{"id":9198,"date":"2015-06-21T16:12:44","date_gmt":"2015-06-21T21:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=9198"},"modified":"2015-06-21T16:12:44","modified_gmt":"2015-06-21T21:12:44","slug":"book-review-the-smartest-kids-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=9198","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Smartest Kids in the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"thesmartestkidsintheworld\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve heard a lot lately about The Smartest Kids in the World<\/em><\/a> by Amanda Ripley<\/a>. \u00a0Ripley is a journalist who set out on an adventure to find out what makes the smartest kids in the world\u2026the smartest kids in the world. \u00a0She followed three teenagers who participated in exchange programs to Finland, South Korea, and Poland. \u00a0The book talks a good bit about the adventures of these three students. \u00a0There are several things that are interesting about their experiences\u2026but not a lot of nuggets that can be practically implemented.<\/div>\n
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I read this book with both my parent hat and my principal hat on. \u00a0As the principal of a Christian high school, I finished this book feeling very good about what we are doing to challenge our students in the areas of critical thinking and collaboration. \u00a0I also walked away from reading this with a refreshed sense of gratitude for the opportunity I have been given to have a seat the decision-making table at our school. \u00a0I realize that many principals around the world have no say in what they do on a daily basis\u2026no real buy-in either past their paycheck. \u00a0In my role, I am particularly motivated by my philosophy of Christian education to invest in the hearts and minds of our students such that they will truly impact the world for Christ. \u00a0In order to have that type of influence, they must be excellent in whatever career path they ultimately pursue. \u00a0Another area where I am blessed to have a lot of input is in the hiring process. \u00a0Ripley\u2019s book shows that many schools have a terribly broken staffing process whereby bad teachers are hired\u2026and then kept for a long time. \u00a0Our goal is always to hire excellent teachers and then to do everything we can as a team to make each other better as we grow and learn together.<\/div>\n
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My prayer and hope is that the students I serve each day will truly be amongst the smartest kids in the world\u2026that are making an impact for the cause of Christ. \u00a0My desire is that they will choose to spend their lives on something that will last for all of eternity.<\/div>\n
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I highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below…<\/div>\n
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  • This strange new test was called PISA, which stood for the Program for International Student Assessment. \u00a0Instead of a typical test question, which might ask which combination of coins you needed to buy something, PISA asked you to design your own coins, right there in the test booklet.<\/li>\n
  • The world needed an even smarter test, one that could measure the kind of advanced thinking and communication skills that people needed to thrive in the modern world.<\/li>\n
  • \u201cWe were not looking for answers to equations or to multiple choice questions,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were looking for the ability to think creatively.\u201d \u00a0Andreas Schleicher about nuances of the PISA<\/li>\n
  • PISA wasn\u2019t measuring memorization; it was measuring aspiration.<\/li>\n
  • The Finns decided that the only way to get serious about education was to select highly educated teachers, the best and brightest of each generation, and train them rigorously.<\/li>\n
  • That mindset had worked alright for most American kids, historically speaking. \u00a0Most hadn\u2019t needed a very rigorous education, and they hadn\u2019t gotten it. \u00a0Wealth had made rigor optional in America. \u00a0But everything had changed. \u00a0In an automated, global economy, kids needed to be driven; they need to know how to adapt, since they would be doing it all their lives. \u00a0They needed a culture of rigor.<\/li>\n
  • The stories of Finland, Korea, and Poland are complicated and unfinished. \u00a0But they reveal what is possible. \u00a0All children must learn rigorous higher-order thinking to thrive in the modern world. \u00a0The only way to do that is by creating a serious intellectual culture in schools, one that kids can sense is real and true. \u00a0As more and more data spills out of schools and countries, and as students themselves find ways to tell the world how much more they could do, these counter narratives will, I hope, become too loud to hear.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I\u2019ve heard a lot lately about The Smartest Kids in the World by Amanda Ripley. \u00a0Ripley is a journalist who set out on an adventure to find out what makes the smartest kids in the world\u2026the smartest kids in the world. \u00a0She followed three teenagers who participated in exchange programs to Finland, South Korea, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,35,25,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","category-creative","category-education","category-leadership","category-north-cobb-christian"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}