Ripley spoke with Urszula Spalka, the principal of Tom's school, while he was studying in Poland. When she brought up the reforms which improved Poland's test scores to Spalka, "her expression soured," Ripley wrote. "'We're not too excited about the reforms,' she said drily. 'Schools don't like radical changes. And these were radical changes.'... Everywhere I went, in every country, people complained about their education system. It was a universal truth and a strangely reassuring one. No one was content, and rightly so. Educating all kids to high levels was hard, and every country – every one – still had work to do."
Kacper Pempel/Reuters
