Summary Of The Article Why Are Finland's Schools So Successful

"What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success" by Anu Partanen begins by talking about the great success Finland has had with their school system after they reformed. Finland completely changed their outlook on school and how it is perceived. Finland now has the highest test scores among the world without all the standardized test and ample amount of homework. The focus is on engaging children in creative play and providing a healthy, safe environment for children. There are no private schools in Finland and children are provided with free schooling, free meals, easy access to health care and counseling. From pre-K to a Ph.D there are no tuition fees. The three major reforms made to the school system

The author proves how our present school system is based on an old-fashioned model designed for students who would finally work in factories. Provided that simple abilities to young pupils might have been enough by the turn of the 21st century, but it is absolutely not satisfactory in the 21st. The several and cumulative things of a broader base of knowledge and rapidly proceeding technologies need extension of access to education and overhaul of curricula, teaching styles, and learning assessments. Darling-Hammond discovers imaginative changes in Finland, South Korea, Singapore, and other places that have kept up with the rising needs for educating school children. She poignantly shows how California pales in comparison to these places.

In Finland, the government provides free public education, following their principle that everyone should get opportunities to learn and study (Finnish education in a nutshell, 6). Finland has more freedom of education autonomy than other countries. They try to practice innovative and effective education programs starting from 1980 (Statistics Finland.n.p.). The teachers are able to get free workshops to teach students more effectively (이상커플.n.p.). The teachers do not just force students to study. They rather try to find the students’ own talents and develop their talents (Finnish education in a nutshell, 7). Also, the teachers encourage and take care of students who fall behind so they can catch up others. Finland does not even have national exams. Even though a competition is not high, the average score and achievement is relatively high (OECD.n.p.). As a result of the quality education, the economy of Finland has been rapidly growing since 1980, which is the year they started to practice free and innovative education. Also, the social mobility in Finland is very high. Since everyone can get education and find their own talented area, the students are able to grow up with special skills. Therefore, they are able to get jobs more easily in the future. The importance of high quality public education is proven by

Compared to America, Finland has a different education system. Children in Finland go to school from age 7 to age 16. They rarely have homework and are only required to take one standardized test, at age 16. Middle School aged students are allowed a 75 minute recess, and teachers only spend an average of 4 hours a day 5 days a week in the classroom along with 2 totals extra hours a week which are spent working on, as the article states, "professional development."  There's a broad list of curriculum outlines that all teachers must follow. One specific thing is that all students learn is 3 languages: Finnish, Swedish, and a third that they pick. There are no academic competitions, rankings, or comparisons of students. Students aren't separated into different classes based on intellect.   Though this seems like an odd way of teaching, studies show Finland has the smallest difference between "strong" and "weak" students in the world. 96% of students graduate high school, 17.5% more than in the U.S., of these 66% go to college and 43% go to vocational school. All schools are 100% government funded and provide students with food, medical care, counseling, and taxi service. Teachers must have a masters degree and all are picked from the same group. Finland's goal is to provide every student, native or foreign, with equal opportunities to education. They strive to have all their students on the same level of knowledge when the graduate.

The previous years there has been a major discussion about the Swedish schools. Some claim that students takes school way too easily, and that the teachers as well as the school system allows this behaviour. These are thoughts found in an article written by teacher Ann Pettersson for "Svenska dagbladet". I am going to use these flaws as bad examples to explain how I would like my school to be. My dream school more particularly.

According to the research done by Stanford, it showed that the education design in both countries have appeared to be moving in totally two opposite directions in the last decades (Stanford Report, 2012). Thus, this research paper is going to study the ideology of Finland’s education and American education and what America can learn from Finland’s success in education by comparing the education system in both countries.

Show up. Sit down. Keep Quiet. Do your homework. Repeat. If you’ve ever attended a k-12 school in the United States, you’re more than likely familiar with this routine. You are told what to think and how to think with absolutely no exceptions of anything otherwise, and because of this, you are unmotivated to attend school or do any school work, which leads to low grades. However, across the Atlantic Ocean in Finland, students are doing exceptionally well in school and are placing number one in subjects such as math and science (Gardner 1). The main reasons why the education system in Finland is significantly more successful than the education system in the U.S. is because the teachers require more education, there is more freedom and room for trial-and-error, and because the schools do not allow big corporations and politics to control their curriculums and spendings.

