The first exchange student, Kim, grew up in the town of Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Despite the state’s concerted efforts to improve its education quality, Oklahoma remained behind, with staggering numbers of students failing to graduate high school in the typical four-year time span. The state made several attempts to create a diploma exam, but it was abandoned each time for fear of humiliation or repercussions from parents. Ripley found that principals and educators consistently made excuses, refusing to accept responsibility for their students’ poor performance.

Kim did well in school from an early age and was noticed by the Duke University 7th Grade Talent Search, which invited her to take a mock-SAT exam in Oklahoma City. Though skeptical of taking the test at first, Kim earned a high score and was invited to a special dinner to celebrate. A year later, Kim confessed to her sister that her initial reluctance stemmed from wanting to see the world and be around like-minded, equally curious people, which she didn’t think colleges in the United States could provide. She then began researching countries outside the United States in which she might study.

When Kim came across Finland, she discovered that it was home to the “smartest kids in the world” and decided that it was the place for her (39). Her mother said that she could go on the condition that she justified her reasons and raised the $10,000 herself. Kim got to work, selling her flute on eBay, hosting bake sales, and asking for donations online. Kim also lucked out with a scholarship and some help from her grandparents, and after a successful interview, she was accepted for the exchange. She was invited to stay with a single mother of twin girls who lived in a small town on Finland’s west coast called Pietarsaari.

The second exchange student, Eric, is from Minnetonka, Minnesota, where he attended a high-performing high school in one of the best performing states in the United States. He worked through the International Baccalaureate program and finally decided to study abroad. At 18, he took a year off to study in Busan, South Korea, eager to discover what the country had to offer. 

Eric was greeted warmly by his host family, made up of a mother, father, and son, and after a few days getting settled, he went to visit his new school, Namsan. Eric was placed two grades lower than his age group because senior high school students would be consumed by their graduation exam, which would determine the course of their futures. Students who score in the top percentiles went on to the best universities and were practically guaranteed a successful and privileged life. Eric found this fixation on education to be alarming and unsettling, but he was happily surprised by the warmth and friendliness of the Korean people. Eric had many new experiences, including exploring a new language and cuisine, and was surprised to find that Korean classrooms did not have the same technological advancements as his own back home. He noticed that break times were short and well used by the students, and he discovered that Korean students typically went to school for eight hours, followed by test prep and then tutoring at places called hagwons, which usually ended at around 11 o’clock at night. When Ripley met up with Eric in South Korea, he expressed all of this to her.

Ripley met the country’s minister of education, science, and technology, Lee Ju-Ho, who told her about South Korea’s history of illiteracy and poverty and how education became the means for families to elevate themselves through the generations. Ripley calls this the “Iron Child competition” because children are responsible for more than just themselves and rely mainly on rigor to succeed (58). Still, this fixation on education leads to a competitive atmosphere in which people are more concerned with top scores than the merits of learning. Additionally, mental health is a major concern, and one stark example of this occurred when a student named Ji killed his mother before a parent-teacher meeting. He cited the reason as fear of her finding out his test scores. Lee attempted to shift the country toward a more holistic approach to education, similar to the United States’ system, and saw minor success as spending on tutoring dropped across the country.

The third exchange student, Tom, was almost 18 when he set off for Wrocław, Poland, from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Tom grew up with a fascination of World War II and cultures that reminded him of the characters and places in his favorite books. Tom chose Poland for this reason, thinking that it would be romantic and that he would meet likeminded people. 

This wasn’t the case when he arrived. Tom was called on during his very first day of school in math class to solve a problem on the board, but he couldn’t manage to do so and had to sit down without finishing. The experience was a testament to the level of math that Tom experienced in the United States compared to the Polish students’ experience. He noticed that they didn’t use calculators, instead doing their work in their head or by hand.

Math is taught differently in countries with the highest scores, largely because it is not overly repetitive and is woven into other subjects in a way that makes it practical, applicable, and interesting. In the United States, math is particularly prone to the inconsistencies caused by different standards across states and local districts, which means that students may be learning the same concepts year after year. Introducing the Common Core system to establish statewide standards in math and English language arts intended to alleviate this issue, but it has received backlash as a one-size-fits all system that offers teachers little flexibility.

Ripley notes that Eric was the only one of the three students who enjoyed math, which she believes is because he came from Minnesota. Minnesota has high scores and generalized standards across the state, which means that it doesn’t struggle with math like other states. Ripley insists that math is not just numerical problem-solving; it is a “language of logic” that gives kids the intellectual skills needed in virtually every job and aspect of life (70). The greater emphasis on reading and writing instead of math in the United States is one of the major reasons why overall scores are lacking, she argues.