Self-Motivation
David Goggins
Former Navy Seal
Career Development
Bryan Cranston
Actor
Critical Thinking
Liv Boeree
International Poker Champion
Emotional Intelligence
Amaryllis Fox
Former CIA Clandestine Operative
Management
Chris Hadfield
Retired Canadian Astronaut & Author
Learn
from the world's big
thinkers
Start Learningfrom the world's big
thinkers
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter
Andy Warhol had his Campbell's Soup Cans and Roy Lichtenstein had his comic book panels, but what will be the Pop art meme of today? One possible candidate is the ubiquitous QR code, the “quick response” code of black and white symbols once reserved for industrial purposes but now found in advertising and packaging seemingly everywhere (probably unnecessary example shown above). As reported by An Xiao on Hyperallergic.com, QR code art has made its way into the galleries—the first step towards making its way into the marketplace and, perhaps someday, the museums. Is this two-dimensional barcode the future symbol of our era?
The Hyperallergic.com post points to Kyle Trowbridge’s exhibition at Dorsch Gallery in Miami, Florida, perhaps another piece of evidence that Miami could be the next art mecca. An Xiao rightfully points out that many of Trowbridge’s multicolored takes on the QR code resemble Mondrian rechanneled for the 21st century. Trowbridge’s qr.2422312.png in particular comes across as Broadway Boogie-Woogie at rush hour. The author also links to a separate post featuring a QR_Stenciler that allows you to turn a standard QR code into a PDF you can then change before cutting it as a stencil. How long before Banksy (and/or faux Banksies) gets a hold of this idea?
An Xiao also links to an exhibition late last year in which Ray Sweeten and Lisa Gwilliam (known collectively as DataSpaceTime) presented at Microscope Gallery in Brooklyn a series of portraits composed entirely of colored QR codes that lead to YouTube videos. Their image gallery (available here) features international figures Julian Assange, Muammar Qaddafi, and Hosni Mubarak as well as American politicians Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney. While Trowbridge brought Mondrian’s abstract paintings to mind, DataSpaceTime brings Chuck Close’s massive portraits made up of tiny abstract panels to mind. Close himself has suggested that the inspiration for (and driving need to make) those portraits is his prosopagnosia or “face blindness,” in which he is unable to remember and recognize faces unless the face is heavily reinforced in his memory. By making close to Close portraits from quick recognition codes, DataSpaceTime may have unintentionally hit on the original impetus behind the idea.
Warhol claimed that his picked Campbell’s Soup Cans because he had soup for lunch every day. Similarly, Lichtenstein grew up with comics like every other American youth of his time. As T.S. Eliot’s Prufrock measured out his life in “coffee spoons,” perhaps we’ll measure out our lives in QR codes—reducing every scrap of meaning to a shorthand set of symbols we’re dependant on technology to decipher. QR codes probably don’t belong on billboards, but they may end up being the artistic sign of our times.
Popular
Scientists achieve teleportation breakthrough
Japanese researchers carry out quantum teleportation within a diamond.
30 June, 2019
Getty Images
Surprising Science
- Scientists figure out how to teleport information within a diamond.
- The study took advantage of defects in the diamond's structure.
- The achievement has implications for quantum computing.