The educational process, regardless of the various ways in which it is organized in areas from all over the world, is based on an underlying set of aims which reflect the kind of society that its people wish to configure. "School subjects are, after all, only vehicles to achieve certain ends: they are not self-justifying entities" (White, 2003, p. 1). In this sense, the purpose of secondary or high schools transcends preparation for university and ought to project goals pertaining to continuous modeling of, and adapting to, an economically, socially and culturally challenging environment.

In the documentary the country of Finland is mentioned. The public education system within the United States would be much better off resembling that of Finland. Although in Finland same as the U.S. there are teachers unions and teachers are granted tenure, due to a 1970 mandate in Finland’s education system. This mandate states that all teachers that teach above kindergarten must possess at least a master’s degree. This factor has sets their education system apart from ours and has improved their education system. Due to this reform Finland’s students have the highest math and science literacy, according to the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), among all of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and development

Finnish schools emphasize trust and students there do the fewest hours in class per week. By contrast, South Korean children can spend 12 hours a day studying. There's no doubt that in many aspects, South Korea’s system is incredibly effective, and has most certainly contributed to South Korea's technological and economic rise. It is however also a system under which many students are miserable and pressured, and there is high reliance on private tutoring. (Orange p.)In these senses, it is therefore also very ineffective. In South Korea students extremely compete with each other. Competition prevents a friendly environment in schools. Even students spends their most of the time with others in classrooms they are suffering from loneliness and anxiety. (High performance, high pressure p.3). Furthermore suicide rates among students in South Korea are very high (high performance, high pressure p.4). Students lose their ability to cope with the world

Finland’s education program is at the top compared to the rest of the world in all subjects and is a prime example of the leadership and curriculum that other countries are trying to apply in their own programs. The United States rankings, in English, math, and all other subjects are nowhere near compared to the Finish programs that . With Finland, they actually receive a real no child left behind a system that is completely paid for through the government funding that gives children the financial stability and opportunity to have college completely paid for. This will offer any extra additional help to make sure every child succeeds. The United States must adopt some type of material in Finland’s educational policies to have every student succeed just as the Finns do. How the United States can do this is by, having qualified teachers, less standardised testing and a “true” no child left behind program.

This is a major component in the shift of Finnish Schools aims, objectives, goals, missions with regards to China. The likely outcome from such a restriction on sub-licensing, and therefore expansion, leading to our suggestion, is for Finnish Schools- from its management and itself as an entity, to shift its mission, consistent with its not-for profit goals, which disregards profit and is closer involved in the implementation of its schooling system in giving students around the world the opportunity to study with the Finnish educational system.

The Scandinavian school system educates their students by lifting pressure on academics and establishing an egalitarian school environment. However, at the same time, they accentuate the importance of education and believe that it is essential in building the confidence of low performing students. Scandinavian educators produce student confidence by putting a greater emphasis on those who are academically weak rather than prioritizing the ones at the top. Thus, in the Scandinavian culture, lifting academic pressure through reduced competition creates students with a positive self-image. But the question remains: how does the alleviation of academic pressure in the Scandinavian school system promote student wellbeing?

Findland’s education system is a well-known topic in Latin America. People talk about it everywhere. It is documented on the newspapers, social media, and television. Every year, the World Economic Forum releases its Global Competitiveness Report on the state of the world's economies, and in 2016, Finland topped the list (World Economic Forum, 2016). The schools’ repeated successes in national education rankings suggest that there is something great and rule-breaking about this education system that we should explore.

Do you want the best education for your child? Finland is the place to go. They have a later age start than the US, and getting that extra time before starting school is healthy for students. Finland does not put a price on their education, unlike the US.Their class sizes are very small, where they get one-on-one time with their teacher, boosting their education. Now is the time to go pack up your bags!