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TO BE BLACK: AN AISB EXPERIENCE To read “To Be Black,” scan the QR code or access thebite.aisb.ro. As you probably know, Aries’ article “To Be Black” went viral at our school, and then beyond, as it was picked up by the BBC. Here’s what she has to say now. Q: DID YOU EVER EXPECT YOU WOULD RECEIVE SO MUCH ATTENTION FOR THIS ARTICLE? A: Definitely not. I actually got pulled aside just today because a visitor from California is at the school. She told me about how my article reached her via Twitter and she shared it with a community she runs online made up of people who have graduated international schools. They had been really pleased by what I wrote as most of their discussions stem from race and intersex issues and how they aren’t properly taught in these settings. She even mentioned that she went to a conference in Thailand and that the majority of those attending were talking about the piece. I never expected my words to get so far, especially being the second piece I’ve ever written for The Bite. Like my first one, I expected my friends to read it, my family to share it, and then move on to the next one. Q: WHAT WAS IT LIKE GETTING THIS REPUBLISHED ON THE BBC? A: It’s very overwhelming. I’m really not too sure of how I’m supposed to respond and I get really anxious when people thank me for writing it; I’m only capable of smiling and thanking them for their kind words, but I never feel like that’s enough. I find myself not knowing what to say next, and I hope I’m not seen as awkward as I feel. I think the biggest shock was the Reddit thread. Since comments were disabled on the article itself, I never thought that people would use other outlets to discuss it. It was ignorant on my part due to the age we live in, but to think that the words I produced are worthy of such conversation is just... it makes me feel really giddy inside, but there’s also this small knot of fear. Q: HAS THIS INFLUENCED YOUR PLANS FOR AFTER HIGH SCHOOL? A: The publishing of my work has actually made me doubt what I initially planned to do after high school, which was to pursue a bachelor’s in 2-D animation. However, the editor at BBC sent me some advice in an email telling me that writing isn’t necessarily a passion that needs to be studied, and that most people find themselves gradually pulled back into their pastimes later in life. So, I’m still going to study animation, but with help from the school, I’ll hopefully find some internships to keep myself writing throughout college.
“If I don’t get a 7, they’ll be disappointed in me.” “I have to get a 7 because that’s what’s expected of me.” “I’m a failure unless I get this 7.” Sound familiar to you? It does to me. And to many other students at this school. (And any other IB school, for that matter.) We hear it in the hallways, buzzing around in idle conversation. The very thought of being substandard stresses us out. Anything other than perfection isn’t good enough, so anything less than straight 7s makes us idiots. This is the broken attitude that plagues so many IB students. But just because it’s broken, doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed. To do so, we need to find the root of the problem. Why are IB students so stressed? Well, it’s not really the system itself. I know it’s a frustrating reality, but IB students are put under the same amount of stress as other students. “The IB recently commissioned Great Stress-Pectations a study on stress amongst IB students,” DP Coordinator Arpeetaa Tyagi explains. “One of the things that they found was that the stress was no more than the stress students in other examination boards were experiencing.” So, why do your AP and A-Level peers seem to have it easier? The answer is simple. Although IB students aren’t put under any extra stress, we tend to feel like we are. Research led by the University of South Florida suggests that IB students are more susceptible to the negative effects of stress. This includes mental disorders and reduced academic performance. And as you might’ve expected, it’s because of the workload. IB students reported that academic requirements were their main stressor - much more significant than students in the general education curriculum. Another study by researchers at the University of Hong Kong agrees with this point of view. A look at why IB students are so stressed out by: Toyosi The IB’s rigor does offer important university prep, the study says. But at the cost of something much more valuable: our mental health. The study mentions that the sheer amount of work we have to do “could restrict time allocated to the development of non-academic Learner Profile traits, such as ‘balanced’, through out-of-school activities.” So, in effect, the academic requirements are almost counter-productive to what the IB is all about. I mean, think about it. We’re learning university-level material in six different subjects, along with three additional ‘classes’ - TOK, EE, and CAS - which take up any remaining free time we’d have. It’s a struggle even for those with time-management skills... To continue reading, scan the QR code or access thebite.aisb.ro.
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