Peering Over the Precipice of Reform
Politics & Prose - Politics & Prose Bookstore
The United States is lagging behind the developed world in an integral category: education. Why is it that students in Finland and Poland, working on traditional blackboards and living in less affluent communities, are bypassing American students in math, reading comprehension and the sciences? The question of education reform has dogged policymakers since the turn of the millennium, yet answers remain sorely lacking.

Amanda Ripley's engaging, informative and unique talk achieves a great amount in seeking to understand this problem. By re-framing the question--asking what are other nations' doing right, rather than what we are doing wrong--Ripley begins cracking the code of American educational failures.

Her report, which follows three American high school students abroad, compares American emphasis on self-esteem and sports with characteristics such as hard work, resilience, and embracing failure early and often. This is a must-see discussion for all parents preparing to send their kids back to school this fall.