Hi,
My son has got place in IBT PROGRAM North park school starting in sep this year.
I would like to hear from fellow CDs with experience on positives and negatives of this program

Is thee no CD whose children are studying in IBT progrm or one who knows anyone who is studying there and be able to put in some valuable comments ??

Dear Regar,

My daughter obtained admission in the IBT program in the 7th grade at Allan A Martin and also the Fine Arts program at Queen Elizabeth both in Mississauga. The objective was to go through the process of competition in the admission process and then see where we stand. If you closely look at the subjects they are not really fully convincing. I felt( a few of our south Indian friends whose children also got in felt the same) that it is too early to introduce our children into the concept of business and also into technology( if you really study it is power point presentations and NOT SW creation & even selling hotdog or lemonade) at that tender age, when they really should be learning the basics of maths and science.

I did not put my child into this program but put her through regular program. The other problem with this program is that Universities do not give special weightage when they go in for admission. The University admission is based on the marks in the 12th grade. Hence the child would need to go to another IBT program for the 9-12 th grade and if you closely look at the children there they are all desi or chinese. If your child is the best then if he or she can get 95% + plus it works out fine. But typically I'm finding children are being shifted out to regular school by their parents as they find it easier to earn marks. The other thing you need to realize is that if you need to shift out that location or even city your child will need to move to a regular school the child will be at a handicap.

My child has obtained admissions in several specialized programs in Mississauga for the course starting in September 2007. But we have turned down the offer and she will continue at the regular program if my family continues in Canada.

My honest opinion is that these programs have lot of hype but less of substance to deliver. Have you spoken to any of the teachers of these programs ?. I found that many of them were regular teachers who did not have much mooring in the advanced subjects.

I still remember how I suffered when I moved from State board in the 10th grade to the CBSE pattern in the +2.

It is your call !.

Please read my signature below and you will realize a whole lot of stuff !.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Speech by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times....

"When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our
vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the
starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my
children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India
who would make you starve, if you don't.'"

Hi,Shankaracharya,
Thanks for taking time to write out a very frank and honest opinion.
I had heard of similar comments but wanted to get some more opinion before making a decision.
Your comments will play a vital part in the decision i am going to take
Thanks once again.

Does any one have any recent experience to share about IB Turner Fenton , IBT NorthPark and SciTech port Credit special education program. Is it worth doing. Is one better then the other. I am more interested in comparison between IBT and IB.

None of the schools has good rating as per fraiser institute rating. Perhaps the rating does not incldue the special education program students.

I would appreciate if some one can share their experience.

Let us turn the problem in reverse and look for a solution.

What does a typical DESI do in Mississauga, Canada ?.

If it is a girl they do Bio, Chem and Physics and they end up in UFT, UTM, Waterloo or McMaster in the Life Science program hoping to be a Doctor.

As the number of Doctor seats are very few they end up graduating with a Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry degree and ask the question then WHAT ?.

To get into these courses you need about 85% in your 12th grade.

If it is a Desi boy then he would end with either Waterloo, UFT doing a Engineering course and he again needs 85% in the 12th grade.

If the kid has immigrated from India after grade 10 he or she will kill the Calculus & Vector course and also the Physics course in grade 12. This person will end with upper of 90% in grade 12.

If the kid is raised in Canada since grades 2 or 3 they will struggle in both the courses and they will end up with 82 to 85%.

Both the boy and girl finish the life science or B.S in Engineering and then ask now what should I do as the job market in GTA is for Insurance, Mortgage,real estate or jobs in the finance industry.

They end up in a bank or call center or a financial institution at a 15 bucks an hour job and in NO relation to what they have studied.

Hence you'll find that the IB program is quite competitive the NET marks are reduced and kid who will typically make a 85% in a regular school with end up with a 75 to 80 % in IB course. The university admission is quite based on grade 12 marks and the kid is now at a disadvantage.

The IBT program have another set of problems. Many of the IBT program courses are all college level courses than a university level course. What will you do with a college level course if you want to go to univesity?. Many a times your admission is based on the bio, chem, physics and Calculus, data and advance function courses. These are all university course and both are the same for IBT and regular students. In Port Credit this school has both courses running parallely and hence both students do the same course when they have to apply to university. Hence what courses they have in IBT which is actually a program for kids who want to take up technical jobs right after school than to go to university.

Hence you'll find that both are HOG WASH. I've friends in both schools and programs at IB at Glen Forest and IBT at Port Credit. They realized the mistake at grade 11 and when they tried to move their kids to regular school they were stuck. In one case the kid was lucky to move out of IB program where he scored 67% in grade 11 and then went to grade 12 in a regular school and scored 82% and now he is progressing for a life science degree in UT.

Hence re-look the problem from the University admission stand point and trace back whether these courses give you a heads up and my personal opinion they DO NOT.

The best strategy is adopted by first generation kids of Desi parents and the kids who are born in Canada.

They go to college after grade 12 and spend atleast 2 years there as it is cheaper and less stressful. They are also working and also earning for their studies. Once they have a clear sense of which path THEY want to go than what YOU want them to do they set out on that path. Many of them are already working in a low post in the company of their choice and are able to get the company to pay for their university fees and then the company absorbs them into the management cadre when they finish university.

Hence it is very important the Kid is let to find the career of their choice than we forcing them into a predestined field.

May be your kid is special and will be lucky.

Good LUCK.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sunny Leone a true Canadian DESI now back in India !.

Hello,

The information session for special programs is happening this month for Peel Schools. Anyone who did any further research last year, would like to put some information for the members.

Regards