I read an article in The Atlantic online, "Finnish Education Chief: 'We Created a School System based on Equality.'" What I learned from this article is that Finland has shorter school days, more recess time, very few private schools and less homework yet they consistently outperform the United States. When asked why the Chief of Education and Science was asked why she thinks that, she says they can't afford to waste a brain. Each child is held precious. They believe that Human Capital is just as important if not more important than natural resources. They see each child as equal. There are also no gifted classes, every child is put into the same class. But these classes are very small in size.
This article caught my attention because we have spoken about Finnish education in nearly every class. How can they do it and we can't? There are a TON of factors. The difference of population size in each country, the make up of the population, the rate of poverty, etc. But the idea that each child is seen as a valuable asset to the future of the country is a mindset that more american educators need to internalize. Often times we aren't asset based thinkers in the classroom. All we see are students deficits, "They are bad listeners. He has ADHD. She can't behave correctly." Instead of boiling students down to what they can not do, we need to look at what they can do and build them up. We also as educators need to be very aware of how we treat students to try to insure that we are not treating students in a negative manner. This is where I think American education can learn from Finnish education.
Gross-Loh, Christine (March 17, 2014). "Finnish Education Chief: 'We Created a School System Based on Equality.'" The Atlantic.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/finnish-education-chief-we-created-a-school-system-based-on-equality/284427/
good points, mollie. i think the crux of this issue in comparing american and finnish education systems is that administrators aren't at a place yet to buy in to the finnish approach. without that support from the top, it's really difficult to make the change and shifts in values that are so fundamental to the finnish systems.
ReplyDeleteThe American Education system believes that the more information we make students remember, the better they will perform on tests, and the smarter they will be. I recall my Junior of High School have hours of homework, and I can't remember half of it because I was so busy trying to get it done rather than learning the information.
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