Finland on Education

We visited a school this week. It was the equivelent of a junior\high school in the states. It was interesting to learn about their schooling system and the general attitudes towards education. We had a chance to step into a couple of classrooms while some learning was going on. The first things that you notice are the typical things like fashion, joking around playing grab ass with one another, and the smiles and giggles as we try to use some of our Finnish words that we have "learned" during our travels. At closer glance, you start to notice some stark contrasts. Mainly that the kids are way smarter than we ever were at that age. ALL of them speak multiple languages...ALL speak Finnish and ALL speak Swedish as Finland is officially a bi-lingual country. They ALL study English, and most take German or French. That covers the better part of their content when it is all said and done. Now, it would be important to mention how they study these languages, as we claim to take "years" of language study through our system as well. Each student starts Finnish and Swedish along with English when they are in first grade. They take these classes 3 hours (one hour for each class) each day. They do this for the next 10 years!! Repetition is the mother of all learning.....

Other subjects, chemistry, physics, math, are all taught in a similar fashion as we do in the states, with one big exception. The focus is NOT on memorization and regurgitation, it is on the pscychology of how a person accesses information. Let me explain.....think back to chimstry 101, how many countless hours did we spend in class (or even worse at home) memorizing periodic tables and other useless bullshit that can be at our ready finger tips with technology (or in the case of the periodic table, a piece of paper sitting on our desk)? More than we should have is the answere. Case and point, I can tell you that there is a little known element known as Einsteinium included in the periodic table, it sits in the lower right hand corner somewhere near Californium, but, ask me to bond some elements or show me an organic compound, and I´ll ask if I can buy a vowel?

Moving on....lunch time! Kids crowd into the dinning hall yelling and screwing around...pretty typical. What´s not typical is that everyone eats school lunches. No one brings their own, not teachers, not students, not guests to the school, no one. The meal we had was a very tasty potato (always) and beef stew, cheese (always) potatos on the side, and milk or water to drink. The kids are welcome to take as much as they like and eat until they are full. The meals are never made with artificial ingredients, and the calories, salt, fat, vitamins, etc are closely monitored so that each meal is fully balanced and wholesome.

After lunch.....it was time to stop in to some of the elective classes...art and music are required electives for at least 7 years (this could explain why even men in this country have a sense of design and style), other classes like wood shop and knitting are electives.

At the end of the day it is time to go home. Most the kids ride their bikes, but some walk, and others take the public busses. No one arrives to school on a traditional school bus in the major citites as it is not an option.

Final thoughts: after talking with the students and teachers at the school I made a very important observation. The observation is that everyone thinks (and admits) it is really important to have a good foundation of schooling. Kids are not embarrased if they are really smart, they are proud as they know it is important to their future. Kids are looked up to if they are the smart ones and not the best athletes or have the most money, etc. They feel like they must take school seriously and it´s not just a set of hoops to jump through in route to college. I never felt this way with my education...especially in high school. There was nothing I wanted to do less on most days than go waste time sitting in class, however, I knew it was all part of the game, a game that led me to college. It all worked out for me (with the exception that I never really learned how to "study"), but I know a lot of people that it didn´t work out for and as a result will hit ceilings in their lives or careers that may disporportionately represent their potential. Oh, and did I mention this was a public school we went to? Yeah, the private schools are even a leg up on these.....

Advantage: Finland