The Smartest Kids in the World

And How They Got That Way

By: Amanda Ripley

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

How do other countries create "smarter" kids? In a handful of nations, virtually all children are learning to make complex arguments and solve problems they've never seen before. They are learning to think, in other words, and to thrive in the modern economy.What is it like to be a child in the world's new education superpowers?

In a global quest to find answers for our own children, author and Time magazine journalist Amanda Ripley follows three Americans embed­ded in these countries for one year. Kim, 15, raises $10,000 so she can move from Oklahoma to Finland; Eric, 18, exchanges a high-achieving Minnesota suburb for a booming city in South Korea; and Tom, 17, leaves a historic Pennsylvania village for Poland.

Through these young informants, Ripley meets battle-scarred reformers, sleep-deprived zombie students, and a teacher who earns $4 million a year. Their stories, along with groundbreaking research into learning in other cultures, reveal a pattern of startling transformation: none of these countries had many "smart" kids a few decades ago. Things had changed. Teaching had become more rigorous; parents had focused on things that mattered; and children had bought into the promise of education.

A journalistic tour de force, The Smartest Kids in the World is a book about building resilience in a new world-as told by the young Americans who have the most at stake.

©2013 Amanda Ripley (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A compelling, instructive account regarding education in America, where the arguments have become 'so nasty, provincial, and redundant that they no longer lead anywhere worth going.'" ( Kirkus)

Loved this BOOK. Very insightful.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This seems to be a very thoughtful and thorough analysis of how a few well-performing countries are educating their children successfully and capturing a few lessons of where the US has it wrong.

A clear look at education

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A must read for parents of young children. This book cuts through the education and learning hype.

Any additional comments?

The book examines the pros and cons of four educational systems Korea, Finland, Poland and the United States and comes up with some interesting observations and recommendations.

Easy Read with Some Valuable "Lessons"

Any additional comments?

Sorry about the bad pun :-)

I got this book on sale, with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I inhaled it in two days since it was such an enjoyable listen.

The book's points are largely made through the narrative of a few case studies where American students attend schools in other countries. The author does still back everything up with statistics from scientific studies, but the use of the experiences of these young people makes the book more engaging and memorable.

It appealed to me as a parent and as someone who has experienced living in more than one country. I am fascinated by the differences between cultures and I got to indulge that fascination here.

I definitely think it has some important points to make regarding the seriousness or "rigor" required for successful education, especially with respect to having high standards for people wanting to get in to the profession of teaching and subsequently giving them the respect (and pay) they deserve. I have heard this concept tossed around in the political debate, but it gained more credibility with me after this book.

Light read/listen with some valuable points made. Recommended.

great book!

Interesting to learn about the education systems in Poland, Finland and South Korea through the eyes of American exchange students.

Terrible narration -- Content is OK but not great

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The author is reluctant to summarize, the biggest deficiency in the book. She conveys most ideas through the stories and case studies of foreign exchange students who travelled from America to Finland, Poland, and South Korea -- three countries whose students had high scores on international tests. For me, the biggest takeaways are:
(1) US students do not score well; the US ranks 27th, so many other countries score significantly better in terms of high school education, Finland ranks highest. Finland's education does not cost more than the US's, and students do not require a ton more study time either (in sharp contrast to South Korea). Their success is grounded in extremely high quality teachers, and in the fact that most every student seems to take their education seriously.
(2) teacher quality is way more important than facilities, technology, or class size (except class size may matter in the very early grades), and the US system is weak in terms of teacher quality. US teacher training programs are not selective, and we end up training a huge number of teachers relative to the small number of open teaching positions. Increasing the entrance requirement for teaching programs would improve candidates, so the programs could be more rigorous and beneficial, and reduce the oversupply of teachers at the same time.
(3) the majority of US students do not go through a rigorous high school program -- we do not challenge students, and students do not take their high school education seriously. This is a problem with teachers, schools, families, and culture in general. A high school diploma does not mean much.
(4) The most effective parents (in terms of securing a rigorous education for their kids) act as academic coaches for their kids. They may not volunteer to help with the school bake sale, they may not participate in the PTA, but they are working with their younger kids day-in-day-out on reading, math, and other subjects. As children get older, they get their kids to develop independence, working mostly on their own, but parents continue to maintain an active interest in how their kids progress.

Would you be willing to try another one of Kate Reading’s performances?

