Education : The Future Of Finland's Educational System

In Finland they don’t require students to take a certain amount of tests unlike America. Partanen has pointed out “Finland has no standardized test …only expectation is … the National Matriculation exam”(972). It shows that students do not have a lot pressure and pointless exams taken without a clear reason. In Finland system, Partanen has shown “All children receive a report card … but these reports are based on individuals grading by each teacher” (972) It shows that the teacher can see a child weakness and try to help to improve it. The American system is just base on a strict system, which a person cannot really tell a child weakness on a particular area. The most affect system that Finland has is to evaluate a teacher. When a professor class grades average starts to drop then they are all in for a discuss by the principal. While in America they don’t really care about the grade dropping in America because they always think that the student is at fault most of the time. It shows to the world that certain systems may not always work and government officials need to think about change.

America used to thrive on its education system and that is why it became one of the greatest nations in the world. Education is the backbone of our country, and we must give high priority to improve its current condition. Unfortunately, in the past couple of decades, the education system has been regressing. It has been on the decline and not as effective. The quality of education in a country has an influence on GDP growth, social cohesion and social well being in general. In order to improve the quality of education in the U.S., the following must be taken into consideration: the structure of our education system must be reanalyzed, we must compare and contrast our education system to systems of other countries with higher rankings, and finally, there must be a solution.

In the 1970’s Finland was not at the top of the education chain, in fact their education system was doing poorly (NEA). Finland has been changing their education system over the past 35 years to make their education system better. They have changed their education system to become very successful. When looking at the differences between the United States education system and Finland education system has obvious differences between the testing, the paths for the students to take, time management during school hours, and the environment of the classroom.

The differences were connected with a teacher’s original preparation for the teaching profession, licensing in the particular subject area to be taught, strength of the educational experience, and the degree of experience in teaching along with the demonstration of abilities through the National Board Certification, in which all of these facets can be addressed through policy (Darling-Hammond, 2010).America has not produced a national method containing supports and reasons to guarantee that teachers’ are adequately prepared and equipped to teach all children effectively when they first enter into the career of teaching. America also does not have a vast collection of methods available that will maintain the evaluation and continuing development of a teacher’s effectiveness in the classroom, or support decisions about entry into the field of teaching and the continuance in the profession of teaching (Darling-Hammond, 2010). n order to reach the belief that all students will be taught and learn to high standards calls for a makeover in the methods our system of education in order to be a magnet for, train, support or uphold, and cultivate effective teachers in more efficient ways. A makeover that is contingent in a certain degree of how the abilities or skills are comprehended (Darling-Hammond, 2010).In the last few years there has been increasing

Many people know that the U.S. does not rank very high in education. You hear about how they are always trying to improve education, but they still fall short of where they strive to be. In Anu Partanen’s “Finland’s School Success, What Americans Keep Ignoring” she addresses this issue. She points out what Americans are doing wrong, what Finland is doing right, and how the U.S. can improve the education system in many ways.

The American education system needs to change techniques in order to successfully prepare students for success in today’s world. American students are reportedly averaging some of the lowest test scores on the PISA test. This is mentioned in Amanda Ripley’s book the Smartest Kids in the World when it’s stated “Failure in American schools was demoralizing…American kids could not handle routine failure” (pg.72 par.4). This statement is a clear sign that the techniques used in the American education system to promote academic success in students need amending. There is definitely a change that needs to happen within the American educational system this is the only way to ensure that American students will be equipped with the tools they require

The United States spends more money on education each year than any other country in the world, yet the education system is not thriving. Three decades ago, America was the leader in the quality of high school diplomas, yet, students in the U.S. rate 31st in math literacy and 23rd in science in comparison to the rest of the world. (Federal Reserve Bank of New York) The country that is famous for being the most advanced and innovative country in the world is yielding a generation that is falling behind in the global education race. Public K-12 education is worsening simultaneously with the growing competitiveness of universities. Part of the problem is that teachers are not being paid sufficiently, and many find themselves being laid off. College is getting exponentially more expensive each year. These are only a couple of the issues that the american education system faces today, but the list carries on.

