Read The Smartest Kids in the World Online

Authors: Amanda Ripley

The Smartest Kids in the World (32 page)

Praise is not all bad, to state the obvious. Indeed, the results show a complex relationship between praise and results: Students from lower-achieving countries were much more likely than students from high-achieving countries to say that U.S. teachers gave more praise. Of international students, 38 percent of those from high-achieving countries said their U.S. teachers praised students more often; by comparison, 62 percent of students from lower-achieving countries said so. Praise might not lead to learning, but the absence of praise does not necessarily do much good either.

In fact, some of the students in this survey explicitly celebrated the positive classroom culture of their American classrooms in their responses to the open-ended questions. As one Italian exchange student to the U.S. put it: “[U.S.] teachers believe in you, in your potential, and never put you down.”

One French student contrasted the two experiences this way:
“In France, the teachers put way more pressure on the students—for homework, grades. In the United States, the teachers usually congratulate students [on] their work.”

That said, praise is a risky currency. To work, praise must be specific, sincere, accurate—and used in moderation. These results suggest that the praise commonly deployed in U.S. classrooms may not meet those requirements.
Excessive, vague, or empty praise has corrosive effects, as multiple studies have shown, incentivizing kids to take fewer risks and give up more easily. Self-esteem is important, but it comes from hard work and authentic accomplishment, not flattery.

Mixed or Inconclusive Results

The results of U.S. and international student responses to four questions were mixed or inconclusive. These focused on:

Importance of doing well in school.
Most international students said that students in the United States and abroad placed a similar importance on doing well in school, while most U.S. students said their peers placed
less
importance on doing well in school. The only point of clear agreement was that U.S. students did
not
care “much more” about doing well in school. Just 4 percent of international students and 3 percent of U.S. students chose this response. It is not immediately clear why U.S. and international students did not agree on this question, though it is possible that students had difficulty assessing how much other students cared about school in a cross-cultural context.

Challenge of classwork in math class.
U.S. student responses were mixed on this question, but international students showed a clearer preference for one answer over the others. Specifically, 58 percent of international students said that their math classes abroad were more challenging than in the United States.

Tendency of math class to “stay busy and not waste time.
” Both U.S. and international students were mixed on this question. For
both groups, about one-third said they stayed busy in math class in the U.S., one-third chose “abroad,” and one-third reported that their experience of busy classrooms was about equal in the U.S. and abroad.

Tendency of math teachers to “accept nothing less than our full effort.
” As in the case immediately above, U.S. and international students showed no strong preference for any of the answer choices. It seems likely that the question was unclear since a significant number of respondents in both groups chose “Not sure.” In all, 18 percent of international students and 12 percent of U.S. students chose “Not sure.”

Survey

At the start of the survey, participants were tracked into two separate groups—U.S. students and international students—following the question: “What was your host country?” That way, the questions could be phrased more clearly for each group, a critical concern for non-native English speakers.

Questions asked of international students appear below in Roman typeface; questions asked of U.S. students appear below in
italic.
Where no italic text appears, the question’s wording was not changed.

Additionally, students were asked whether they took a math course during their exchange. Students who answered “yes” were directed to the next page of questions to compare their math classes at home and abroad; students who answered “no” were automatically directed to the final page of questions regarding their overall educational experience.

WELCOME

Thank you for your help with this survey!

The following 12 questions should take about 5 minutes to complete. Please answer as many questions as you can. If you don’t know an answer, choose “Not Sure.” Choose “Previous Page” to go back.

The purpose of this survey is to learn from your educational experiences in your home and host countries. The results will appear in a book on international education by Amanda Ripley, a
Time
magazine contributing writer and a fellow at the New America Foundation, a non-partisan policy research organization in the U.S.

Clicking on the “Next” button confirms that you agree to participate in this survey, and you authorize AFS and Amanda Ripley to collect and process the answers. The results of this survey will be completely anonymous, and AFS will not disclose your e-mail or name to any third party in connection with this survey. If you wish to stop participating at any time, just click “Exit this survey” in the top right corner of your browser window.

After the study is completed, AFS will contact you to share the findings. You may also read about the results in Ms. Ripley’s book when it is published in early 2013.

Questions or technical problems? Please e-mail [email protected].

This survey will close on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 11:59 pm EDT.

You may view Survey Monkey’s privacy policy here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/policy/privacy-policy/
.

basic information

1. Did you graduate high school before leaving for your exchange program?

Yes, No

2. Did you receive academic credit for your exchange year?

Yes, No

3. What was your home country at the time of your exchange?

Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, United States, Russia, Switzerland

4. What was your host country?

student experience

1. Compared to school in your home country, how much technology (computers, laptops, digital white boards, etc.) did you see in use in your U.S. school?

Much more technology in the U.S., A little more technology in the U.S., About the same technology in both places, A little less technology in the U.S., Much less technology in the U.S., Not sure

2. Compare your classes in your school at home and in the U.S. Were classes . . .

Much easier in the U.S., A little easier in the U.S., About the same in both places, A little harder in the U.S., Much harder in the U.S., Not sure

3. Compared to parents back home, how much freedom did U.S. parents generally give their children?

Much more freedom in the U.S., A little more freedom in the U.S., About the same freedom in both places, A little less freedom in the U.S., Much less freedom in the U.S., Not sure

[Q
UESTIONS IN ITALICS WERE DIRECTED TO
U.S.
STUDENTS.
]

1. Compared to school in the U.S., how much technology (computers, laptops, digital white boards, etc.) did you see in your school abroad?

Much more technology abroad, A little more technology abroad, About the same technology in both places, A little less technology abroad, Much less technology abroad, Not sure

2. Compare your U.S. classes to your classes abroad. Were classes . . .

Much easier abroad, A little easier abroad, About the same in both places, A little harder abroad, Much harder abroad, Not sure

3. Compared to parents in the U.S., how much freedom did parents abroad generally give their children?

Much more freedom abroad, A little more freedom abroad, About the same freedom in both places, A little less freedom abroad, Much less freedom abroad, Not sure

student experience (continued)

1. Compared to students in your home country, how important did your friends in the U.S. think it was to do well in SCHOOL?

Much more important in the U.S., A little more important in the U.S., About the same importance in both places, A little less important in the U.S., Much less important in the U.S., Not sure

2. Compared to students in your home country, how important did your friends in the U.S. think it was to do well in SPORTS?

Much more important in the U.S., A little more important in the U.S., About the same importance in both places, A little less important in the U.S., Much less important in the U.S., Not sure

1. Compared to students in the U.S., how important did your friends abroad think it was to do well in SCHOOL?

Much more important abroad, A little more important abroad, About the same importance in both places, A little less important abroad, Much less important abroad, Not sure

2. Compared to students in the U.S., how important did your friends abroad think it was to do well in SPORTS?

Much more important abroad, A little more important abroad, About the same importance in both places, A little less important abroad, Much less important abroad, Not sure

student experience (continued)

1. Did you take a MATH class during your exchange?

Yes, No

student experience—math class

1. Think about your U.S. math class and the last math class you took at home before the exchange. For each statement, choose which class best fits the description.

Our classwork was challenging.