As the academic elite prepare to apply to colleges, their transcripts lack an important opportunity.
Although LHS challenges students with both advanced and AP classes in almost every subject, the school fails to offer one of the most arduous choices for the brightest students: International Baccalaureate, or IB, classes.

According to the official IB website, an IB program “offers high quality programmes of international education to a worldwide community of schools.” However, Lawrence High is not a part of this “worldwide community.”

Within this unique community, students have the opportunity to learn on an international scale, which entails becoming comfortable with math on the metric scale and testing on the same material across the globe. This allows for students to have the opportunity to attend college in any English-speaking country they desire.

School board member Rick Ingram is an advocate for adding the IB program as a possible option for students in Lawrence.

“It’s also a rigorous course of study that really helps kids distinguish themselves,” Ingram said. “In places like college applications, coming from an IB program is really good.”

As a professor of psychology at Kansas University, Ingram suggests offering this program at a younger age. For example, possibly giving the option of the IB program at the elementary school and middle school levels.

Mike Einsphar, a junior at Washburn Rural student who is enrolled in the IB program at his school, entered this program which he claimed creates “another atmosphere to challenge students and prepare them for their futures.”

“IB classes are very similar to college courses, so we will be well prepared for work loads ahead of us,” Einsphar said.

Unlike AP classes that generally require about two hours of work a night, IB students are often given more time, such as a few days, to do projects or larger assignments. However, this amount of work generally adds up to 2.5-3.5 hours each evening.

Although IB and AP classes are both useful for college credit, enrolling in the entire IB program is especially impressive to universities. Students can pick and choose both IB and AP classes, but the diversity of a student involved in the entire project is obviously more striking.

In addition to other benefits, IB provides a curriculum debatably more challenging than an AP class. One requirement of the program is a self-directed research project that culminates in a 4,000-word essay.

“IB requires an extended essay, which is pretty much an AP paper on steroids,” Einsphar said.

Because of the strenuous workload students face in IB courses, universities are more attracted to students who have challenged themselves in this way. Therefore, some students wonder why LHS doesn’t offer IB courses.

A possible answer, based on some of the grades of students enrolled in AP courses, is a lack of determination or work ethic. However, in many of these classes, there is a select group of students searching for a further challenge than AP provides.

Junior Katie Gaches, a student enrolled in four AP classes, strives for the best possible high school résumé to impress colleges.

“Clearly taking AP classes shows whatever school you’re interested in that you are academically inclined,” Gaches said. “[However], the level of the material that you’re learning is higher [in an IB class] than what you’d be normally taking, so it prepares you for more difficult coursework that’s often more test-based than daily-assignment based.”

Other students, bored by a specific method of learning material, are often bright students who perform better on AP testing than subject-specific homework assignments. The IB program would provide a great challenge for these students, and a new experience in having to retain information for an entire year.

“IB is cumulative, which means we can be tested on anything we have learned. In a year I could be getting questions from right now,” Einsphar said.

Although these courses prove to be difficult for many bright students, this method of testing curriculum is the ideal preparation for college.

“We want to be seen as the best candidates for a school, and if a college prefers students taking more IB courses, then we’re at a disadvantage just because our school didn’t offer the material,” Gaches said.

By not offering IB classes at Lawrence High, students are deprived of an opportunity beneficial to students willing to put in the effort for a promising reward. Adding the IB program would be the best choice the administration could make.