Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
smithsonianmag.com
Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
1–10 of 93 posts
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#2[deleted]
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#3While Finland's educators have much to be proud about, this is not a particularly difficult goal to reach. You simply need teachers who care, administrators who have students' best interests in mind, and parents who aren't trying to protect their children from any challenge or punishment.
Of course, those things are fairly rare, and it isn't that easy to create such an environment. But, as anyone who has even been in such a school knows, it isn't due to "reform" or "constantly trying to improve" in the way that parents and education policy analysts expect. It comes from fortuitous groupings of teachers, shared priorities, and people who are sane because they love their families, get enough sleep, and aren't under stress.
This is the flaw in most education reform: in a broken social environment, working harder for incremental improvement leads to more stress and worse interpersonal relationships. It's like a bad programmer who works 80 hours a week to make up for his inefficiency, and is surprised that he gets even worse. Sometimes it's better to just take a break, reset your goals, and try something else.
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#4Finnish teachers make 100% of the national average for their level of education, compared to something like 60-65% for American teachers.
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#5It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless.
I don't see how this author can fail to make any mention of the vastly different demographics in Finland as compared to the US. Certainly the US system has problems, but acting like the solutions are so easy doesn't help anyone.
Finland has one of the most even wealth distributions in the world. The education problem in the US, as far as I can tell, is mostly in the lower class. So the larger the middle class, the smaller the problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_distributi...
Am I missing something?
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#6It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. I don't see how this author can fail to make any mention of the vastly different demographics in Finland as compared to the US. Certainly the US system has problems, but acting like the solutions are so easy doesn't help anyone. Finland has one of the most even wealth distributions in the world. The education problem in the US, as far as I can tell, is…
I just happen to have watched the documentary mentioned in the article (Waiting For Superman) a couple of nights ago. It found that children from the middle class are just as effected. The issue boils down to the pervasiveness of bad teachers in the system, and an inability to get rid of those teachers and reward/promote good teachers.
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#7It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. I don't see how this author can fail to make any mention of the vastly different demographics in Finland as compared to the US. Certainly the US system has problems, but acting like the solutions are so easy doesn't help anyone. Finland has one of the most even wealth distributions in the world. The education problem in the US, as far as I can tell, is…
Finland's schools were terrible forty years ago.
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#8It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. I don't see how this author can fail to make any mention of the vastly different demographics in Finland as compared to the US. Certainly the US system has problems, but acting like the solutions are so easy doesn't help anyone. Finland has one of the most even wealth distributions in the world. The education problem in the US, as far as I can tell, is…
I just happen to have watched the documentary mentioned in the article (Waiting For Superman) a couple of nights ago. It found that children from the middle class are just as effected. The issue boils down to the pervasiveness of bad teachers in the system, and an inability to get rid of those teachers and reward/promote good teachers.
W4S has a pretty big agenda, though, and it's main point comes off as "it's the unions' fault!"
They fail to mention unionization rates in Finnish schools, though.
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#9Finnish teachers make 100% of the national average for their level of education, compared to something like 60-65% for American teachers.
That's true but it's not the only problem. Teaching in America is not a high-status profession the way it is in other countries, so people who are capable tend to choose other professions. We need a new cultural value on teaching.
Re: Why Are Finland's Schools Successful?
#10It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. I don't see how this author can fail to make any mention of the vastly different demographics in Finland as compared to the US. Certainly the US system has problems, but acting like the solutions are so easy doesn't help anyone. Finland has one of the most even wealth distributions in the world. The education problem in the US, as far as I can tell, is…
I just happen to have watched the documentary mentioned in the article (Waiting For Superman) a couple of nights ago. It found that children from the middle class are just as effected. The issue boils down to the pervasiveness of bad teachers in the system, and an inability to get rid of those teachers and reward/promote good teachers.
Waiting For Superman is right-wing propaganda. Here's a really good NYRB article that explains exactly how distorted that movie is. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-ch...
Also, Finnish schools are entirely unionized. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_finland Ctrl-F "union"