The Smartest Kids in the World
by Amanda Ripley · first published 2014
6mentions
3recommended by
4HN commenters
2013–2021first – last mentioned
75% recommend25% neutral
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…speak English well enough to teach in the United States, which tells us something right there). I would like to include a few more countries in the mix. Indeed, that is what I like about the new book The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way,[1] because the book follows some American exchange students over to other countries (Finland, yes, but also Korea and Poland) and examines a lot of different trade-offs that different school systems…
on “What if Finland’s great teachers taught in U.S. schools?” ↗The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley. Three American students are sent to three of the smartest countries (based on PISA scores): Finland, Poland, and Korea. The same was done vice versa. It was fascinating to learn how…
on “Ask HN: Which book/essay changed your life?” ↗One of my favorite books from the last few years is "The Smartest Kids in the World." The reporter visits three countries that do very well on the international PISA test, and talks about what can indeed work in the US and other countries. She (and the locals) are very negative about…
on “Big Ideas That Don't Work in Education” ↗Hmm. This is a shame. Having read "The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way" by Amanda Ripley, I learned that the United States is the highest spender on technology amongst all OECD countries. You'd think with such a big budget for tech, we'd do a better job of transitioning…
on “Some school districts plan to end the year early, call remote learning too tough” ↗The review of Amanda Ripley's new book Smartest Kids in the World by Annie Murphy Paul in the New York Times[1] is a good reality check on the review from The Economist kindly posted here. The book is in hot demand in my county library system, so my request for the…
on “Only a few countries are teaching children how to think” ↗…that this is not completely true. US kids who have parents who volunteer at school (like PTA) actually have poorer academic achievement on average than parents who don't. They have also found that the smartest kids in the world have parents who are not terribly involved at school, at least compared to their US counterparts. The strongest correlative of a child's academic success in the US is the income level of their parents.…
on “The problem in American education isn't dumb teachers, but dumb teacher training” ↗