Success is going from failure to failure, without losing your enthusiasm.
~Winston Churchill
We need every person in Oregon involved in our children's future. Oregon has de-funded
education for decades, is living through a deep recession, and is facing
educational reform, i.e., the Common Core, whether you like it or not. On top of that, the
societal pressures our kids are facing are huge. It will not be any one
person improving our educational system. It will take moving the whole system to a
new level of intention, requirement, and action. So let's talk about
the book...
First, I'll start by saying that I think this book should be required reading by educators and parents alike - whether you home school, charter school, private school, or public school your kids. Second, I've quoted a lot from the book and those quotes are italicized. Third, Ripley wrote in the past tense much of the book and for ease of reading, I've changed a few verb tenses to the present tense. Last, I've highlighted a few select points that I took away from the book, but there is no way I could even begin to cover it all, so read the book!
In the Smartest Kids, Ripley travels all over the world to interview educators and students alike based on the results of the PISA exam. She follows exchange students from America to Finland, Korea, and Poland. She goes where the top learners reside, and seeks the reasons for their success. She looks at the results of the PISA, which demands fluency in problem solving and the ability to communicate. She finds out who has critical thinking skills and who does not, because critical thinking skills are critical to thriving in a modern world.
What is the PISA you ask? PISA is a test developed by a kind of think tank for the developed world, called the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the scientist at the center of the experiment, is Andreas Schleicher. When you see the statistics on who is best in the world in math, reading, and writing, and who is not, it's the PISA exam behind those results.
As for us Americans, our children scored 12th in reading. In math, the average score placed the United States twenty sixth in the world, below Finland (third), Korea (second), and Poland (nineteenth). Math has a way of predicting kids' futures. Teenagers who have mastered higher-level math classes are far more likely to graduate from college, even when putting aside other factors like race and income. They also earned more money after college.
Why does math matter so much? Some reasons are practical: More and more jobs require familiarity with probability, statistics, and geometry. The other reason is that math is not just math. Math is a language of logic. It is a disciplined and organized way of thinking. There is a right answer; there are rules that must be followed. More than any other subject, math is rigor distilled. Mastering the language of logic helps to embed higher-order habits in kids' minds: the ability to reason, for example, to detect patterns and to make informed guesses. Those kinds of skills have rising value in a world in which information is cheap and messy.
America's math handicap afflicts even our most privileged kids, who are more privileged than even the most advantaged kids in other nations. Our top math students are still behind folks. Let's wake up! If we don't, our kids are going to have a rude awakening when they get to college and find that those who have come to the U.S. for their education from other nations are better prepared for our schools than our own students. Our world is becoming more global, not less.
Interestingly enough, the PISA reveals that spending on education does not make kids smarter. Everything-everything-depends on what teachers, parents, and students do with those investments. So what are some of these other nations doing to invest in their education systems?
Ripley points out that in Finland acceptance into a teacher training college is like getting into medical school. Finland invests in educating their teachers first, before their teachers can become educators. Only a select few are accepted into teacher training colleges based on their grades. Further, by the time they graduate they will have spent about as much time in teacher training school as someone in medical school. This transfers a great deal of respect to the teacher and creates a culture of both hyper-prepared teachers as well as environment that clearly communicates that learning is essential and respected.
Further, the Finnish matriculation exam, or final high school exam, is an example of the self discipline and persistence kids need in order to do well. Ripley found that the Finnish final exam is much harder than even our NY State Regent's exam, by alot. So, are Finnish kids smarter than U.S. kids? There are no studies that attest to that. Studies show that teachers are better prepared and more is expected of both teachers and students in Finland (and high achieving countries). In addition, once teachers are in a classroom, they are given great autonomy to teach what they would like with little interference. Also, more kids access special needs services sooner in Finland; they don't let a student fall behind, and there is no stigma in receiving extra or focused help when needed.
The World's Smartest Kids also follows exchange students in Korea and Poland. What is clear is that the Korean way of learning and studying from eight in the morning to midnight is not working to produce happiness and well rounded students. Ripley likens it to being on a hamster wheel, and it should not be adopted here.
Poland however, is an interesting case of education reform that is working. This young post communist nation is rapidly making education a priority, and while reform is painful, they are getting good results. They didn't replace their teachers, they began investing in their teachers and students in more effective ways. Some of the results? They beat us at math on the PISA. Who's noticing? American companies are building factories in Poland because their students are better prepared to work in a high tech manufacturing environment.
Ripley also finds a lack of technology in classrooms around the
world, and they are still out scoring us on the PISA. Technology can be
powerful, but a lack of technology, does not put a classroom at a
disadvantage with the right teacher teaching.
As for immigration, Ripley found that roughly 3% of kids in schools are immigrant children - no matter where she went. Yes, there are schools that have a higher percentage, but generally speaking, classrooms across the world have about 3% of their students as immigrants. The case cannot be made, that immigrants are skewing our test results in the U.S.
It was also very interesting to me to see her stats on public vs. private education. At the time (2011), 11 percent of children in the United States were enrolled in private schools--less than average for the developed world. According to PISA data, private schools did not add much value; private-school students did better than public schooled students on the PISA, but not better than would have been expected if they'd been in public school, given their socioeconomic status.