<p><br></p></div>
<p>Scientists from the <a href="https://www.ynu.ac.jp/english/" target="_blank">Yokohama National University</a> in Japan achieved the feat of teleporting quantum information within a diamond. Their study is an important step in the field of quantum information technology.</p><p><strong>Hideo Kosaka, </strong>a professor of engineering at Yokohama National University, led the study. He explained that the goal was to get data where it doesn't normally go </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Quantum teleportation permits the transfer of quantum information into an otherwise inaccessible space," <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/ynu-rti062519.php" target="_blank">shared Kosaka.</a> "It also permits the transfer of information into a quantum memory without revealing or destroying the stored quantum information."</p>
<p>The "inaccessible space" explored in the study was the lattice of carbon atoms in a diamond. The strength of the structure stems from the diamond's organization that has six protons and six neutrons in the nucleus, with six spinning electrons around it. As they bond to the diamond, the atoms form a super-strong lattice.</p><p>For their experiments, Kosaka and his team focused on defects that sometimes arise in diamonds, when a nitrogen atom appears in vacancies that would ordinarily house carbon atoms.</p><p>Kosaka's team manipulated an electron and a carbon isotope in such a vacancy by running a microwave and a radio wave into the diamond via a very thin wire – one fourth the width of a human hair. The wire was attached to the diamond, creating an oscillating magnetic field.</p><p>The scientists controlled the microwaves sent to the diamond to transfer information within it. In particular, they employed a nitrogen nano magnet to transfer the polarization state of a photon to a carbon atom, effectively achieving teleportation.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTYzMjc3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNTk4NTc5Mn0.g7aWWa2QA5TgTQo2c4CYUzKL80ZG0NErwgAKYKYsVvY/img.jpg?width=980" id="2159c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b90f58ec14b826ea0f73d1bae061091c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The diamond's lattice structure features a nitrogen-vacancy center with surrounding carbons. In this image, the carbon isotope (green) is initially entangled with an electron (blue) in the vacancy. It then waits for a photon (red) to be absorbed. This results in quantum teleportation-based state transfer of the photon into the carbon memory.
Credit: Yokohama National University
<p>"The success of the photon storage in the other node establishes the <strong>entanglement</strong> between two adjacent nodes," <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/ynu-rti062519.php" target="_blank">Kosaka said, </a>adding that their "ultimate goal" was to figure out how to make use of such processes "for large-scale quantum computation and metrology."<br></p><p>The accomplishment could prove vital in the quest for new ways to store and share sensitive information, with <a href="https://www.livescience.com/56655-diamonds-could-store-huge-amounts-of-data.html" target="_blank">previous studies </a>showing diamonds could house giant amounts of encrypted data.</p><p>Kosaka's team also included Kazuya Tsurumoto, Ryota Kuroiwa, Hiroki Kano, and Yuhei Sekiguchi.</p><p>You can find their study published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s42005-019-0158-0" target="_blank"><em>Communications Physics.</em></a></p>
Keep reading
Show less
Venture investors need to invest in Black-owned businesses
Less than 1% of all venture capital funding in the US is given to Black entrepreneurs. Now is the time for that to change.
08 September, 2020
The goal: 13% of venture capital invested in Black-owned businesses.
Credit: Big Think
Politics & Current Affairs
- Abner Mason, CEO and founder of health care startup ConsejoSano, is calling for all venture capital firms in the United States to pledge to invest 13% of their funds in African American businesses.
- Currently, Black entrepreneurs receive less than 1% of all venture capital funding.
- The 13% target reflects the percentage of Black Americans and is a nod to the 13th Amendment.
