Somers Reece IDC 201-201 Dr. Stock and Dr.

Barbour Reflection 2

The smartest kids in the world and how they got that way By Amanda Ripley

This book I actually enjoyed better than the first book we read. It made sense to me and I like the point of views and learning about the different educational systems in different countries. This book makes you question several aspects of education in the United States. Amanda Ripley wrote, The research revealed that in a handful of countries scattered across the world, kids seemed to be gaining critical learning skills, outpacing many other countries, including America especially in math. The students in these select areas learned effective and innovative ways to tackle reading, science, and math problems. Their skills also helped them master not only familiar but new information more quickly and easily. The author exposes the various intricacies of the educational system like style of teaching, schooling, discipline, and importance to teaching, expectations of students, parents, and society. (Ripley, 2013) The three American students have very different backgrounds. There is Kim, who left her rural area of Sallisaw, Oklahoma and a relatively mediocre school system to travel to Finland. Eric attended a high school in Minnetonka,

Minnesota which was regularly ranked among the top schools in America by Newsweek. He traveled to Busan, South Korea to experience the "Korean pressure cooker" of education there. Tom left behind a high school culture in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, one which was focused on sports and the Future Farmers of America and traveled to Wroclaw, Poland. I was fascinated by reading about these students' lives abroad and the challenges they faced when navigating different school systems and cultural traditions. Many of the descriptions are vivid, from Eric's sense of dread when he realized that Korean students attended school a staggering 12 hours a day to Tom's recollection of his first humiliating attempt at a math problem in front of the class in Poland. The overall impression one is left with is that Finland and Poland's educational systems clearly have advantages over the U.S. system. These systems are more rigorous, and have higher expectations than the U.S. system. Finland apparently has much higher standards for teacher candidates, and higher relative teacher salaries. One is left to wonder if perhaps this teacher quality variable is the key to meaningful education reform. The other striking aspect of the book is how much the strengths and weaknesses of the American education system have to do with American culture. The U.S. has not traditionally had a culture that places the highest value on intellectual strictness. This has sometimes had some advantages in that it allows some students to advance even though they don't conform to school standards. But she raises the important issue of whether our cultural attitudes have become outmoded due to changes in our economy that require more intellectual attainment in a wider variety of good jobs. Ms. Ripley

cites any number of examples where American parents and policymakers simply don't place a very high value on having higher standards that some students might struggle to pass. Ripley is offering to show how other nations educate students so much more effectively than we do, and her opening pages hold out a promising suggestion of masochistic satisfaction Its in moments like these that Ripley succeeds in making our own culture and our own choices seem alien quite a feat for an institution as familiar and fiercely defended as high school. The question is whether the startling perspective provided by this masterly book can also generate the will to make changes. For all our griping about American education, Ripley notes, weve got the schools we want.(Paul, 2013) In spite of an occasionally bumpy flow, this book was still very engaging. It not only gave me a cross cultural perspective but new insights into ways to help children become innovative and effective learners. The book has a great appendix giving advice to parents on choosing good schools. This includes very useful information such as how to observe whether a classroom truly engages students and is productive. This appendix by itself will be worth the book's purchase price for many parents. I would like to have a discussion of where do we go from here for U.S. policymakers. For example, in a practical sense, how would we best go about significantly increasing the selectivity of our teaching training institutions and

attracting better college students into teaching? Greater exploration on how we could adapt the lessons of Finland. The PISA test is probably the most respected international comparison of pupil achievement. PISA aims at testing literacy in three competence fields: reading, mathematics, and science on a 1000 point scale. Only students at school are tested, not home-schoolers. Each student takes a two-hour handwritten test. Part of the test is multiple-choice and part involves fuller answers. Following the cognitive test, participating students spend nearly one more hour answering a questionnaire on their background including learning habits, motivation and family The test also surveyed parents volunteering in their children's extra-curricular activities like PTA types are associated with lower reading scores. Parental involvement with discussions about school, movies, current events, books, etc. is associated with higher performance, as well as asking about their school days. Another important finding was self-discipline and honesty is strongly related to school performance and ultimate life success.(Ripley, 2013) Reading about PISA, the countries who do well on PISA, and the different ways these countries help their kids learn was as helpful to me as a citizen of the USA and a mother. I am now asking my children what they learned each night and talking to them about current events. I am more interested in math scores at my children's potential high school than the sports legacy. I have a greater sense of

what to look for in a classroom to see if the kids are learning. The funny thing is Im doing this now and my kids are in kindergarten and second grade.

Work Cited

Paul, Annie Murphy, (2013) Likely to Succeed: Amanda Ripleys Smartest Kids in the World. The New York Times: Published August 22, 2013; New York

Ripley, A., (2013) the smartest kids in the world and how they got that way. Simon & Schuster: New York