The current grade 10 class, or the class of 2023, will be the first class ever to graduate with an IB diploma from OYIS. This is a huge milestone for the OYIS school community. However, how do students and teachers really feel about the two-year program that will open up loads of doors for them, and is probably also going to internally wreck them? We asked the students and teachers so that you don't have to.

The IB Diploma Programme is an internationally recognized and well-respected grades 11 and 12 curriculum, and graduating with an IBDP diploma opens a huge slew of opportunities that will give students advantages in the so-called "real world".

Currently, OYIS is completing its certification and approval process from the IB to deliver the DP to students who attend OYIS. Of course, students will not simply be handed the diploma. In fact, it is quite the opposite; this two-year programme will be rigorous and will most probably, if not definitely, stress students out like we have never been stressed before. On the positive side, it also provides various advantages when applying to universities. According to the IB, “higher education institutions are always interested in how the IB safeguards the rigour and consistency of the Diploma Programme''. In other words, universities take interest in how the IB ensures that the Diploma Programme students are strictly conditioned and reliable. 

Hearing this, it is overwhelmingly clear that the DP will not be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. However, we wanted to find out more about what students at OYIS think about the DP. 

In Hyuk from grade 10, who will be enrolling in the DP next year, said, “It’s definitely frightening because teachers have been telling us that it will be a challenging programme, but the positive side would be that it really makes us think about who we want to be in the future. It’s one of the top education programmes in the world and that’s such a privilege, which definitely motivates me”. With all the pressure put on us because of the difficulty of the DP, it is easy to forget how much of a privilege it is to have access to a quality education like this. However, as In Hyuk said, it is important to remember that the opportunity to receive the IB diploma is in fact, not something that everyone has access to, and we have to be thankful for that. 

Marshal from grade 9, who still has a year until she has to start the DP, told us, “Honestly, I’m really nervous because I know that if I can’t make the DP, I will lose a lot of opportunities. Since not many people have that opportunity, I think I’m lucky so it makes me want to try my best to get a good score”. Evidently, many students do find the DP intimidating and are anxious to be doing it in a few years. 

However, students are not the only ones who are nervous. Some teachers, Mr. Russell for instance, are also new to teaching the DP. He told us what he thinks: “I am getting some training currently as a teacher for obviously the DP, but also for online teaching of the DP because there is still a chance even with developments of the vaccine that it could all be online, which is very different”. Although it has been over 8 months since the COVID-19 outbreak and we have gotten somewhat used to it by now, we cannot forget that this pandemic did change a great deal for students, especially for those who did their final examinations in May. 

The IB received a great amount of criticism for the way they decided to score the students’ final grades last year, which was to base the score off of the internal assessments and coursework only. This took away the opportunity for students to do their exams and for those who were struggling, the last chance to improve their grades before graduation.

We asked Mr. Baier, who has been working with the DP for over 10 years, what advice he has for students to not get worked up about the DP. He told us that there are three things to not get worked up about: "I would say first off, your choice in subjects is very important. You should always choose subjects that you enjoy rather than subjects you don't, because you're going to be stuck with them for two years. Then, there's organization and self-management. The students that are always more successful are the ones that use the time that is given to them, and stay on top of their schedule . . . The last thing would be to stay positive about learning and to stay positive about challenges. The DP is obviously a challenging programme but it's definitely not impossible." These are some very encouraging words from Mr. Baier.

Personally, just the selection of the courses has already frazzled me, and I cannot imagine going through the DP. However, millions of students have managed to graduate with the IB Diploma, which gives me hope and motivation that in two years and a couple of months, I will be one of those millions. However, asking 16 year olds to decide their career development and make decisions that could possibly impact the rest of their lives is slightly ridiculous. Unfortunately, it is something inevitable with the DP, but will ultimately prepare us for decisions that impact our lives on a larger scale.