Book Review: The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley

The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way

by Amanda Ripley was interesting to read but was a bit frustrating in its meandering exploration of student experiences from around the world and the U.S. If you’re looking to read books from the parenting angle, just read Appendix I, but otherwise, skip this. It’s interesting from more of an academic bent without offering a lot of clear, concise guidance for parents’ immediate needs.

Appendix One, “How to Spot a World-Class Education,” offers quick guidance for parents who may be looking for an educational environment like a daycare or school. You can actually read most of that here online. It’s only a few pages long, so even reading it in the bookstore or library without buying/checking it out should work if you can spare a few minutes.

Since the book focuses on following the actual experiences of several students, schools, and teachers, it wanders a bit, telling the stories rather than focusing on conveying points and supporting with evidence. Telling the stories is all well and good, but it’s easy to finish a chapter or section and wonder what the main takeaway was if you’re trying to learn how to actually make kids (your own children or students) smarter.

This is not a how-to guide but an exploration of the styles of teaching and what seems to work and not work. Some schools are wealthy and aren’t performing as well as less wealthy schools. There are discussions of whether paying a lot for tutors really works and teacher compensation strategies that seem to work.

Even as the book offers up some suggestions for how our educational system could be improved, there is a lack of much data and more reliance on individuals’ stories for support. I find that questionable for guiding policy discussion since it only presents a partial picture in many ways.

A short (❤ minute) video about the book captures some of the points from the book as well.