Novelist Mark Helprin on Learning, Curiosity, and Revitalizing Education

‘Do it the hard way.’ Mark Helprin explains how to fix education—at home and in schools.

Novelist Mark Helprin emphasizes the importance of fostering curiosity in children. Biba Kayewich

Mark Helprin once got fired from tutoring a high school girl because she lit a cigarette at the kitchen table and refused to put it out. When he insisted, her mother stormed in and showed him the door.

It’s a story he tells to illustrate why so many schools fail today.