If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am not a fan of the American education system, and several of you seemed to agree with what I had to say. Today I saw this article and thought it was a really interesting. I'll cover the basics here, but I really encourage you to read it. The article is about how the Finnish education system is set up, and if you think that's random, apparently Finnish kids are among the smartest in the world. They don't have a lot of homework or honors classes or standardized tests, but they have teachers who can teach the way they see is best (and these teachers aren't just anybodys, several have Masters' degrees), and the students learned at a young age how to be independent.
I don't think all the methods described in the article would work for American students, and I was not a big fan of no honors classes. However, I could not help but wonder if the gap between the "lowest denominator" of students and the "highest denominator" of students in Finland is much narrower in Finland than in America, which is why teaching to the former does not hurt the latter. But I do think a lot of the ideas are great. I love that the children are taught from a young age to be self-reliant and independent, that the teachers have flexibility in their teaching, that standardized testing isn't crammed down the students' throats, and less homework (which is usually just busy work).
I recently read Obama's proposal for education, and I honestly don't remember much anything about it. I know I didn't disagree with everything nor agree with everything, but I remember thinking it didn't sound like it was going to do a whole lot. I think we need to totally rethink education, not just try to put patches on certain problems. Education needs its own reform, really. I don't have all the answers, but I think part of the Finnish approach could be a step in the right direction. What are your thoughts?
5 comments:
I kind of like the high school vs. vocational school setup Finland has going on. I wouldn't necessarily say that it had to be based on grades (if the US did something similar), but I think giving students that other option (even if it was a part time thing during high school) would really help a lot of them get on track.
For example, the man who sort of served as our sales rep when we purchased our furniture said he'd been selling furniture since he was 12 (he's in his mid-50's now). He told us that he was a rebellious kid back then and headed down the wrong path. His principal saw this and set up his schedule so that his last 'class' was helping out a local furniture store. He wound up being so good at it that he essentially made a career out of it.
I just hate watching young, talented, and smart people get so discouraged when they feel like college is their only option, yet even if they go that route, they are still left without the tools to be successful in a field that is geared more towards them.
There's a lot of other things I could say, but that (high school vs. vocational) was one aspect of the article that stuck out.
I totally missed that part so I'm glad you mentioned it. Very interesting.
I loved that onesie set (it came in a set of three) so much that I also got the next size up! Old Navy also had a super cute elephant/giraffe motif going on last fall, and when they clearanced those clothes I bought them up too!
so i just skimmed over the article, but it sounds that more than just the structure of the education system prepares the students; sounds like the culture helps, too.
Like you said, some of these things wouldn't work in an American context--I'm with you on keeping honors classes intact--but there's a lot we could learn. I like the idea of less homework and the absence of sports teams (imagine: schools oriented around learning where the football team doesn't eat up all the funding and attention).
I also really like Anna's point about the vocational training. Not everyone can handle college and they shouldn't be expected to. Realistically, it makes sense to prepare some people for the real world earlier instead of awarding them the HOPE scholarship and paying them money to flunk out in a few semesters.
Education is such a headache, I really don't know what the best approach to reform is. Whatever it is, though, probably won't happen considering the way this country is run.
i dont have the strength to comment on this seeing as i live and breathe educational issues all day long, but it makes me happy you are thinking about these things and actually care. :-)
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