But is the Personal Project REALLY necessary?
It is rather ironic in a sense to question the necessity of the personal project when this article itself is the direct result of someone else's personal project. Nonetheless, the question of whether or not the Personal Project is necessary to the extent that it warrants itself a place within the MYP curriculum has perplexed many near-MYP graduates, and indeed, frustrated many.
What is the Personal Project?
By description, the Personal Project is a year long, independent research project undertaken by all final-year MYP students. The topic idea for the personal project is left completely to the discretion of students, which is usually a particular passion or personal interest of the students. This can include writing a book, creating clubs to producing musical pieces, though the odds are endless. Based upon this, students are therefore expected to create a product and document their learning within a process journal.
As such, through the process of producing a project completely unique to their own, the personal project aims to stand “as a summative review of their ability to conduct independent work”. Under the MYP’s mission directive, this therefore conforms to the holistic learning experience as students enrich their understanding of themselves as learners, especially in terms of practical learning skills and personal strengths; hence, nurturing a solid foundation for future success.
Views on the Personal Project
Cherry Wu is a year 12 student here at Renaissance College. As she puts it, the Personal Project is interesting as “it allows students to to explore our own interests”. This holds true as when you apply this to the whole year, you get a multitude of these interests being explored. Just last year did we see our own students investigate into countless fields of personal passions for their project, with some being on poetry, the impact of divorce on children, both current and local affairs, LGBT rights, tourism and graffiti art. Moreover is the innovative range of medium used to communicate their passions, as last year’s topics also included books, blogs, articles, competitions, clubs and even a talk show.
Indeed, the diversity of creativity seen here definitely seems to satiate the MYP’s goal of providing a “framework of learning that encourages students to become creative, critical and reflective thinkers”. And in turn, this translates to students finding the PP an invaluable opportunity to “investigate specifically about what we are passionate about, which they would never have done” without the Personal Project, despite the overall process can be “overwhelming at times”.
Yet, the “overwhelming” feeling that many receive whilst doing the Personal Project is the direct cause for some to completely reject the particular process. According to one current Year 11 student, he/she (unspecified due to his/her claim of anonymity) finds the whole process “silly”, due to how it “most likely won’t benefit your grades in subjects”, instead consuming time that one can dedicate to increasing their overall grade in other subject areas. Moreover, “universities won’t care” about what your Personal Project is, or what grade you receive.
Moreover, others have also criticized the Personal Project due to its rather peculiar structure, or lack thereof. Phipson Lee, another Year 12 student here at Renaissance College, is one of many within this particular group. Whilst he thinks that the Personal Project is indeed “paramount”, he personally dislikes it for the “immense freedom students have within their projects” and “the lack of direction” to assist with creating a “good project”, aside from the rubric. As a result, he dislikes the Personal Project as whilst it theoretically advocates for students to broaden their learning and passions, he believes that this particular structural legal loophole mean “people can easily perform well with a small mundane personal project they are not interested in”.
Is the Personal Project necessary then?
At the end of the day, the views on the Personal Project ultimately boil down to determining whether this portion of the MYP curriculum is necessary or not. Whilst it is universally agreed that the project is quite time-consuming and lengthy, maybe a bit too lengthy considering the one year given, many still do eventually think the project is quite important; after all, it is the culmination of the learning process that students have integrated throughout the MYP.
This particular idea is resonated in the thoughts of Hayley Wu, a current Year 11 student doing the Personal Project. Whilst “the criteria is way too focused on the writing and it’s boring, I still love it in itself”.
And yet the Personal Project is still fraught with numerous inherent flaws that many see as one that hinders the effectiveness of the Personal Project and in turn, making it less necessary. For one, the particular passion you decide to pursue at the beginning of the process can wane throughout the course of the project, making it seem more like a burden than an interest as time elapses. As Hayley would put it, “the PP is useful only if you give yourself something that you're actually interested in”.
Alternatively, the structural loopholes that Phipson has identified should also be revamped in order to prove the necessity of the Personal Project in summarizing a student’s learning process, and not just an easy way out to receive a 7. As he would put it, “there should definitely be a criterion that separates the PP from all the existing coursework and extracurriculars that a student does”.
And indeed, this is a sentiment that many also seem to echo. What do you think? By Alex Soo