<p>The murder of George Floyd has brought America to a much-needed reckoning on the racism in American society. Young people are marching, white people are reading, and churches are preaching about ways we as people can transform the way we treat Black people. Notably, many business leaders are pledging to end racism. But once the marching ends what will be different in America?</p><p>As a Black business leader, this newfound desire to address America's original sin is a breath of fresh air in the midst of this pandemic. But I wonder how long this new zeal to change will last and, more importantly, what practical steps and sacrifices will be made to make the promise to end racism real.</p><p>Here is one practical solution that all investors can take to make their promise real. I'm calling on all venture capital firms in the United States to pledge now to invest 13% of their funds in African American businesses. I suggest 13 as a target to both reflect the percentage of Black Americans and a nod to the 13th Amendment. I'm reaching out to friends in the social impact space to help me set up the organization that will monitor this.</p>
<blockquote>Here is one practical solution that all investors can take to make their promise real. I'm calling on all venture capital firms in the United States to pledge now to invest 13% of their funds in African American businesses. </blockquote>
<p>My life reflects both America at its best in terms of ending racism and at its worst.<br></p><p>As an African American CEO of the health care startup <a href="https://consejosano.com/" target="_blank">ConsejoSano</a>, I've focused on using technology to connect low-income and multi-cultural people to care in our health care system where their needs are often overlooked. Also, I've lived a blessed life. I grew up in an integrated public school in North Carolina where my parents and church taught me never to judge a book by its cover. They taught me that not all white people were motivated by racism and to seek out white allies in my life path.</p><p>This advice paid off. I found my way out of NC to a prep school in New England where I was one of seven Black students out of three hundred. I then made my way to Harvard College where Black students were less than five percent of my freshman class of thousands. I faced a choice that most young Black men of my generation made: Will I define myself solely by my race or pretty much ignore my race, ignoring racists, and look for allies? I chose the allies path. </p><p>After a short stint in the management consulting field, I found myself working in state government in the MA Department of Transportation where I learned a powerful truth about life—good intentions are not enough. No one cared that we had good intentions to get buses to passengers, we had to get the buses out to waiting passengers. Visible results, not intentions mattered. This lesson speaks to me today when I consider America's response to racism.</p><p>I went on to advise three governors and launched a nonprofit to address the AIDS crisis in Africa, helping to created what later would be called the PEPFAR program. What I learned through this entire career path was that I could pretty much sense and ignore racists and seek good white people at every level. These were my survival techniques.</p>
<p>This strategy hit a wall when I entered the venture capital arena launching a health tech company where I was asking wealthy white men to invest in the leadership of a Black man. In the more than 40 pitches I made to create our Series A, I encountered 99% white male investors who were blunt saying they were not investing in my product or projections; they would be investing in me. I could no longer follow my life strategy of ignoring investors with racist views. I was pitching the 1% of the 1% who lived lifestyles and had social worlds completely different from my own. We both could sense the cultural and lifestyle disconnect. Following my pitches I heard comments such as, 'I'm not comfortable with you being in charge,' or 'I'd imagine you being good at sales,' or 'Let's keep you as Chief Evangelist or something like that.'</p><p>What became clear to me was that uber-wealthy white men could imagine a Black leader as a minister not as a CEO. In my conversations with other Black startup leaders, I realized I was not alone. Then I looked at the data which confirmed my experience. I found <a href="https://hbr.org/2020/06/a-vcs-guide-to-investing-in-black-founders" target="_blank">only 1%</a> of venture capital-funded startup founders are Black. Ultimately, I did find investors who believed in me and my product and I was successful in gaining my Series A through white male investors who cared.</p><p>Today, I'm no longer a young Black man navigating the corridors of white power, but even as a successful entrepreneur I'm still facing the greatest degree of discrimination I've ever encountered in my life. Corporations posting 'Black Lives Matter' is nice, but as I learned in my job in transportation, the young Black entrepreneurs can no longer praise good intentions. They need results.</p><p>If America is serious about the desire to end racism, Black Americans are going to have to follow the lead of Langston Hughes who famously said, "I will not take 'but' for an answer."</p>
Keep reading
Show less
Equity made Estonia an educational front runner
Estonia has combined a belief in learning with equal-access technology to create one of world's best education systems.
08 September, 2020
Politics & Current Affairs
Estonia became a top performer in
the most recent PISA, a worldwide study of 15-year-old students' capabilities
in math, reading, and science. PISA data showed that Estonia has
done remarkably well in reducing the gap between a student's socioeconomic background
and their access to quality education. The country's push toward providing
equal-access to learning technology is a modern example of the culture's
dedication to equity in education.
