IB Work Days: Useful or a Waste of Time?

If you are a freshman or sophomore, you may not have heard of IB Work Days. Essentially, all IB candidates are required to attend school on “IB Work Days” during parent-teacher conferences. IB Work Days are normal school days (8-3) except there are no teachers teaching and there are no classes to go to, students just work individually in classrooms on IB’s other requirements: CAS and the EE. These days are quite controversial as many students believe that it is a waste of time; however, Ms. Martin-Bauer, the IB coordinator, makes some points about how it’s necessary.

I conducted a few interviews to see how people felt about IB Work Days. Jennifer G, a junior, says, “I thought it was a waste of time because I didn’t get much done in the span of two days.” She felt like it was “intended for people who will not get work done at home.” By the end of the second day, she observed that “most of my peers were just off-topic and chatting.” Another student, Rachel M, says that she feels “more productive at home” and that these days are not useful because “no teachers really help us”.

Even when I asked Ms. Martin-Bauer whether she believed that students were effective during IB Work Days, she said, “100% no, not at all.” I mentioned that the ineffectiveness may be because there are no supervisors where Ms. Martin-Bauer added, “That’s the whole point of becoming an independent learner.” Being able to work independently is not only a big part of high school but of university too, which is why AISG does not have classes during school that gives students time to write the EE.

Ms. Martin-Bauer says that IB Work Days are “a gift of time” and are used for “giving people information about the extended essay and time to work on CAS.” She also mentions that she thinks of these days as good learning experiences, she states, “They face the consequences where if they don’t get it done on time, they have the extra stress.”

All in all, IB Work Days can be argued as both useful and ineffective. At the end of the day, it really does come down to the individual and how he or she decides to spend their time. Jennifer also mentioned, “Students who do not work at home most likely won’t work at school on IB Work Days either whereas students who are more productive and organized would voluntarily do the work (IB Work Day work) at home.” As the IB coordinator previously mentioned, IB Work Days are a “gift of time” that can either be used or wasted, depending on the student.