As I was returning this week from a visit to an IB school in another state, I was reflecting on my experiences with the International Baccalaureate Organization that I was introduced to more than 13 years ago. In my early days as a school administrator, my colleagues and I were looking for something that would give our students something more, something longer lasting, than a traditional education. Of course, we wanted our students to read, write, and calculate well, but we also wanted to instill in them a love of learning and help them find purpose in their school life. We had all experienced what it was like to be in a classroom where we didn't feel that what we were doing had any relevance to our future lives. I was one of those students that worked hard to memorize my spelling words or my times tables or a set of facts, so that I could get 100% on the test, but those things did not make school interesting or compelling for me. Nor were they particularly useful beyond th