Here in the United States, we love to brag about being number one
Except when it comes to education that is
Where we regularly rank around 37th in the world
Frankly, many of us are lucky we can spell USA
well enough to chant it in sporting events
but you know what country does consistently rate among the best in the world in education?
Finland. Apparently. That's right.
The small Nordic country best known for giving the world Nokia phones,
angry birds and awful heavy metal music
is actually a leader in world education
not only does Finland have the highest high school graduation rate in Europe
but on International tests, Finish students regularly rank near the top in Reading, Math and Science
And the Finns do this without overloading kids with endless hours of homework
or turning school into mindless drudgery
Bueller.
So why does Finland have the most ass-kicking educational system on earth
Here are the 5 reasons that set Finland apart
Reason number 1: No child gets left behind. Literally.
Finland provides all families particularly low income families
with a vast social safety net
the Finish government sends a pitty box
of supplies to every family with a newborn child
and then from there on, childcare is heavily subsidised
allowing most families to send their children to some form of early childhood education
Finland's public schools also concentrate on making sure that
every student achieves basic proficiency in the subjects that they study
whereas here in the US
students and school districts are expected to compete against one another
for limited resources, inevitably creating a system of winners and losers
this difference in approach
is one of the reasons why the achievement gap that exists between the rich and poor
in American schools is smaller in Finland than anywhere else in the world
Reason number two. They're just like more chill man.
Finnish children don't even start school
until they turn 7 and once they're in school they get almost triple the amount of recess time
as American students. They're rarely assigned homework
until High school and they almost never take standardise tests
in fact, Finnish students are only required to take one standardise test
and that's not until the end of high school
Reason Number three. Teachers are actually (get this) respected
Becoming a teacher isn't easy in Finland
there are only 8 universities that offer the Masters programmes required
to earn a teaching credential
and only one in ten applicants get accepted
so it's no surprise that teachers in Finland
receive roughly the same level of respect as doctors and lawyers
plus, thanks to powerful unions, Finnish teachers only spent 4 hours a day in the classroom
and take 2 hours a week for professional development
they also don't have to deal with merit pay
which has been the cause behind many high profile cases here in the US
where teachers and administrators cheating on standardise tests
Reason number 4. They believe that less is more.
and I'm rhyming now
Finns believe that when it comes to education, patience, hands-on learning and focusing on problem-solving
are more important than listening to lectures, mindless test preparations and memorization of information
that students will probably forget as soon as they leave the exam room
I know it's a really crazy concept right?
and then Finnish teachers don't race through lessons to cram as much information
as possible into students heads so that the students can then spit that information back out
on a standardise test
instead they give priority to moving slowly and taking as much time as necessary
to thoroughly investigate fewer topics but in much greater depth
Reason number five: They have fewer social ills
Finland may not be the socialists paradise
every Bernie Sanders voter dreams about
but it's pretty close
almost everyone in Finland is middle class so
income inequality is not nearly the problem there than it is in the US
almost all Finnish kids come to school well fed, rested and ready to learn
there are no metal detectors, no cops patroling the school hallways and certainly none of this
Finland also has far fewer immigrant students
which is kinda like Donald Trump's dream I guess
only one in forty students in Finnish schools has immigrant parents
compare that number to the US public schools where
that figure is one in five
that means there are not nearly as many kids in Finland schools who are trying to learn math, science
and history in a completely new language all well also trying to learn that new language itself
so should we in the US just admit that the Finns know education better than we do
and go ahead and abandon our system and adopt theirs? Of course not.
That's ridiculous
For one thing where would we find enough teachers who speak Finnish?
zing
but what we should admit is that
when it comes to education
we just don't have all the answers
and if we do we'd probably cheated to get them
There's plenty of ways to learn from countries like Finland that
do things very differently
but have a proven track record of achieving better results
we just have to be more open to what educational innovators are
doing around the globe
if we could only stop shouting 'We're number one"
long enough to listen for a change