The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way

I learned some excellent information about how school works in Poland, Finland, and South Korea. The author writes with a clear bias - she hates sports and finds them a detraction on the American school system, and she crucifies people who don't fit her viewpoint as chimeric. That being said, it seems she does hit some important bullet points that need to go into effect for schools to improve:

a. better training for teachers (much better)
b. a societal commitment to the importance of education
c. reasonable and effective standardized testing

These bullets may seem obvious, but if you look around at American education, we are not close to achieving any of these.

Is this the best book I've read this year about education? Yes, it is. And I've read a lot of books this year about education. This one was best of all. It looked at education the way I like to look at things: it looked at education that works. Ripley studied the strong educational systems in three countries, Korea and Finland and Poland, and analyzed why each is so successful.

Lots of lessons here for those of us here in the US who want our children to get an excellent education.

This is what journalism should be about, telling a story from a different perspective and digging into the details. Most reporting on education is pathetically superficial and simply rehashes the common narrative. Amanda Ripley takes on the topic with analytical rigor and good personal story telling. This isn't a wishy washy book lamenting the state of United States failing school system. It's full of hope and actionable information on what makes schools good and what doesn't. Ripley does dispel with most of the normal excuses given for why the US does so poorly like poverty, diversity, etc. While these are factors they aren't the main problem.

The main takeaways are that good education systems:

1) Expect a great deal from their students, regardless of background. They don't care about self esteem, just results.
2) Are very selective about teacher quality. In Finland you have to be in the top of your class to go to school for education.
3) Have a consistant curriculum that covers less but much more thoroughly.
4) Have fewer test and less homework.
5) Don't put students into different tracks (gifted, vocational etc), or do so much later.
5) Don't spend much on technology. Plain blackboards and good teachers are what's needed.

There is also a good deal of history on how those school systems got to be where they are and what they are like today. The stories from the exchange students are particularly good bits of data.

If you care about education, this is an important book worth reading.