The Smartest Kids In The World

The author follows three American kids who each spend a year studying in top-rated countries for education: Finland, South Korea and Poland. Their stories reveal truths about keys to educational success and how they might be replicated in the United States.

For most of my career at Time and other magazines, I worked hard to avoid education stories. If my editors asked me to write about schools or tests, I countered with an idea about terrorism, plane crashes, or a pandemic flu. That usually worked.

I didn't say so out loud, but education stories seemed, well, kind of soft. The articles tended to be headlined in chalkboard font and festooned with pencil doodles. They were brimming with good intentions but not much evidence. The people quoted were mostly adults; the kids just turned up in the photos, smiling and silent.