Finland vs. United States - so much more than just culture

In a recent posting, I discussed the vast cultural differences between Finland and the United States. But while culture is a big issue, there is more to the success of Finnish schools than their population size and homogeneous people.

While we push children to learn at younger and younger ages, Finnish children begin formal schooling at age 7. The Finnish believe that childhood is for playing and that children learn while playing. It's believed that given enough time to play and have fun (and learn while doing so) children will arrive at school ready to learn.

In Finland, children are not pulled from the classroom for remediation. Rather, students who have trouble perfecting a skill or grasping a concept are visited by the two or three teachers in the room or by one of the teaching assistants. I wonder how many teachers in this country would be grateful for just the teaching assistant.

While we believe in "no child left behind", we increasingly expect one classroom teacher to differentiate instruction, keep paperwork on all those tiered students, meet with parents, make copies of lessons, pay for additional education and consult with colleagues. And unions certainly don't help by negotiating contracts that call for a work day that consistently allows teachers to walk out the door only moments after the children do.

In so many ways, the Finnish system reveals a high level of respect for the developmental needs of their children and sets high professional expectations for teachers.

How did we get it so wrong?

Fern vs. Forest

In a recent article in the Washington Post, Linda Darling-Hammond wrote about a recent worldwide educational seminar in New York City. The slant? Well that in really high performing countries, teachers are respected and are well paid. They provide high quality teacher training, support their teachers...you get the picture, I'm sure.

And I have to say that as a teacher these types of articles make my head spin just as much as the teacher bashing, anti-union rhetoric we hear so often. I'm happy for Finland, really I am. I'm glad that they have a wonderful educational system and love their teachers. But are we to conclude that modeling our schools after theirs is the answer?

While we might be able to learn some things from Finland, a comparison of the U.S. to Finland is like comparing a fern to a forest. Yes, they're both shades of green.

The population in Finland is smaller than that of New York City. The population is largely homogeneous, the dominant language being Finnish. The child poverty rate is 4 percent. They are not currently running or participating in any wars.

Our schools are part of a huge, troubled nation filled with violence, an extremely heterogeneous population, with confused and overwhelmed parents. Nearly 25 percent of children are from families living in poverty.

The biggest problem we have in the dialogue about education is how limited it is. Yes, there are bad teachers and it would seem, plenty of them. The unions are often inflexible and administrators can be narrow minded and political.

But schools are not isolated islands unto themselves and the problems go way beyond the walls of school buidings.

How would Finland's educational system hold up under the challenges of educating American children?

There's no quick fix, no single answer. The lack of quality in our educational system is merely a reflection of the lack of quality, moral conviction and sense of community that maybe this country once had.