A student in the I.B. Program heads to class.
The International Baccalaureate Program offers advanced students a chance to take courses more advanced than regular Advanced Placement courses, with extra emphasis on leadership principles and knowledge theory. The difficulty and quantity coursework for the program often exceeds college level work for many students.
This has lead to criticism from some parents who feel the program expects too much of their kids too soon and robs them of a childhood. Billy Stenson, pictured above, is only 13 years old but shows signs, both mental and physical, of precocious development. The I.B. Program loses about 60% of children who start it within the first year, and a further 20% before graduation.
Still, the program has produced world leaders and geniuses such as Ken Jennings, Jeopardy millionaire and Kim Jong-un. That last sentence is real by the way, those are its two most famous grads.
