Wow, this is blowing my academic mind:
High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don’t start school until age 7.
As I think, and think, and think about what I want to do next with my life, I find that I am still quite interested in education and educational theories.
This article about Fins and the way they do things is really interesting and appeals to my love of simplicity. I would love to give the same amount of money to all schools, rather than by what area the schools are in. I don’t know if I would like less classes for the gifted. I loved the AP classes I took. Hmmm… I DO love the idea of teachers getting to pick out their own curriculum and of intense teacher competition.
What do you think, What Makes Finnish Kids so Smart?
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March 3, 2008 at 12:08 pm
h sofia
My husband and I talk about education a lot. I was unschooled from age 12 to 16. I never graduated high school (attended one year of it at age 17). My husband dropped out in 9th grade. And yet we are both very intelligent and do well financially (I worked providing education to consumers about energy efficiency for a utility company; he is a programmer/software engineer). But we both come from families that encouraged us to be independent, resourceful, and love learning.
I’ve been to Finland, and don’t think I’d want to live there, but the more personalized approach to education appeals to me. Basically - what happens in here in the US? Parents who have the money spend it to send their children to schools where they get personalized education. Or, they spend it to live in school districts where kids are treated with more autonomy, engage in more experiential learning, and have teachers who vied for one another for those jobs.
Maybe it’s our gigantic size, or our belief that parents need to “earn” a better education for their kids, but we’ve got some real problems. Also, the system is so large that it moves like a behemoth. Which is to say, not much. It’s not responsive, and - worst of all - I don’t think it was really designed for children. Something as simple as school starting times demonstrates that. (Teens start school earlier in the day altho studies have repeatedly shown that they do better to sleep later in the mornings).
Also, I don’t know that US Americans truly value learning. They value credentials and pedigree, but actual learning? Until adults do, why would their children?
March 4, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Tina
Thanks for posting this. My mom is from Finland, and she goes nuts for these articles. She will die of pride when I point this out to her. (Metaphorically. Otherwise I wouldn’t point it out.) I’m feeling a little proud myself and I’m only half-Finnish!
It’s a fascinating country, and the Finns have an ususual take on things. I love it. Their president is not only a woman, but she’s a pantheist! Man. They got it going on up there.