American kids are better off, on average, than the typical child in Japan, New Zealand, or South Korea, yet they scored twenty-sixth on a test of critical thinking in math, below average for the developed world. Over the past fifty years, test scores have remained largely flat in the U.S., while soaring in Canada and Finland, where most children are now learning to make complex arguments and solve problems in math, reading, and science.
The conundrum intrigued investigative journalist Amanda Ripley, whose award-winning work explores the gap between public policy and human behavior. To learn more, Ripley decided to compare countries from a unique perspective—through the eyes of three American high school students studying abroad in Finland, South Korea, and Poland, respectively. The result is THE SMARTEST KIDS IN THE WORLD: And How They Got That Way (Simon & Schuster; On sale August 13, 2013; $28.00), a masterful blend of groundbreaking research and storytelling that sheds new light on how we can better educate our children — and why it matters that we do.
Ripley follows three intrepid young Americans as they push the envelope of their experiences and reckon with the inadequacies of their educations. Kim, from a small town in Oklahoma, raises the money herself to spend a year in Finland—the nation consistently ranked at the top of the world in education. Eric, just graduated from his well-regarded Minnesota high school, defers college to attend a Korean high school—where he finds out what high-pressure tests really look like. Pennsylvania native Tom seeks adventure in a gritty city in Poland, which has dramatically improved its education results. While shadowing these kids, Ripley gets to know their fellow students, their teachers, their real families and host families, along with school leaders and policy makers. She discovers three very different success stories of nations that have reversed their historical trajectories to become education superpowers.
In Finland, she learns how teaching has been transformed into a highly prized profession that attracts the finest minds. The “hamster wheel” culture of learning in South Korea has spawned fierce competition and at least one “rock star” teacher who makes $4 million a year. In just three years, Poland—the punch line for so many jokes around the world—caught up with the developed world in both reading and math, and now surpasss the rich and powerful United States, despite spending less than half as much per student.
Amanda Ripley takes readers inside homes and classrooms around the globe and reveals why some students are succeeding where others are stagnating. A reporting tour de force, THE SMARTEST KIDS IN THE WORLD upends rigid assumptions and offers new ways of looking at the future of American education—and the necessity for vast improvement—in a changing world.
“In riveting prose….this timely and inspiring book offers many insights into how to improve America’s mediocre school system.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Ripley’s stirring investigation debunks many tenets of current education reform.” —BookPage
“Such an important book! Amanda Ripley lights the path to engaging our next generation to meet a different bar. She makes an enormous contribution to the national and global discussion about what must be done to give all our children the education they need to invent the future.”
—Wendy Kopp, founder and chair, Teach For America, and CEO, Teach For All
