We hear so much talk of Finland’s education system these days, and as always, I am curious as to if what is being said is truth or fiction. I found an article in Educational Researcher, Vol. 41, No. 7., by Gaea Leinhart from the University of Pittsburgh in which she discusses Pasi Sahlberg’s, 2011, book Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? I now understand Finland’s education system and what makes it so different from the U.S. educational system.
Finland is small, about the size of Massachusetts or Puerto Rico and has a more homogeneous population than the United States, but it is more ethnically diverse than Minnesota. It should also be mentioned that Finland is very similar to Norway in both size and ethnic diversity, and even history – with one exception. After War World II, Norway decided to adopt a system of education similar to the United States (with respect to dividing curriculum into small, measurable units, instructional competition between schools and teachers, frequent high stakes testing, public accountability, and longer school days and years); Finland did not. The achievement results of Norwegian students are similar to those of students in the U.S., while the Finnish students score at the top of the heap. It is also important to note that Norway has a higher standard of living than Finland and Finland has a rapidly growing immigrant population that does not speak their native language.
Finland has a national curriculum, so perhaps the United States is on the right track in that area, but besides that, how did they create such brilliant system of education? They started by developing a 25 year plan and they stuck to it. In fact, they stuck with it for 35 years before they saw the results they wanted. It has been my experience that in the U.S., educational decisions are made quickly and then abandoned quickly…phonics, whole language, saxon math, Singapore math, balanced literacy, total quality schools, head start…you get my point. Therefore, first and foremost, the U.S. needs to made a long-term plan and STICK WITH IT!
In addition to the long-term plan, standardized testing is used infrequently in Finland and students are not ranked. Students go to school for 9 years and then are given the choice of their track – either vocational/trade or academics. Per pupil expenditures in Finland are lower in than in the United States and the school year and week is shorter in Finland. One of the most important differences between Finnish education and U.S. education is in regards to teachers. Teachers in Finland have a tremendously high status and are selected from the top 10 percent of all applicants. They all have research-based master’s degrees (Let us be real here – some of the teachers you work with today would not be teachers under this kind of system. It hurts to say that, but the Finns clearly take only the best and brightest into the field). Finnish teachers are trusted by their administrators and the parents of their students, and this is a guess, I have not researched it, students are probably better behaved in school.
We all know there needs to be changes in the U.S. Educational System, and I think we need to start by making a long-term plan. The plan needs to be made by educational experts, not politicians. Maybe we do need to have better teachers, but accountability and Charlotte Danielson is not the way – we need to move the teacher up the food chain and place the career on level with doctors and attorneys. It will probably take 10 years to see the results of this effort, but it is a price we should be willing to pay for our children. We need to stop the continuous testing and ranking of our students and let them enjoy their educational experience – maybe by giving them back recess and some funding for the extra-curricular classes they enjoy.
We can have a world class education system in the U.S., but we need to put the system back in the hands of educators who have the experience and the background to make the kind of decisions that need to be made.
EduGatorSense 
Why Do Students Drop Out of School?
The article begins by citing that young adults from families with incomes in lowest twenty percent are six times more likely to drop out of school than their peers from families with incomes in the top twenty percent. It seems very clear to me that at-risk strategies need to be geared towards those students in the lowest income brackets. In addition, and this is common sense, family struggles, financial difficulties, illness, and pregnancy are also commonly identified as reasons students drop out. However, what I found extraordinarily interesting was the fact that in nearly every interview with a high school dropout, the authors found a negative experience involving organizational barriers, teachers, guidance counselors, curriculum practices, or instructional approaches that had a strong impact on the student’s decision to drop out of school. It left me asking myself if that single issue had not occurred, would that student have remained in school?
Many of the students interviewed felt that they were “passed along through the system,” with a lack of support from teachers, counselors, or administrators. These were the good kids: the nice, quiet ones that sit in the back and do not bother anyone. They were just passed from grade to grade until they were so far behind there was no way to catch up and pass the tests they needed to graduate. After reading this, I had to admit to myself that I was guilty of doing this. It was not intentional – I did not set out to hurt any students, but my lack of effort to make sure something was done for the student was probably not forceful enough.
Some of the dropouts could point to a single comment from a teacher that made a difference in their lives. A negative or sarcastic comment at the wrong time in the student’s life could taint their feelings about school forever. Many of the students “yearned for a teacher who would take in an interest in them.” I thought back to when I was in school and I vividly remembered my 5th grade teacher trying to explain something to the class that she could not quite get out correctly. I raised my hand and explained what she was trying to say. Her response to me was so exuberant and excited – she practically yelled, “Yeeeeessss, Jodie!!! That is exactly what I was trying to say!” I felt like the smartest kid on earth at that time and that memory has stayed with me to this day. What if a student never felt that kind of enthusiasm from a teacher? Even worse, what if the comment was a negative one that stayed with them as long as that positive comment stayed with me? Could it make a student hate school?
Many felt that “guidance counselors often saw students as statistics and not well rounded people,” discouraging them from setting goals that seemed too high. When I was the principal of an alternative school, I had many students come to me with stories about frazzled guidance counselors who would not allow them to try to go above and beyond. Instead of encouraging the student’s new enthusiasm for their educational pursuits, they were met with disdain and negativity. I remember thinking at that time, “what would it have harmed to let them try?” Sometimes students do see the light and want to change the negative past that has followed them to high school; shouldn’t we encourage them instead of denying them the opportunity because in the past they did not shine academically?
Other dropouts thought of school as a competition of sorts, which was more about what the students were wearing, what they were driving, and what kind of houses they lived in. My mother once told me that when she was in elementary school, she could not concentrate on the lessons because she had to remember to keep her feet firmly on the floor. She was afraid of lifting her shoes up and allowing the other students to see that she had holes in the bottom of her soles. As educators, is it not time we did something to alleviate feelings like these? In Japan, all students wear the same uniform to school. When they get to school, they all change into identical slippers, and all the students eat a free lunch that is served in the cafeteria. Sure, it probably eliminates originality in the kids, but to that one really smart kid from the poor family, the one who may develop the cure for cancer in twenty years, that uniform, those slippers, and that free school lunch means he has a fighting chance to receive a quality education and develop positive feelings about school.
Such small things could make a difference in so many lives. As educators, we must remember every day to reach out to that quiet student, to say something kind and encouraging to that student who so often receives negative feedback, and to let the student who wants to try to reach a higher bar do just that. Think of the lives you could change with such little effort – isn’t it at least worth a try?