Finland vs. U.S.

[sleigh]

An interesting article pointed to by Toby Buckell: Finland’s education system has consistently ranked among the best in the world for more than a decade. Yet in Finland, there is no standardized testing of schoolchildren, they're not 'taught to the test' but instead taught critical-thinking skills, and the difference between the highest performing school and the lowest performing school is less than four percent.

"So they began in the 1970s by completely transforming the preparation and selection of future teachers. That was a very important fundamental reform because it enabled them to have a much higher level of professionalism among teachers. Every teacher got a masters degree, and every teacher got the very same high quality level of preparation.

"So what has happened since is that teaching has become the most highly esteemed profession. Not the highest paid, but the most highly esteemed. Only one out of every 10 people who apply to become teachers will ultimately make it to the classroom…

"This is what Finland has done that's different -- they've defined what is excellent teaching, not just reasonable teaching, and they have a standard for that. Second, they've defined what is most important to learn, and it's not a memorization-based curriculum, but a thinking-based curriculum."

Could something like this work in the U.S.? Discuss.

Comments

[scottakennedy.livejournal.com]

Greater prestige for teachers in the U.S. would be wonderful, but seems a fantasy to me, given the current orgy of union/teacher bashing that became common after last year's release of Waiting for Superman.

A main element that comparisons of U.S. schools with Finland often leave out is the level of cultural homogeneity and lower level of poverty. Finland trends toward a low child poverty rate, while the US trends high
(http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/child-poverty.aspx)

I read a good deal about this after "Waiting for Superman" came out, as my wife (a former CPS fifth grade teacher) and I were both pretty incensed at the anti-union/teacher bashing/money-doesn't matter narrative of that film. Even as Oprah was having those filmmakers on, CPS was trying to raise the student/teacher ratio 37! 37 fifth graders in a classroom. The mind boggles. That would have been day-care, not teaching (and eventually that effort failed). At the same time, again as shows like Oprah were promoting the blame-the-teacher-meme, CPS fired many of its more experienced teachers and teacher mentors, as they had higher salaries, and inexperienced teachers would make for a smaller budget to fit with the state's budget crisis.

The Nation actually summed the ways that comparison to Finland leave out the invoconvenient aspects of by those trying to privitize public schools:
"In the Finnish education system, much cited in the film as the best in the world, teachers are – gasp! – unionized and granted tenure, and families benefit from a cradle-to-grave social welfare system that includes universal daycare, preschool and health care, all of which are proven to help children achieve better results in school."
http://www.thenation.com/article/154986/grading-waiting-superman?page=full

Ok. Rant over. Sorry.