My friend from Poland (a co-founder of one of the programs run by my nonprofit) was very pleased with his daughter's education until she was in middle school, w

My friend from Poland (a co-founder of one of the programs run by my nonprofit) was very pleased with his daughter's education until she was in middle school, when he found out that she was learning very little for a few years. He made sure his younger child, his son, had more steady supplementary education through middle school, and encouraged his daughter to challenge herself to catch up during high school. For most of us who have spouses educated in other countries who now live in the United States (I am such a person too), the most successful both-and is to set the expectations of curricula in other countries, while allowing the multifaceted extracurricular activities commonplace in the United States.