on high school exchange programs or leave the u.s., and so through groups like asf, rotary clubs, youth for understanding that set up the programs, i was able to find students on their way, getting ready to go to countries i was most interested in, finland, the utopia model of education, carerra, the pressure cooker model, and poland, a country in transformation, and, you know, i started out, honestly, they would make the book interesting, desperate for characters; right? as i often, unfortunately, do, i totally underestimated how insightful the kids would be. like, once you actually sit down and talk with kids, you think you know what they will say, and they don't say what you think they are going to say, and they had -- they had these incredible insights into what they were seeing. the cool thing was not just in their schools, but in the homes, the bus, you know, in a pizza restaurant. you know, they don't make these silos that we do as adults. i ended up, you know, spending a lot of time communicating with them over skype and e-mail and other things, and then visiting each of them in

and so through groups like asf and the rotary clubs and youth for understanding set of those programs i was able to find students who are on the way, getting ready to go to countries i was most interested in, the finland, the utopia model of education. to korea which is like a pressure cooker model, and poland which is a metamorphosis, a country and transformation. i started out honestly, i thought they would make the book more interesting. i was desperate for characters. as i often, unfortunately, due, i totally underestimated how insightful these kids would be. once you sit down and talk with kids you think you know what they're going to say, or don't say what you think they will say. they had these incredible insights into what they were seeing. not just -- notches in the schools but in their homes, on the bus, in a pizza restaurant. like they don't make these silos that we do as adults. i ended up, you know, spending a lot of time communicating with them over skype and e-mail and other things, and then visiting each of them in their countries, and then visiting their homes back in