Kaethe

This was fascinating, and not only because it mentioned International Baccalaureate programs. Ripley compares USian schools to those of other nations through the lens of foreign exchange students' experiences. I wanted to read it more or less as an adjunct to The Importance of Being Little to give a fuller picture of education from preschool to college, highlighting some of the places that do it exceptionally well.

The US does well by some students, those with the greatest advantages to start with. There are tremendous inequities by income and race, and only the second is being addressed. Charter schools, many of which are for-profit, show no improvements over public schools on average, despite the tremendous gains they're supposed to enjoy by being freed from bureaucracy and particularly the horrors of tenured teachers who cannot be fired without cause. And why bother, when it isn't an issue that elected officials send their own children to private schools or to public schools in areas so wealthy they are defacto private schools?

Korea also has a lot of crap schools, but it doesn't matter, because every parent who can afford it is hiring private tutoring companies to make up the difference, which isn't all that different from our own system.

Finland and Poland however have some lessons to teach us. They are awesome, and they achieved awesome rather quickly. I won't give away all their secrets, but a rigorous education and commensurate pay for teachers isn't a bad idea.

Highly recommended to people with a specific interest in education. I can't begin to imagine how it would appeal to readers who aren't keen on the topic.

Library copy