By Maia Donahue
Update
H. H. Dow HS
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing
Informative Feature
Students enrolled in the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class are quick to assert that the class does not rely on any formal structure. Senior Joyce Chu describes it as “ an exploration.” The class, taught by Sarah Pancost, does seem to defy the mold of a “normal” or more traditional class. As a core part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program, TOK is meant to introduce high school seniors to new ways of thinking.
The class connects “ways of knowing” with “areas of knowledge.” Ways of knowing are defined as the sense perceptions: imagination, language, and intuition. Areas of knowledge can be thought of as what students learn in the traditional classroom setting, such as mathematics, human sciences, and history. The bridging of these areas creates questions about topics such ideologies and faith, which the students are expected to discuss in class.
“I’m really strongly Catholic, like I love being Catholic and that’s something at my core,” Chu said. “Going to that class is really cool because we challenge things like what faith is as opposed to reason, and if they can exist together. So it was really cool seeing how everything coexists. Reason doesn’t contradict faith and I learned that through TOK, which is really cool.”
However, students enrolled in TOK are expected to go beyond simply discussing faith or political ideologies. They also must acknowledge and respond to the interpretations of others in the class.
“I feel like we have this mindset where we have to debate and prove why we’re right, but in TOK it teaches us to accept all opinions,” Chu said.
Pancost, in addition to being the only teacher in the building qualified to teach TOK, is also DHS’ IB coordinator.
“Originally I wasn’t the IB coordinator, I just taught TOK,” Pancost said. “Because TOK is the core of the IB program, when the coordinator at the time left, [the school] asked me to do it.”
TOK itself involves exercises that wouldn’t be found in a traditionally structured class. The class once spent time learning to draw horses in order to understand the concept of perspective and how it applies both literally to art and conceptually to life.
This idea of connection between concepts is common among TOK students.
“In my other classes, I’ll just try to think about things in a TOK way, especially in English,” senior Lauren Dimerc said.
From the beginning of the class to the end, Pancost sees a marked change in her students.
“By the end, they’re so much more aware of the advantages we have, the obligations, and how people that are not like us might have something to teach us and they’re just more thoughtful,” Pancost said. “In the beginning, things seem really black and white, and by the end they seem to be able to see grays better.”
In accordance with the IB alternative learning principle, the students travel to the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio every Thursday to conduct class. This has been a TOK tradition for several years, beginning when Pancost went on a tour with visiting relatives and noticed Alden B. Dow’s “Way of Life Cycle.” It reminded her of the TOK philosophy, which seeks to bridge all aspects of life.
“I think it’s really cool to come here because it’s really different from the traditional classroom environment and we learn a lot more things and think differently than we do in the traditional school environment,” senior Kayla Stryker said. “It’s interesting to look at the different architecture and be able to have the hands-on experience. They don’t have any restrictions here.”
This year, only six students in the class of 2015 are taking TOK to get the IB Diploma. Pancost says that this number fluctuates yearly with almost no rhyme or reason. Students enrolled in TOK begin the class in their second semester as juniors and finish in the first semester of their senior year. This scheduling, while may seem strange to the observer, is actually specifically designed to fit IB requirements. IB classes start junior year, and aim to teach the “ways of knowing.” TOK itself relies on “areas of knowledge.” These two philosophies have to align in order for the experience to be of value. It employs concurrency of learning to make sure that students have deep connections and understanding of what they learn.
“[The best part of this class] is the ability to think outside the box instead of just following a set of instructions, and answering questions that have no right or wrong answer,” senior Arlo Turpin said.
Both Turpin and senior Andrew Morley hope to major in philosophy after high school, and see this class as an opportunity to help them achieve that goal.
Most high school classes are based on answers: each question proposed by a professor has a right or wrong answer. TOK is a class based almost entirely on questions. Some are open ended, but in many cases, students answer their own questions. No answers are wrong. But none are exclusively right either.