<ul class="ee-ul"></ul>
<p>As I performed my interviews for this article, one fact was made abundantly clear: Estonians aren't ones to engage in lavish praise and pat-on-the-back congratulations. A far more self-critical culture, they find comfort forgoing the small talk, getting to work, and honing in on areas to improve. But one area where Estonians will simply have to grit and bare the praise is in discussing their education system. Smaller than West Virginia and with a population of 1.3 million, this Baltic state has developed one of the world's best education systems as assessed by <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results.</a></p><p>PISA is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) triennial study that measures the reading, mathematics, and science abilities of 15-year-olds across the world. Talks of PISA tend to focus on educational powerhouses such as <a href="https://bigthink.com/mike-colagrossi/no-standardized-tests-no-private-schools-no-stress-10-reasons-why-finlands-education-system-in-the-best-in-the-world" target="_self">Finland</a>, Singapore, and Korea, but those looking closely have been noticing Estonia's ascent throughout the years. It began in 2006, and despite a small dip in 2009, the country's scores continued upward in 2012 and 2015. </p><p>By 2018, <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/pisa-2018-results.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the most recent PISA study</a>, Estonia became Europe's number one performing country and one of the best in the world. Its students placed 5<sup>th</sup> in reading, 8<sup>th</sup> in math, and 4<sup>th</sup> in science, with mean scores in each well above the mean. The only education departments to outperform Estonia's were Singapore and a few of China's distinct economic areas, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Macau.</p><p>Such a cohort may make the reason for such scores obvious. Like Singapore and Shanghai, Estonia is both small and relatively affluent; such education departments simply spread out their resources across fewer students. But PISA's data doesn't support this reasoning. While socioeconomic background is an important predictor of academic success, it doesn't play out that more money equals better education. In fact, according to PISA data, Estonia's per student expenditure was 30 percent lower than the OECD average. Conversely, the United States handily outspends many other countries but receives middling PISA scores for its investment.</p><p>Then what explains Estonia's ascent? Obviously, that's an answer that requires untangling a myriad of cultural, social, and historical factors that interconnect in ways difficult to untangle. But one factor stands out. A cultural mindset centered on only on excellence in education but the drive to give students equal access to that education. </p>
Estonia's cultural heirloom
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzc0Mzk5My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDMyNjU2OH0.rTLLp1sU-VH33gVkZD33Yn-td9wsEOE3Dm0gjoecly0/img.jpg?width=1068&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0&height=559" id="96dbe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2a10956a524467f160f83ddaee4901c5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />A chart showing student performance scores in reading for the 2018 PISA study.
<p>The belief in education's value is ingrained within Estonian culture. As Mailis Reps, the Estonian Minister of Education and Research, told me in an interview, it's an ethos handed down generation to generation, like a cultural heirloom.</p><p>"Many generations have had to start from zero all over again. Let it be the war, the regimes, economic reforms, people being deported, people losing their families, or changes to the system," Reps said. "So, education was something that was always given, generation to generation. There's a very strong cultural belief that education is the only thing you cannot take away from a person."</p><p>Because education is <a href="https://humanrights.ee/en/topics-main/inimoigused-eestis/inimoiguste-aruanne/human-rights-estonia-2014-2015/right-to-education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a constitutional right</a>, Reps informed me, state and local governments ensure that primary education is available to everyone. Lunches, textbooks, transportation, and study materials are provided gratis, with extracurricular activities subsidized so fees remain low. Local municipalities also subsidize pre-primary education. They maintain a social allowance so fees are tied on a parent's financial situation. Parents enduring economic hardships or temporary setbacks can send their little ones to preschool free of charge, while more financial stable families pay a small fee. And even that fee remains small—Reps says it is no more than €91 (about $107).</p><p>Under such a comprehensive system, many children start their education careers young, as early as 15-months-old. Because pre-primary isn't compulsory, parents have more latitude over how their children attend school: half days, a few days a week, etc. By kindergarten, Estonia has a 91 percent attendance rate. Primary attendance is close to universal.</p><p>That system may sound expensive, and like any education system, it takes its share of GDP. But as mentioned, it's not simply a matter of dollars spent. According to <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the National Center for Education Statistics</a>, in 2016 the United States spent $13,600 per full-time-equivalent student in elementary and secondary education. The OECD average that same year was $9,800. Estonia spent $7,400.