As for preschool education and younger, Ripley found that giving your kids alphabet blocks while young did nothing for them. Reading to them daily, gave them a year of extra education in their young lives. I also found amazing her stats on parent involvement in U.S. schools. My time in the school, makes little to no difference for my child's education. I can help other kids at the school or help with Parent Teacher Committees (PTC), but my kids will not thrive because of my investment in their school. My kids will thrive in school and in life based on what I give them from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. each day. Did they learn their multiplication tables and math tricks, did I read to them, did we learn together? Did I make sure their homework got done and can they can articulate what they learned?
Ripley's words are convicting as she wraps the results up...We had the schools we wanted in a way. Parents did not tend to show up at schools demanding that their kids be assigned more challenging reading or that their kindergarteners learn math while they still loved numbers. They did show up to complain about bad grades, however. And they came in droves, with video cameras and lawn chairs and full hearts, to watch their children play sports.
That mindset had worked alright for most American kids, historically speaking. Most hadn't needed a very rigorous education, and they hadn't gotten it. Wealth had made rigor optional in America. But everything had changed. In 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. They need a culture of rigor.
There were different ways to get rigor, and not all of them were good. In Korea, the hamster wheel created as many problems as it solved. Joyless learning led to mostly good test scores, not to a resilient population. (High suicide rate in adults.) Still, kids in hamster wheel countries knew what it felt like to grapple with complex ideas and think outside their comfort zone; they understood the value of persistence. They knew what it felt like to fail, work harder, and do better. They were prepared for the modern world.
In the moon bounce (the U.S.), kids (are) were being misled. Too much of the time, they were being fed a soft diet of pabulum by middling professionals. If they failed, there were few obvious consequences. Only later, after high school, would they discover they had been tricked. The real world does not always give second and third chances; the real world doesn't give credit for just showing up.
Education is sorely needing a boost in
our nation and "We the People" must engage if we want a
quality education for our children and a future for our nation. Are we teaching our kids to be driven to succeed or driven to learn? Is there a difference? I believe so. If we are driven to simply succeed, what do we do when we fail? Do we give up, and call it a day? I think that is a huge danger. If however, we are driven to learn, we keep on learning because learning is for life and life is for learning, and the time to learn becomes NOW.
While this book is not about the Common Core, it is coming and there is much disagreement about it. But, everyone should be able to agree that our children need higher standards in the American education system. There are those who would question my Christianity, faith, and attitudes about democracy for the comments I'm making on the Common Core. Don't be mistaken, I'm not
thrilled with the Common Core, but I don't think it's going away, and I
do think higher standards are appropriate for our students. There are radical differences in how our states are educating our kids. We've been in amazing school districts and ones with far fewer resources for our children. It's painful to see the discrepancy and know what is possible if collectively people are willing to risk change. As they say, "no pain, no gain." However, our kids will only rise to the challenge of the Common Core if they know we believe they are up to the challenge. We need hard enough schooling environments in which our kids have to deal with failure. Not everyone can afford the luxury of home schooling or private school. We must serve our children with an education, all of them, and we need to give them enough rigor
while young to make them more resilient.
As for disagreements about how the Common Core is administered and what is taught, you can still stand up and say, "No, my child won't read that book, or that material is not okay for our family." If we don't teach our children how to take a stand at school to follow their convictions, when will they learn? We cannot control and shelter them all through their schooling years, release them to college, and somehow expect them to be the one who raises their hand in college to disagree with their professor, or a cocky graduate student. Yes, a few of those students exist, but they are few and far between. For most of us, the opportunity to engage while we are young, to practice over and over, is what creates a young adult who is willing to take a stand for morality. In our home, we talk a lot about thinking about what it is we think about it. We have to practice this over and over and make it a practice in our lives. I pray that the goal at our house is to engage others in exploring and recognizing moral truths without losing our own compass. I firmly believe, we will never win by the sword, we will win by love, and carrying the true light of truth into the world. As for the truth? God's Word can stand on its' own, I am simply the bearer of the light. I do not create the light. That requires some humility.
No matter how you and I educate our children, we need to work education out as a community and continue to invest in all the children around us. It is indeed a fine balance, doing what is best for my child(ren) vs. staying where you may be discouraged by what the future looks like. But, as I shared with the Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oregon Rob Saxton, "We will either grasp a vision and grow, or
fail to catch a vision and collectively groan." Vision requires intent, preparation, planning, and implementation. Vision requires action. Action comes with a cost, and it's uncomfortable. Change is rarely, if ever comfortable, but our kids need more and we will either give it to them and help them thrive, or we will fail to step up to the challenges before us. If we fail, the American dream, amazingly enough, rooted in grit, determination, and perseverance, will be uprooted from our land. I don't want to move to Finland to find the American dream. Do you?
Interesting Links:
And so, may the new year dawning be a year of His presence and peace. May His indwelling Spirit abide within us, and may we learn to recognize His presence - which is indeed all around us. May I be what He has created me to be, and thus content in Him. May I bring my offering, as meager as it may be, and lay it at His feet. For if the rocks can praise Him, certainly so can I.
