After reading the first 4 chapters of The Flat World and Education it left me feeling frustrated, shocked, and a bit angry. Frustrated at the decision to further my education in a field that Darling-Hammond made sound so broken, yet frustrated that I can’t imagine NOT making that decision. Shocked at the difference from state to state, let alone country to country. Angry that students seemed to be shortchanged in so many situations. I know that I am a fairly naive person. I have been pretty sheltered and am sometimes unaware of what is going on outside of my “bubble,” in this case, education in the North Idaho area. These chapters seemed to be about how behind the United States is in education compared to other countries. The U.S. sounds like it’s more focused on test scores and “drill and kill” rather than creating critical thinkers and problem solvers. As we learned from the reading not only does this make the teacher feel “boxed in,” but it seems to stifle the students, Darling-Hammond even made reference to some students dropping out because they were unable to move grades because of test scores. Dropout rates seem to be growing, graduation rates falling and some schools even posting letter grades on their front door! I couldn’t imagine what it would feel like to work, attend, or be a parent of a student at that school. I was also surprised to hear how many teachers are teaching without proper training, while schools in Scarsdale require teachers have intense schooling from top Universities! With all this in the front of my mind I try and think…”what matters in all of this?” For me, the answer is that it has opened my eyes to what is going on in other areas of the world. We can either take this information and work to make our schools a positive place for students to be and grow by using tips from other countries or we can continue to feel defeated and play a comparing game. I hope, as a profession we keep students growth, in ALL areas, our top priority.