 high schools in America were considered “world schools”. As American schools are always looking for more qualitative methods of evaluation², Rufino states plainly that more and more colleges and universities are recognizing the worth of the IB program.

Under the IB program, Music is listed under Group Six: Arts and Electives³, along with subjects such as film, theatre, and the visual arts. However, because the group six subjects also contain electives such as economics and psychology, Rufino states that a school's best musicians may often elect to take other courses in lieu of music. This sort of treatment is not particularly new, as in the Canadian high school curriculum, the study of music is at best a non-academic field of study. Furthermore, those interested in studying music soon realize that even the highest level music courses only reward them with an “M” credit, which is a college preparation credit, as opposed to the “U” credit, which designates a university preparation credit. Although almost all universities accept both U and M credits as part of their initial applicant consideration, there is no guarantee that this trend will continue.

On the other hand, unlike the state-funded curriculum in America, or the provincial curriculum in each Canadian province, the focus on musical study in IB extends beyond Western music – so much so that the IB program boasts that “there is no indication of a western-oriented bias”.⁴ This type of distinction is important, as world music is no less important than traditional Western music. In fact, while the music of other cultures may be different from Western-style music, there are important similarities that are common to both genres. For example, much of world music and Western music iteself adheres to the pentatonic scale, as opposed to the more historically recent diatonic scale. In fact, many early music educators choose to teach the pentatonic scale first, as a more gentle introduction to the diatonic scale (as the fourth and seventh are omitted). The reasoning behind this selection is due to the omission of semitones, which are often hard to sing correctly for young students. Furthermore, the omission of the fourth and seventh scale degree allows one to modulate seamlessly to the fourth or fifth without any altered notes, which makes improvisation much easier. In my experience as a music student, only a passing mention is given to the pentatonic scale, detailing only its structure, but not its use in everyday music, or its relative popularity in early and world music. The IB program addresses this misconception, and many others, through its more rigorous curriculum, designed to teach students about all kinds of music.

The beauty of the IB program is its integration into the Canadian education system, as it is a drop-in replacement, as opposed to an integration of several learning approaches which may be contradictory in practice. However, the more the IB program establishes itself in Canada, the more prevalent the question becomes, of how the Canadian education system is choosing a foreign program over a local program tailored specifically to the needs of their students. After all, how would a program head-quartered in Switzerland understand the needs of their students an entire continent away? Admittedly, students who are products of local schools often have enough problems transitioning to other local schools following the same set of provincial standards⁵. Would the IB program be the solution to this problem? Rufino believes so, as a static curriculum provides a stable, unchanging education to a highly mobile population. However, if implementation of the IB system becomes more mainstream, we, as a society, will have to decide whether or not we should choose to have our education system maintained and implemented by a country-independent organization.

Rufino doesn't recognize, however, that given the time constraints inherent in our typical school day, it is almost impossible to teach students the music of the world and still have time to expand on musical concepts unique to Western music. In essence, we may be doing a disservice to our students by teaching them a little about everything, instead of teaching them adequately about one. Furthermore, as students are allowed to enter the IB program at the grade 11 level, and registration into lower-level IB programs are not necessary, they may not be adequately prepared for the rigours of the diploma program, as it does not take into account the educational level of the community. In some cases, on the provincial level, if less funding is allocated to certain “group six” subjects, such as music, students entering the IB program are doomed from the start to do poorly, unless serious independent study outside of the classroom is conducted. In the end, either the provincial system needs to step up preparation for IB programs, or the IB program needs to be more accommodating for entering students. As neither of these solutions are feasible given the current adoption of the IB program nationwide, we are faced with a proverbial catch-22.

Is the primary goal of the IB program too lofty and unfeasible? The goal to “create a better world” through unified education is a goal with clear advantages (appreciation of the world's cultures and higher standards), but with similarly high obstacles (overcoming country-specific limitations and fostering widespread acceptance). Rufino argues successfully that the program is an asset to both the education system and his students, and encourages other teachers to follow his lead, but there are greater obstacles we must face on the home front before tackling a goal as lofty as a world unified education system.

References:
1. “IB Mission and Strategy”
2. Rufino, V. “Understanding the Music Curriculum in the International Baccalaureate Program”, 48
3. “IB Diploma Programme curriculum, group 6: the arts”
4. ibid.
5. Hanley, B. “What's Ahead: Challenges for Music Education in Canadian Schools”.