The school’s move towards an international division creates mixed response

As 2018 dawned upon us, plans of moving either the Chinese or the English Track middle-high school to the elementary school building became more real and transparent. Back in early 2017, the school board and the administration began taking steps to make SMIC-I a completely and officially Tier 2 international division (not to be confused with Tier 1 international schools like Concordia and SAS). However, it eventually was told to everyone that the government requires all international divisions to occupy their own separate building, and that SMIC would have to do the same. 

Last January, administrators hosted an info session for all parents and answered the questions they had.

In the beginning, it was decided that the English Track (SMIC-I) would move to the new elementary building, which created a lot of anger among the students and parents who did not support this decision. “I fully agree with the school’s well-thought intention for us to become international but I believe that the professional board of officials can come up with a better solution than sending the English track kids to the elementary school building,” commented Matthew Yang(10A).

There were also some students who had stronger opinions about the school’s decision to move the students to the elementary building. Wesly Wong (10C) believes that moving SMIC-I to the elementary would be irrational: “The Chinese track population is less than English track and we recently renovated two auditoriums and a locker area…moving to a sickening pink building does not sound appealing to me or any other students,” Wesly said. 

There are always two sides to every situation, and so Academic Affairs Director Patrick Carroll agreed to talk about this pressing issue that had been on everyone’s minds. “I think our application for international division is very important, it grants us a lot of flexibility in areas that we didn’t have before, ” said Mr. Carroll about the purpose of the move and the application for international division. Once the school does decide who is going to move, they will talk to as many teachers and students as possible to make the journey smoother and less jarring. “This is a great opportunity to start some things anew… this could change the way we build programs, the way we look at programs and I think it is going to give us a chance to put on a new lens,” commented Mr. Carroll further.  Mr. Carroll talked about the significant changes the English Track would undergo, however he was not sure about what exact changes that would be since the school is still finalizing that decision and aren’t even sure about who would move. 

Although the motive may seem questionable to students now, the application for an international division is quite helpful and could allow the school to open up may new areas of education that weren’t allowed before.

Featured Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons