Some of you might be interested in "the smartest kids in the world" by Amanda Ripley, stupid title, not the greatest of books, but interesting premise, trying to understand the differences in success generated by education systems around the world by comparing the experiences of American exchange students in countries that do well in surveys such as PISA and coming to the conclusion that one of the biggest problems about the US system is that the one thing most schools, kids and parents focus on over academics, spend more energy on, spend ridiculous hours and money on, and all round take more seriously than academics in all respects (including the idea that ability and results matter over self esteem) is sports.
I apologize if anyone feels I should not promote criticism of the educational system of a country not my own. I can easily turn that criticism round on my home country by replacing sports with "social and political aspects and agendas". Just wanted to throw this out there for anyone interested.
Last edited by Tigerle; 10/30/14 02:30 PM.
