According to author and Time Magazine journalist Amanda Ripley, kids in the world’s few educational superpowers are learning to make complex arguments and solve difficult problems, skills that will help them thrive in a modern world. What are those kids, their schools and their parents doing differently? That’s what Ripley set out to answer in The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got that Way.
One interesting finding of Ripley’s is that while parental involvement is important, what parents do at home with their kids is more important than what parents do at school for their kids. Attending every game or school play, running the PTA, or fundraising for the school does not have as much positive effect asd oes reading to kids (when they’re young) and having mature conversations with them about their day, current events, and social issues as they get older.
I’m not about to tell a parent who’s never missed a softball game or a school play that he or she is somehow doing something wrong. But I’m mentioning the book here for parents who may be interested in the research and the findings.