Around the Institute

Getting Involved in Your Child’s Education: How American Parents Compare

August 19, 2015

Above, watch author and journalist Amanda Ripley in an Aspen Ideas: Offstage interview. 

The US may be the top economic world power, but when it comes to education many countries rank much higher on the list. How can we raise and educate our children to be the smartest in the world? 

“We know that what parents do matters a lot,” said author and journalist Amanda Ripley. “American parents are actually very involved in their kids’ education compared to parents around the world. But they are involved differently. And the ways that they tend to be involved… tend to not have much to do with learning.” Ripley, author of “The Smartest Kids in the World — And How They Got That Way,” explains how high-performing students abroad are taught and supported in and out of the classroom.