Illustration by Emma Matthews (’26) depicting an I.B. student thinking about electives that aren’t offered at Robinson .
Looking at the programming sheet at the beginning of the eighth grade, scanning the paper of its 20-something electives seemed to be a daunting task. For IB sophomores, however, looking at all the IB electives that are offered, it seems more underwhelming but somehow still daunting.
IB electives are optional courses IB sophomores choose to take for the next two years to obtain their IB diploma. As of now, there are six elective options: art, psychology, economics, and the option to take a second science: biology, chemistry, or physics. They also have their respective levels: standard and higher.
There’s more to IB than what Robinson has to offer. The official IB offers a wide range of classes that aren’t currently here at Robinson. This can be difficult for juniors writing the extended essay (EE) as part of the IB diploma program.
“I think doing an EE on a topic in a class that you are already taking gives you a big advantage, as it allows you to have background knowledge about the topic. It would be especially helpful for a topic like film as I spent so much of my research time trying to understand just the foundation of all the basic terms and elements that goes into filmmaking,” Madelyn Bowles (‘26) said.
However, due to the limited size of the program, adding new IB electives can become difficult. Additionally, not knowing all of the possible IB electives before junior year may make it more difficult to express interest in them.
“Because we have visual arts, it would be very difficult to have two art classes. We wouldn’t be able to fill them. They are the smallest classes. The problem with offering more than one art class is that students are more interested in taking a science, economics, or something that appeals to a more specific life path. I’d love to see it if there was an interest,” Derek Thomas, the IB coordinator, said.
Late in the school year David Brown, principal of Robinson High School, opens up the floor for teachers to suggest electives. This allows for Robinson to teach more classes within the certain number of teachers they are allowed to have.
“So, every year the district gives us what’s called units, teaching units, teachers. So, they make predictions. So, they’re going to say, based on history, based on, you know, the fact that you have an IB program and an aerospace program, Robinson High School is going to have one thousand five hundred kids next year. And then they [the district] do their little formula [to figure out how many teachers Robinson will need]. Usually, it’s 25 to one because usually the classes are 25 to one. They’re [the district says] like you get sixty teachers [for this year],” principal David Brown said.
Despite the challenges that may arise some students believe it would be very beneficial for IB at Robinson to add new electives.
“I have talked to some other people from different IB schools, and I have heard about all sorts of different electives their schools offer. I think that would be a great opportunity for kids to expand their learning opportunities and pursue interest more specific to them. I think it would also be helpful in the process of EEs as it could give background foundations for more specific topics students might want to do for their EEs,” Bowels said.
For some students, taking a traditional elective is a helpful way to explore interest, but come junior year, it can be scary to take an elective knowing you won’t have a study hall. Implementing more IB electives could help discover more interests with less of that fear. Additionally, I believe EEs may feel a little less daunting for IB students if more elective classes existed because more information about specific EE topics would be readily available,”
While the IB program at Robinson may be too small to feature all classes IB has to offer, at least another art could be beneficial for students.
