equalizer, it’s a little hard to compare US schools w/ Finnish schools and say which one did a better job. Especially since Finland has a population of ~5M and US have well over 300M people. San Diego alone has ~3M people. Secondly, what you said about “Parents nurture a love of reading among children…” is the KEY to why they might have a better school system. You can easily look at this one factor and compare Carmel Valley school vs school in El Cajon. The other differences is, Finland have a voucher system for their schools and we do not. People here in the US are stuck w/ the school around where they live, which mean they’re stuck in their social economic environment. If we implement a voucher system, students in El Cajon why want to succeed can easily go to Carmel Valley school w/out any issue. If you have a population who treasure education, they will excel in school. It all starts at home.