Author: Amanda Ripley
Genre: Education, Parenting, Teaching
Rating: 5/5
Verdict: Loved this book. A lot of key takeaways for both parents and teachers.
If you've read my previous posts on other books, you already know I am a big fan of the word "grit" and I generally like reading about education, what parents can do to help their kids succeed and how to raise resilient kids. In that hope, I started reading this book after just a google search on "books on how to raise resilient kids" and this was the first one that showed up.
This book covers topics that are very close to my heart - education, parenting, teaching and school systems. Amanda Ripley follows three students from America who travel to the education superpowers of the world - Poland, Finland and Korea as foreign exchange students. This book has so much depth and details and I love the way Amanda writes it full honesty on what is wrong with the US school system and the book is full of actionable items on what the country can do to match up or surpass the other superpowers in education and school systems. Personally for me, It was quite eye opening and reassuring to read about what Amanda considers as a good educational system and what parenting when done right looks like. As a mother, I constantly doubt myself if I am indeed doing the right things to raise resilient, strong and persevering kids and this gave me a sense of calm that I am on the right track, especially the parts about parental involvement and reading. It even made me slightly nostalgic fondly recalling my reading days with my daughter. I read to her very heavily right from when she was 6 months old!
Being through the Indian school system, I know what rigor and high expectations are like and how almost all parents keep that in mind as a baseline. Education was far more important that anything else. Korean system sounded a lot like the Indian system but the rigor is unmatched. Finnish systems had a great mix, I felt. It was quite interesting to read about how Poland brought about a massively successful change in their teacher selection program and how as a country became an education superpower. Although initially after reading the first few chapters, just when I was starting to think that this was yet another lament on the things that are wrong, it started getting interesting both as a parent and from a teacher/administration point of view.
As a parent, these are my key take-aways from the book:
* Rigor and drive is the number one important piece in education. As a parent, you can and should enforce it at home. Cultivating them early on during kids lives will help them become successful.
* Let children fail and learn from it when they are children. Don't overprotect them by shielding them from failures.
* We need to set high expectations for kids and stop assuming about their limitations and that they can't do something.
* Reward results, not efforts and don't make it too easy for them. Don't praise them for just trying and limit the amount of praises you heap.
* Parental involvement in kids's school and activities is important but how/in what ways is the key question. There is a huge difference between a parent-coach and a parent-cheerleader. Be your kids' coach rather than a friend.
* Read to your kids regularly and parents should read for pleasure as well. It turns out that simply reading to your kids has a big impact on their test scores a decade later!
* Don't spend too much on technology for learning both in school and at home - A plain old whiteboard and pen and paper will do the magic. You don't need fancy clickers, projectors, laptops or any fancy gadgets for teaching and learning.
Overall, this was a fascinating read for me and I am very passionate about the subjects of parenting and education. This book resonated really well with me and my parenting style. Even if you as a parent are not interested in learning about the school systems of different countries, the last chapter which talks about specific actionable items for parents to ask any school they are looking into for their kids is illuminating and I am pretty sure I will keep that in mind for my own kids.