</p><p>"In many countries, the school's socioeconomic context influences the kind of education children are acquiring, and the quality of schooling can shape the socioeconomic contexts of schools," Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, writes in <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/PISA%202018%20Insights%20and%20Interpretations%20FINAL%20PDF.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">his assessment of PISA 2018's data.</a> "The result is that in most countries, differences in education outcomes related to social inequalities are stubbornly persistent, and too much talent remains latent."</p><p>But despite relatively modest spending, that's less true in Estonia. According Schleicher's assessment, 20 percent of disadvantaged boys did not attain minimum proficiency in reading in all countries except three. Estonia was one of those three. It stood as one of 14 countries in which disadvantaged students have at least a one-in-five chance of having high-achieving school makes, a ratio that corresponds to reduced social segregation. And the country joined Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom in having more than 13 percent of its disadvantaged students demonstrate academic resilience, a metric that measures proficient educational outcomes in the face of adversity.</p><p>These data point to a weak relationship between student performance and socioeconomic background, a sign that Estonia has lessened the gap between a student's personal situation and their access to quality education.</p>A Tiger Leap forward
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzc0NDAyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDM0MTA4Nn0.H5-_Jxe6JOldGX12EhCtz1lr4yArmlCaKHD5UBXwIkg/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C47%2C0%2C175&height=700" id="d7e87" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7f701fdaf8ee3fdf5f154775014aa57d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Fourth-grade students learn computer skills in elementary school.
<p>A crucial example of Estonia's dedication to equity can be seen in how it wove digital technology into the learning fabric. In the last two decades, Silicon Valley has had a commanding influence in how we approach and access education, but for many countries, the push toward always-accessible, always-on education hasn't <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/blogs/technology-and-learning/technology-driving-educational-inequality" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ameliorated many systemic inequalities</a>. </p><p><a href="https://bigthink.com/culture-religion/finland-education-system?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" target="_self">Consider the United States</a>. The U.S. finances schools through local property taxes or federal grants tied to test scores and attendance rates. This leaves schools in well-to-do districts with a lion share of funding and resources. Such lopsided endowments, as noted <a href="https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/2018-01-10-Education-Inequity.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a 2018 report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights</a>, "harm students subject to them" and are "fundamentally inconsistent with the American ideal of public education operating as a means to equalize life opportunity." An inconsistency that the Supreme Court has defended as perfectly <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1972/71-1332" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in keeping with the U.S. Constitution</a>.</p><p>This legacy inequality left many low-income neighborhoods facing another disadvantage at the turn of the century: a lack of access to technology. That reality became starkly apparent in <a href="https://bigthink.com/coronavirus/" target="_self">the COVID-19 pandemic</a>. <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/06/22/unequally-disconnected-access-to-online-learning-in-the-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Data from the U.S. Census Bureau</a> suggests that as schools closed, "1 in 10 of the poorest children in the U.S. has little or no access to technology" for learning. For children being raised in a household earning less than $25,000 a year, roughly ten percent have no access to the internet or digital learning devices.</p><p>Conversely, Estonia has made internet access available to all students. In the late '90s, after its independence from Russia, Estonia initiated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiigrih%C3%BCpe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>Tiger Leap</em></a>. The program invested heavily in building and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-22317297" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">developing infrastructure for the e-revolution</a>. The push moved many social programs online, such as taxes, voting, and health records, and schools were updated for internet access, computer labs, and the then-latest technologies. </p><p>Today, Estonia has made digital literacy a key competency required in its educational outcomes. Learning materials, such as textbooks and assessments, must be available for free in a digital format (known as the e-schoolbag). Even schools in remote areas enjoy access to high-speed internet.