The best education in the world.

When I made a prediction about where the best schools in the world would be, I thought of China, or maybe Russia. I was kind of suprised to find that it is Finland. Their schools sound so incredible that I wish I could have grown up there. They have shorter school days, free hot meals, lots of music, art, and sports, and a more home-like environment. Upon arriving to class they remove their shoes at the door, which is customary to do at their home. Finland has more graduates than anywhere in the world. 60% people in Finland are university educated. Relating Finland's educational system to that of America's, I see a prominent difference regarding what types of societies we are living in. I suspect that Finland is not as competitive as USA. Finland's outlook on how to care of their students is also interesting. A teacher was asked what it was that made them so successful, they replied that teaching is highly respected, and they have a lot of control with how they teach. I was comparing NCLB with Finland's take on how to help struggling students, and this is what was said,'Our poor students do extremely well, so the gap between them and the high performers is small compared to that in other countries. But we know you have to work extremely hard with those students. If you stress competition, they will be the losers and the gap will widen.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/sep/25/schoolsworldwide.schools