While I generally don't always agree with the author, she hit the nail on the head with this one.

Nothing but good comes out of the IB program.

I'm still not sure what the legislators fear on this one.

Someone is WAAAYYYYY out there on this one.

Someone should shake Margaret Dayton and her cronies in the legislature. It is so typical of our legislature to show their ignorance at the expense of people trying to do the right thing. Better yet, vote these idiots out of office.

While I haven't passed judgment on the program yet, the author either misunderstands or misrepresents the opponents objections.

It is NOT about "hating foreigners", as was strongly inferred in the article. It is about not wanting the philosophies that downplay or even undermine America's history and what made her great being taught to our youth who will be voting soon. If the IB program is doing that, I don't want it either!

I wish we would look at the real arguments, try to understand the opponents' real concerns first, instead of just denigrating the legislators who are raising the issue.

I would like to direct everyone's attention to two blogs that are discussing the International Baccalaureate on a more in-depth level. One is at the Senate Site (Google it). There are three articles. The other is at U.S. News & World Report Morse Code blog - International Baccalaureate.

Ms. Cortez has limited space and this topic cannot be discussed intelligently in an op ed. I hope that she and I will be able to discuss it further.

I have studied the philosophical and pedagogical underpinnings of this program and other multicultural and international curricula in depth, and I am pleased to know that we have at least two Senators (Dayton and Stephenson) who have done more investigation than the typical legislator, student, parent or even educator does.

I have requested financial data from the Utah State Department of Education. I'm told that they haven't been tracking the IB because it is administered from Geneva, Switzerland, and therefore it by-passes the state office. Now that it receives state money, it is necessary for the legislature to have this information for transparency purposes. The Senate Education Committee is well within its right to investigate.

Cherilyn Bacon Eagar
World Class Education Research

Cherilyn Bacon Eager is so full of herself. All she is interested in is self-promotion. Beware.

No surprise that Ms. Eagar continues to promote herself and her alleged expertise when her all "facts" are derived from right-wing websites. Her continued attempts to be a "player" reveal her extremist politics, politics which attempt to supplant reason with fear, logic with specious allegations. Of course, she has no firsthand experience with the IB Program. Look who she has aligned herself with, Sen. Dayton, whose ill-advised comments about IB enhanced its popularity and helped it get fundin. Every time Sen. Dayton or Cherilyn criticize the IB Program, it has increased the enrollment. Keep it up, Margaret and Cherilyn!

First, at a time when Utahans are concerned about states’ rights and Utah has led the nation to opt out of the costly and bureaucratic national control mechanism - No Child Left Behind , this is no time to expand to contracts and arbitration under international law and the Geneva Chamber of Commerce.

Second, the IB is 3-7 times as costly as comparable programs and there is no empirical research to back up the overly enthusiastic support for the IB program.

Third, you don’t need to go to any “right wing” sources for information, and I have not. I prefer citing IBO leaders, partners, consultants and supporters. Those interested in finding out more about the IB’s leftist philosophy and partnerships can review my partial bibliography on TheSenateSite. You can read the history of the IBO – “Schools Across Frontiers” by its founding director, Alec Peterson, go to the IBO website and review speeches by its leaders. For example: Ian Hill, Nicholas Tate (who is actually “right on”), Peter Smith (UNESCO), and Desmond Cole to name a few.

I challenge anyone on this comment section to do so and tell me I'm wrong.

Cherilyn Bacon Eagar
World Class Education