Finland's classrooms are very different from America's -- far more permissive, with less of an emphasis on academics. There are no standardized tests until high school, and children get 15 minutes of recess in between lessons -- more than an hour of recess a day. "Play is important," one Finnish teacher told the Smithsonian magazine. "We value play."

 

Yet Finnish kids always get good grades on comparisons of student achievement between countries. Their average scores on the Program for International Student Assessment, a test that's given to 15-year-olds in 65 countries, are among the highest in the developed world. As a result, critics of education reform in the United States often cite the Finnish example. It's a stark contrast to America's reliance on using test scores in public school teacher evaluations, or the strict, "no-excuses" model of discipline in charter schools that many have touted as improving academic results.

 

 

 

Finland?s radical new plan to change school means an end to subjects - The Washington Post

Finland is always touted as a model for education across the world, and in America in particular. And while I agree with many of the things they do, they are also working with an almost completely different set of circumstances than are public schools in the United States.

 

First, they have a population of only 5.5 million, compared to 300+ million in the U.S. Second, they are much more ethnically homogeneous than the United States, which means less ethnic/racial divide in schools and less manipulation of school boundaries. Third, they have a much more balanced wealth distribution, meaning the number of students from poor homes is low and all research shows that low financial status means lower achievement.

 

So again, I think the United States should look to implement many of the strategies used by Finland. But expecting the same results will be difficult because you are working with a completely different set of people and circumstances.

Finland has no private schools. If you're writing a check to better your kid you're writing it to benefit the entire system.

 

Just like the rest of systems in education it seems like we prefer a divide between the haves and have nots over bettering the entire nation.