No -- Kate did a terrible job on this book. My wife and I were reading and listening to this together, but my wife had no stomach for Kate's reading and eventually stopped listening. Kate Reading finishes sentences with a slightly arrogant lilt, as if she is saying "most of you will probably not understand this point, but I suppose I have to read it to you anyway". Kate might be better suited to narrating a book entitled "Self Improvement for Dummies".

Was The Smartest Kids in the World worth the listening time?

For me, the answer is a borderline "yes". Would have been better either reading the book, or listening to a computer voice reading it in the car.

Honest, Inspiring, Vitally Important Material

Narration: Very well done- Clear, Concise tone & pace
Content: No holds barred look at 4 education models from around the world. No longer can "under resourced" or "poverty" be used-- with a straight face anyway--as an excuse for poorly performing US schools.

As an educator, I was chagrined many times reading this, thinking of numerous ways I'd succumbed to being "flexible" or "understanding" or lowered expectations in the face of my students' many challenges. This book brought into clear relief the core element students need: high expectations by teachers, parents and society at large. Small class size, more technology, emotionally intelligence while each are relevant, they obfuscate the core issues that have to be faced-- and as a teacher and parent this book has validated some of my practices, made me ashamed about others, but mostly has given me confidence to act on this information right away.

My only criticism is that for me there were moments of occasional fluff, beginning to go inconsistently deeper into her student case study's lives than needed. However, she made each person very real and I could easily identify with each of them, helping make the educational data imparted more easily digested and seem more valid.

Great comparison of various education system

I don't get to evaluate the many education systems in the world so this book gave a great look into this topic. I have now new found respect for educators, as well as education leaders. I also learned to appreciate the pros and cons of the education system of my hometown.

Most importantly, I have a better idea of what selection criteria I should look into when evaluating my children's schools.

Understand Edu issues

Great book to read when you are entering the Edu system! Both parents and children !

Great teachers+ Raise kids' bar+ Don't exaggerate

Why certain kids learn so much and others don't? Amanda Ripley try to answer this and other questions with "The Smartest Kids in the World". She goes after the PISA results (a triennial international survey which evaluates skills and knowledge of 15 year old students from more than 65 countries) and focus in 3 countries: South Korea, Finland and Poland, comparing them with United States.
She follows 3 exchange students, giving a personal, concrete and fresh air to the story, constructing an easy to learn and very interesting book.
Amanda argues that PISA results don't measure only theory, but readiness to solve day to day problems, think critically, how to use the knowledge and comunicate well.
*Korea-- The pressure cooker that goes to extremes-- The public school is not free- in Busan, the price for the family is around 1500 dollars/ year. The school starts at 8 and goes till 16:10. Then, the kids clean the classroom (the kids that don't behave use red pinnies and clean the bathroom). At 16:30, they settled back in their seats for test-prep classes. Then they eat dinner in the school cafeteria. After dinner came yaja, a two hour period of study loosely supervised by teachers. Around 21:00 they get out of school, but the study is not over yet. 70% still go to a private tutor or hagwons till the curfew, 23:00. The teenagers do nothing but study. And they become exhausted, so they have to sleep in class the next day (they bring pillows to school). All of this because they need to pass the exams to enter the 3 best Universities of Korea. The people think that performance comes after hard work and is not a God given talent. They have an academic purpose well established and high expectations of what they can achieve. Education is the country's treasure.
* Finland- The role model- The teaches are rigidly selected, earn well and have autonomy and prestige. Differently from the rest of the world where teachers teach what they don't know they are expected to be the best from their generation. There is a common sense that runs through society about the seriousness of education (everybody care) and a clarity of purpose. Kids can learn how to fail and get back to their feet while still young.
*Poland- a country where 1/6 of children live in poverty, where criminality was high and had a beaten soul. A country that should fail in Pisa, but the Minister of Education took action.The reforms that Handke implemented changed the point of equilibrium-- put more rigor into the system, changed curriculum, created 4.000 schools overnight, forced teachers to learn more and raised expectations about what kids should accomplish. He showed the world that reforms don't take so much time to be felt. Three years later, everybody saw the jump.
Amanda Ripley writes that even today's blue collar jobs need critical thinking and that people graduate from high school without the basics. So, to have the education that our kids deserve, we need to be rigid and care about knowledge, within certain limits.
Great book!

great book

this type of book isn't normally my cup of tea, but I totally loved it. It was a lot of information, but the author did a perfect job on highlighting what you needed to know in order to follow along.
Great narration too!