Why is Finland’s socialist school system the best?
Giving 5 year olds 10 hours/day homework not needed.
Their whole system is a magnet school with “honors” students staying in the classroom and helping the “stupid” kids. Wouldn’t work in the USA because there is an extreme lack of honor, discipline, decorum, etc. Imagine, we could solve half the CA budget problem my starting school later…
“Finland’s educational success can be attributed to the “unified” school system, which sees children staying at the same school between the ages of seven and 16, rather than having primary and secondary schools. “It’s like ice hockey. We let all the girls and boys play, not only the best ones. With this fair play, we can give everyone the same chance to practise their skills – and this also gives us the way to find the best ones.”
Finland’s education system, when compared to the UK, is also different in the later age at which pupils enter schools. While pupils in the UK enter formal schooling at five, in Finland children enter school at seven – and then only for half days. They also have longer holidays than in the UK, including a 10-week break in the summer.
This places greater responsibility on families – and Ms Haatainen says that an important ingredient in Finland’s high achievement in reading and writing is a strong culture of reading in the home. Parents nurture a love of reading among children and this is supported by a network of public libraries, says the minister.
In the last international education league tables, produced by the OECD, Finland’s 15 year olds were judged to have the highest standards of literacy in the world.
Ms Haatainen also says that the country has made a conscious effort to have highly-qualified teachers throughout the school system”[teaching is honored in Finland as much as a Ferrari driving executive is honored in the USA].
