Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Finland and their education

"Finland is a post-industrial success story; rising to the global education challenge without the benefit of the booming industries of Asia. Finland has created a unique education system that gives individuals bright career options while raising the standard of living throughout their economy (Wagner, 2011)." I found this quote because I truly believe that Finland is someone that other countries should look up too, even if it is a lot smaller than most. I feel like the United States has said a lot in the past years to try and make education better here, but Finland not only talked the talk, but also walked the walk. They made education better for everyone in their society, and every student had access to whichever type of education they wanted. From that, their scores on tests were much higher compared to other countries. In another article I found called, "Reform school," an Obama education advisor even agreed that the United States could learn a few things from Finland. She liked the fact that Finland spends their money equally on schools, sometimes with additional money to the schools serving high-need students. The United States, "takes kids who have the least access to educational opportunities at home and typically gives them the least access to educational opportunities at school as well (Garland, 2008)." In America we have more students that are in high need of educational opportunities, but we still expect them to get higher scores on exams, like the PISA exam. That doesn't make any sense. Until money is spread more equally in schools, and benefits everyone, I don't believe there is going to be much of a change in scores anytime soon. The educational advisor also liked how Finland, and other high ranking countries, choose their teachers. "Other countries put a lot of energy into recruiting the best and the brightest into teaching, training them very intensely, making sure they have professional training (Garland, 2008)." Shouldn't that be the case for all countries? Overall, if the United States doesn't at least try to take some strategies from other countries, we might be at the state we are now in for longer then we thought.

Sources: Wagner, T.W. (2011, March 07). What can american education learn from finland?. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110307005089/en/American-Education-Learn-Finland

Garland, S. (2008, December 18). Reform school. http://www.newsweek.com/2008/12/17/reform-school.html