Let's Call It "Creativity"

I’ve mentioned before the saying we have that says “IB, therefore I BS”. Nowhere is this more evident than on CAS sheets hat we have to fill out and answer questions like “How can you apply what you have learned in other life situations?” and “What did you learn about yourself and others through this activity/project?” Most of the time we’re not talking about working on Nobel prizes but some sort of structured screwing-around that fits into a CAS category. So CAS sheets become our biggest BSing challenge. Here are some excerpts from my sheets:

On one about the Mock Trial team:

Q: Who helped you think about your learning during this activity/project?

CAS Sheet: My coach, HT, helped the team stay focused and committed.

Translation: My coach, HT, yelled at us for slacking off.

Q: How can you apply what you have learned in other life situations?

CAS Sheet: My ability to analyze arguments for different perspectives or fallacious logic helps when evaluating claims in literature, history, or the media.

Translation: Now that I treat everything like a trial, I’ve talked my way out of every family argument and threatened grounding!

 

Q: What might you do differently next time to improve?

CAS Sheet: I will spend more time examining exhibits and evidence in the context of the affidavits.

Translation: I will never again let those prissy private-school boys catch me up on a stupid trivial detail I forgot to memorize.

 

Q: What did you hope to accomplish through this activity/project?

CAS Sheet: …and to become part of a close and committed team.

Translation: There were cute upperclassmen on the team I wanted to meet.

 

On volunteering at a cultural festival:

Q: What did you learn about yourself and others?

CAS Sheet: I learned how independently my peers and I are capable of managing ourselves when presented with the opportunity to do so.

Translation: I learned how to deal when abandoned by the docents who were supposed to be supervising.

About tutoring the wrestlers:

Q: What did you learn about yourself/others?

CAS Sheet: I learned how to recognize and handle different perspectives and attitudes than my own.

Translation: I learned how to deal with misogyny, vulgar pick-up lines and having my butt smacked.

Q: How can you apply what you have learned in other life situations?

CAS Sheet: I can use my communication skills to reach out to people who see the world differently than I do.

Translation: I can refrain from smacking stupid sexists across the face when they try to talk to me. I could also try and pick up lesbians, I suppose.

About Speech and Debate:

Q: How successful were you in reaching your goals? What difficulties did you encounter and how did you overcome them?

CAS Sheet: A fluctuating tournament schedule made team-building a challenge but we overcame this by playing improv games at meetings and doing other things at tournaments to stay entertained and grow closer.

Translation: We got bored and screwed around and made lots of noise.

 

Q: How can you apply what you have learned in other life situations?

CAS Sheet: It also helps in general discussion among my peers to be able to quickly and clearly express myself and bring in relevant commentary.

Translation: It’s fun to win arguments and impress people!

There Are Some Things IB Can't Buy

I think I'm a pretty grateful, unmaterialistic person who enjoys the simple internal reward of a job well done.

Unless it's a job I'm not entirely sure how I did well... a job where I got a little bit lost along the way and started walking into the tress because I couldn't see the forest. I recently made a friend who goes to a supersmart private school - essentially IB without the bureaucracy and the surrounding regulars - and when Roi and I marvel at the "shenanigans" he and his friends get up to, we think "that's exactly the sort of thing we and our friends do - wait, would do - why don't we?" The reason IBers (at least in my experience) aren't as radically using their brains to incite revolution, annoy salespeople and harass authority is because we're a little more burnt-out than our academic peers in different environments. And this burnout is precisely why I have regressed to the level of my first-graders when it comes to my appreciation of rewards.

When I made National Merit Semifinalist, I got called into the office's conference room so the administration and counseling staff could tell me about the honor and hand me the packet for applying for Finalist status. My first thought, I must admit to you, was "Fantastic. Another application to fill out." I was more amused by the Top-Secret Classified status of my award than proud of my achievement. My parents were giddy with the glory and my mom photographed the school's scrolling marquee with my name on it. I smiled absently. My true moment of NM-related joy came when a few days later, I received a tin of cookies in the mail from our financial people as a congratulations.

Finally, my hard work over the past three years had produced a tangible, enjoyable reward that sat before me encased in cellophane. This was not a title, a certificate, a reading of my name at ceremony. This was chocolate and sugar and flour. I beamed. I was the first time in my memory that any academic accomplishment had directly yielded non-abstract gratification. These cookies were MINE. I had EARNED them. I saved them, and when I came home one day to find my mom indulging in one, I yelled this at her, in true entitled-smart-kid fashion, ignoring the fact that ever day I ate stuff paid for by my dad's salary.

When I found out I made Finalist, I was called in to the conference room a second time. On the tables were big bowls of assorted candies, including apple-watermelon nerds. Have you had those things? Seriously amazing. I grabbed a box and thoroughly enjoyed myself while the adults asked my fellow Finalists questions like "What has been the most important thing you learned" and "What would you advise an incoming freshman?" (I should note that I'm lucky I had candy to keep my mouth occupied and prevent me from answering these questions in an inappropriately snarky manner).

Conclusion:

Four years of my life: 4.0+ GPA

Essays, grades & volunteer work: Various certificates & recognitions

National Merit Semi/Finalist Status: Cookies & Nerds

The palatable satisfaction of a job well done: Priceless

THAT IS THE STATEMENT SHE UTTERED

Another one of the little doofy things about IB that makes you go "Oh, yeah, we're international" is the realization that whoever called our spoken exams "orals" obviously does not have English as a first language. Hello, innuendo? The following were all said by me and my classmates today:

I hope I get someone good for my oral!

It makes me so nervous that they're taping our orals.

These orals, they're so long and so hard!

The other person kept making weird faces during my oral.

I think she really liked my oral!

It got really good at the end/the ending was great.

I was up all night working on my oral!

My mouth kept getting all dry.

Man that was rough!

Thanks for all the tips on how you do your oral, Sal!

I kept getting so lost.

I went too fast with my oral.

(And I can remember that there were a few other hilarious ones that I've forgotten.)

We are the "Best and Brightest Minds" of our generation. We are future leaders, future revolutionaries, future politicians, future doctors, future engineers, future lawyers, future artists - HAHAHAH THE INTEGRAL OF E TO THE X HAHAHAHA - what was I saying?