Summary Of The Smartest Kids In The World By Amanda Ripley

The common assumption that America is the leading nation in the world takes a hard hit in Amanda Ripley’s The Smartest Kids in the World, a book that explores the top education systems throughout the world, which are not that of the United States. After reading the book, it comes off with strong viewpoints, and makes you think critically about our education system. It highlights the PISA tests, both praised and criticized for their ability to calculate the knowledge and creativity and individual possesses. The book also features a unique narrative style involving three students from America embarking on journeys as “correspondents” to three of the tops ranking PISA countries. They, along with commentary from Ripley, highlight what makes these

She provides an ample amount of background information on the formation of the PISA test, and the first round of its taking. This introduction also serves as an ethos for Ripley because we can see that she has put in a great deal of research, these facts help us to trust her with any further data she gives us throughout the book. She furthers her ethos in the following section when she takes the PISA test herself. While she might have no included this antidote, or her results on the test, it further helps us to build a connection with the author and trust that she is knowledgeable about the subject material at hand. While the larger part of her ethos is built at the beginning of the book, she does build in subtly throughout in the creative narrative style that she has decided to

One of the biggest concerning the need for an increase in rigor in instruction in American schools. She discusses that in Poland students must stay in academic classes for an extra year and teachers are paid bonuses to engage in professional development work. She also notes that in Finland they “rebooted their teacher-training colleges, forcing them to become much more selective and rigorous.” In an article written by Sarah Tantillio on Only Good Books, she recognizes the validity of these statements, but comments that in America “the Common Core States Standards, which most states have adopted, they are definitely rigorous, But how they are implemented (and assessed) from state to state and school to school is still a Very Big Question.” Further in her article she points out the large population differences between Finland, Poland, and the United States, and how this affects our education system. However, near the end she recognizes that “We should not use our giant population and multi-dimensional governance structures as excuses.” It is clear that while the need for rigor, and unification is seen, it is also clouded by a complicated set of problems in our