Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Good grades just aren't enough anymore in the grand rat race of education.

In some East Asian countries, the competitiveness has become so all-consuming that governments are having to step in.

And there's a sense among many critics that novels these days should tackle big contemporary issues. Our culture editor considers

Sally Rooney's latest work, finding great fiction in a narrower focus on the timeless topics

of love and growing up. But first...

In El Salvador today, a world first, Bitcoin becomes legal tender.

It's a personal campaign for President Nayyib Buckele, who says the move will help both economic

development and inclusion

of the country's unbanked.

This will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy.

That will take some convincing. Both the World Bank and the IMF have warned against the move,

worrying about economic stability and the cryptocurrency's

notorious environmental costs. Many Salvadorans aren't keen either and have protested against the policy.

And when Nelson Rauda, who writes about El Salvador for the economist, went out in the capital,

San Salvador, he found plenty of people who simply weren't ready.

Store owner Carolina Zavala said she wasn't preparing for what's being called B-Day

because she doesn't understand it.

She reckons she'll eventually catch up as she did 20 years ago

when the country made the U.S. dollar

...