Photo: Marie White

Lieutenant-General and Senator Roméo Dallaire was one of the keynote speakers at the IB’s Conference of the Americas in Quebec City.

The prestigious International Baccalaureate organization (IB) chose Quebec City for its first Conference of the Americas, held at the Quebec City Convention Centre over a four-day weekend in July. Over 800 teachers, administrators and keynote speakers at all educational levels united in the old city to explore the concepts and realities of education in an increasingly complex world.

The forty-year old world education organization has just recently restructured itself into three new world groups. This annual gathering was then the first as part of this new structure with Quebec now part of the IB Americas group which includes North, Central, South America and the Caribbean.

The IB chose to make this "a genuinely tri-lingual and tri-cultural" event in "the heart of French Canada." So the main syllabus document was prepared in the IB's three official languages: English, French and Spanish. Interpreters were on hand for simultaneous translations in the three languages at the general sessions where the guest speakers were Jeffrey Beard, the Director General of the IB, born in the United States but working out of Geneva, Switzerland; Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, Senator from Canada and former Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda, and; Isabelino Siede, an international educator from Argentina. The first was given in English, the second in a remarkable and fluid continuum of French and English , and the third in Spanish. The majority of smaller break out sessions however, were conducted in English, the language which tended to unite all participants.

"It is fitting that we gather here, in one of the most beautiful cities in the Americas, as there are more IB schools in the province of Quebec than in any other state or province in any country in the world," said Carol Bellamy, chair of the IB Board of Directors and Drew Deutsch, Director of  IB Americas.

Quebec City Humanitarian and ambassador for UNICEF Canada, Elizabeth Dallaire was the guest speaker for a break out session promoting education for empowerment and stability. She especially advocated that "education for girls is crucial for the developing world to achieve better health, economic empowerment and stability."

Quebec City resident and Senator, Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire gave a forceful, stimulating speech to a riveted international assembly.

"We need to be conscious of our times," he began, calling the present times, an "era of world disorder which is far more complex than we'd thought." Poverty is the cause of rage around the world and the situation is extra complex given that "some powers don't play by international rules" such that "there are no limits to the abuse committed against human beings."

"We saw it," the Lieutenant-General says, time and again. And he certainly did. The world is familiar with Dallaire's horrific experiences in the genocide in Rwanda. What strikes him most is the impact on the world's children. Rape is now an instrument of war and, "a new sin was created when we used children as a weapon system, a low-technology system, where 40% of child soldiers are girls." One girl soldier is worth ten boys. They are used as bush camp wives, soldiers, caregivers and sex slaves. "Girls are the most powerful instrument of war today," says Dallaire. 

"So what kind of leaders do we need to overcome this?"  He leans forward and specifically addresses the teachers as "developers of leaders who will change humanity" who must "teach students to touch, smell, feel this reality at the source and have them get their boots dirty."  Then, teachers need to encourage them to become committed to changing the situation, "for engagement is critical." 

Students need an "objective education, intellectual rigour, and the tools to develop their minds." Then, Dallaire hopes, what he sees as solutions can be put into place. He recommends first and foremost, the empowerment of women, followed by education for all children, the growth of mutual respect (not condescending tolerance, but real respect) and the assuming of individual and collective responsibility to protect all humans.

Dallaire's words ring true to the aims of the IB mission statement "to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intellectual understanding and respect."

The IB is installed in 2,704 schools in 138 countries with over 738,000 students aged 3 to 19 years. So popular is this education programme that its student enrollment now doubles every five years. Quebec has united its 132 schools from the three programmes into a provincial association called the SÉBIQ or Society of IB World Schools of Quebec and French Speaking World.

The IB is a nonprofit educational foundation with three programmes that cover the Primary Years Programme, the Middle Years Programme and the original and oldest, Diploma Programme. All aim to enable students to develop the skills to succeed in a rapidly globalizing world.

The Diploma Programme is given only at François-Xavier Garneau College in Quebec City under the coordination of Pierre Vachon who has headed the IB branch since it started here. Vachon also helped coordinate this world conference and is working towards promoting greater tri-lingualism of the IB's official languages.

In keeping with the conference theme of "new thinking for a new world," emphasis was placed on the brain, its development and how best to approach teaching students at different stages of learning. Renowned experts included Daniel Pink who spoke powerfully about a new mind for a new world and JoAnn Deak, psychologist, who captivated the room with her clear yet profound discussion of current brain research and how it impacts teaching.

According to Pink, educators will encourage students in the field of medicine, law, engineering, however "the future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind, people like artists, inventors, storytellers and caregivers." He adds that these people "are the next business elite-the women and men who will power your organization."