In the year of 2010, I and numerous students made the choice to take part of the most unimaginable two-year journey of our education careers, the International Baccalaureate Program. Being in the IB Program was like being in Plato’s allegorical cave. In the beginning, we, the Diploma candidates, never saw anything beyond our own shadows of greatness because we had gone through the first two years of high school with ease. We believed the IB was something we could easily conquer, but that mindset was quickly destroyed once our heads were turned away from the shadows. From then on, we could only see the darkness of our ignorance.
The darkness made our journey difficult. It made us underestimate and unprepared for what was to befall on us. All of a sudden our coursework increased by the tons. The different styles of teaching and testing made us feel like the lowest of the lowest. We saw the perfect 4.0’s we had accumulated start to steep. Prioritizing was difficult. Our stress levels were raised to the breaking point. Some experienced mental breakdowns. Some dropped the program. The beginning is always the hardest, but for those who survived the first year, we could only look towards the second year of with dread. Could we endure another year? The answer was yes.
In our struggles, we didn’t realize how strong we had become. We became more confident in everything we did. Although the course work continued to increase and the rigor became more strenuous, we handled it with poise. There was a change within us. Our education no longer revolved around stuffing information into our heads for the sake of passing a test. We could critically think, look at new perspectives, and empathize. We could take criticism, reflect, and grow from it. We were students evolving into life-long learners. Although not everybody received the IB Diploma, we had grown so much to realize that we didn’t care about the results. It was all about the journey, not the end. And we left the program knowing we achieved what few could accomplish.