What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

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Re: What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

#81

Post by anthonydalekuhn » Tue, Jul 29, 2008, 3:44 PM UTC

unalone wrote: post #65

neilk wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA rewards innovation and has the least friction applied to people trying to innovate. This doesn't have anything to do with the question of whether the average student in the US is learning anything. I can walk into any building in Silicon Valley and the Indians will come close to outnumbering the natives (and if the battle were held on a syllable-by-syllable basis, a clear loss for the home team.) It seems to…

The thing about the U.S. is that it encourages competition particularly in lower levels - not within the school system entirely, but also partially despite it. The way public school systems are set up, you get multiple social spheres that are forced to interact. You've got the sports group - the people who push away their boredom for school with a fascination for physical activity. There're the honor students, or wha…

Man, does this hit the proverbial nail on the head. I am a big proponent of education, however, in my experience, a formal education is not a perfect fit for all. I wish there would have been more emphasis on how to make a living doing something one enjoys and not just academic legerdemain in the form of "get a degree and you'll get plenty o' dough and be happy" when pursuing a trade would net potential millions with no crushing student loan debt. Thanks for some excellent thoughts on our school system.

Re: What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

#82

Post by whacked_new » Wed, Jul 30, 2008, 2:37 PM UTC

orib wrote: post #67

whacked_new wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you explain why having a classmate that didn't speak Finnish natively is helpful for keeping up the bar? Suppose you have an excellent transfer student who could do everything you did, but not in Finnish. Wouldn't your interaction be some kind of training for effective communication? Assuming again that said student is excellent, you would expect them to pick up the language in about a year, and wouldn't expect…

"Assuming again that said student is excellent" That's a pretty big assumption. Realistically, they'll be about average. If you have significant numbers of immigrants, many of them will be below average (and many will be above) Besides, that's still a year in which the teacher has to repeat parts of the lesson for the student, clarify words, and generally move somewhat more slowly to help the new student comprehend w…

I agree with you. The issues involved seem way more complicated than either of our posts cover. Now I am wondering whether exchange student programs are all that useful in the long run, in terms of GDP or some other national metric. In terms of national testing averages, I don't see a quick answer to whether non-native speaking students affect the average at all.

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