</p><p>That may sound concerning to parents worried that today's technology has reduced learning to the solitude of screens and mental cubicles. But the Estonian government only provides access to the tools and ensures they work. Schools and teachers have broad autonomy in determining when and how to use them. That is, after all, their expertise.</p><p>"We have never forced our teachers to use it, but we have celebrated if they do so," Reps said. "This is one of the things that I advocate a lot. Provide them the possibility, build them the infrastructure, the quality needs to be there. Because if you start downloading and it doesn't work, no young person accepts it."</p><p>Teachers of young students, for example, may forgo technological solutions in favor of more analog approaches to develop motor and social skills. Meanwhile, secondary education may lean heavier on online assessments to prepare students for a tech-focused workforce.</p><p>Unlike <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/technology/silicon-valley-kansas-schools.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Silicon Valley's push into the U.S. education system</a>—a seeming bid to capitalize as much on student's learning time as their free time—Estonia prefers a more Goldilocks strategy. As Gunda Tire, Estonia's PISA National Project Manager, told me in an interview: "If you look at PISA data about education systems that use a lot of technology, if they use it very extensively, they have lower scores. If they don't use it at all, they also have lower scores. The big challenge is to find the balance."</p><p>As we've learned during the pandemic, that's a balance that shifts with circumstance, but by distributing the tools and infrastructure broadly, Estonia has been able to keep its footing. Reps estimates that before the COVID-19 shutdowns, approximately 14 percent of schools regularly used the available digital textbooks. Most preferred the physical counterpart. </p><p>But because the digital option was available for ever school, they were able to quickly pivot to a 100-percent use rate. Additionally, years of prioritizing computer literacy development helped teachers gain competency in digital learning tools, and a civil social push identified at-need children to equip them with the devices necessary to learn remotely. As Mart Laidmets, Estonia's secretary general of the Ministry of Education and Research, said in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2ZOQbMdSm8" target="_blank">a roundtable on the subject</a>, it looked as though the country had "been preparing for such a crisis for 25 years."</p>What can we learn from Estonia's success?
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7062b1eb332bc8c8b101f53433f20be7"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rbhQ_euH7Ac?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>While Estonia may not spend as much on a dollar-to-dollar basis, the country has created immense valuable in its system by spreading the educational wealth. Part of that achievement stems from removing barriers to primary education and fostering equal-access to learning technology; however, those are simply examples of the principle of equity at work. <a href="https://ncee.org/what-we-do/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/estonia-overview/estonia-teacher-and-principal-quality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Others include well-educated teachers</a>, even at the pre-primary level; granting schools broad autonomy to adapt the national curriculum to suit local and cultural needs; and maintaining at-school support centers so students have access to mentors, psychologists, special needs teachers, and anti-bullying resources. The list goes on.</p><p>"The success of any system is sort of like a puzzle," Tire said. "You have to have many pieces and fit them in properly, or you won't see the whole picture."</p><p>Is there room for improvement? Of course! Just ask any Estonian. Tire told me that recent PISA data showed a discrepancy in the results between the country's Estonian-speaking students and its Russian-speaking ones. They are looking into the reason for that gap and how to raise scores across the board. When asked the same question, Reps pointed to improving the country's vocational-track education, the integration of practical skills into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(school)" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gymnasium</a>, and research into personalized learning.</p><p>When asked what other countries could takeaway from Estonia's example, my interviewees were more cautious. As Reps rightly points out, "Education is so culturally and historically tied. It's very difficult to copy something, and I would be careful to tell any country to copy the Estonian model." </p><p>She did offer some facets for consideration, though. She recommends that system never look at child as a problem to solve. Instead, it should look to ameliorate issues in their background or experiences. Even though education systems can be expensive, they should always be child-friendly and dedicated toward their growth. Digital technology doesn't create equality de facto; it must be accessible to all. And trust your teachers. "They are amazing human beings. They come to teach; they want to give their best; they want to help their pupils."</p><p>In my own research into Estonia's education system, its history, and its successes, I would humbly add one more: A culture that values education and </p>
Keep reading
Show less
Sex & Relationships
Can reading erotica improve your sex life?
Is indulging in erotic content good or bad for your sex life?
Scroll down to load more…