There are already many articles about how Asian countries are surpassing America in education, but what about Finland? Finland, which is about the size of Minnesota, is top ranking in math, science, and language arts. Despite this, Finland’s education standards are more laid-back than ones in America. America's education system is lackluster in comparison to other countries, but it’s fixable by recognizing the problem, observing other countries, and updating our own standards.

Since the release of the annual report by Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in December of 2010, many in the government and community are searching for ways to reform the American education system to give American students a greater opportunity to succeed. According to the report, one cannot ignore the fact that American students are not testing as high academically as other nations in the world (Duncan, 2010). There are many contributing elements that have brought America to her knees in the education system, however, the obsession with standardized testing is found to be more of a stumbling block than a stepping stone in the education system. To understand how to rectify the problem, we must look at all the facts

Education is one of the cornerstones and pillars to the establishment and preservation of democracy. In history, countless scores of philosophers and political thinkers believed that only an educated citizenry can take on the quintessential task of upholding democracy. Thomas Jefferson, the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, stated that “an informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” A renowned defender of public education, Jefferson proposed plans for an education system that included grammar schools in his presidency. As a result of these relentless policies for education, the United States expanded on the concept of public instruction through the establishment and upkeep of a practical education

They are at the top for literacy second for math proficiency, and an international trade group. He identifies that, “Students from elementary and high school are among the worlds best test scores.” But many years ago, this was not always the case. Leopold’s article describes how Finland made a monumental turn around with their educational system starting from “heavy investing in teacher education” all the way to “child poverty”.

In the 1970’s, Finland didn’t have a spot at the top of the education chain; in fact they had a poor education system (NEA). Finland has changed their education system over the past 35 years to make it better. They have changed their education system to become successful. When looking at the American education system and the Finland education system there are obvious differences between the testing, the paths for the students to take, the time management during school hours, and the classroom environment.

The American education has tried to make recent changes to accommodate higher education and learning by implementing Common Core Standards. According to “The Common Core State Standards” magazine by Allison Jones and Jaqueline King, “Common Core Standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life…” (Jones and King 37). Although the common core emphasizes these values, it is still an ongoing process with some issues. On the other hand, Finland focuses on these values and invests in the future of their country through their education system. Finland is ranked as one of the best educational systems in the world and uses different approaches to ensure the success of their students. Both countries have strengths and weaknesses in their education system, overall, Finland has a better education system than United States and by implementing some of the Finnish approaches the American education can be more successful.

Lynnell Hancock in the article,“Why are Finland’s Schools so Successful?” looks in with the rest of the World, on the small country’s recent educational achievements. Finland’s youth are beating out historically academically strong countries. Hancock crafted a detail-oriented and emotionally strong article that credits the prosperity to the perseverance of the Finnish people. The article explains the structure of the educational system and the power of the teachers. While it also is able to show how the students of this divergent educational system are able to not just learn, but succeed in the learning process.

Organisation of schoolwork and teaching is guided by a conception of learning where pupils’ own active involvement and interaction with teachers, fellow pupils and the learning environment are important. Pupils process and interpret the information that they absorb on the basis of their prior knowledge structures and learning by doing (playing, experiencing). This is quite different from their Asian counterparts where learning is mostly done by one-way download from teacher to student and memorization from book). Also, based on our team mate, Stephen’s personal experience as assistant teacher in Normalikoulu, Jyväskylä and his teaching experience in German schools, Finish pupils seem to be more independent in their learning and working. Since PISA there have been many discussions going on to ‘research’ the reasons and factors why Finland is one of the top countries considering education. It is hard to give a simple conclusion, but one other reason might be that relation between pupils and teacher is more based on trustfulness rather than for instance in Germany or many other Asian countries, where it is still more common to