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Finland's School System

Blogs > AirbladeOrange
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1 2 3 Next All
AirbladeOrange
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United States2573 Posts
October 04 2011 08:20 GMT
#1
I recently watched this documentary about Finland's school system and it was really interesting. There are so many flaws in the U.S. system that it seems like we have things backward. Rather than education being a tool of empowering students it generally discourages creativity, individuality, and innovation.

Finland has a completely different approach where students are tested less, have less homework, have more free time, and are still better prepared for entering the workforce upon graduating. Students get more choices with their curriculum as well.

I believe there is a lot the U.S. can learn from Finland and I was wondering if anyone knows more about the schools there to talk about it.


(Just the trailer)

*****
Amanebak
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Czech Republic528 Posts
October 04 2011 08:52 GMT
#2
I haven't heard about their school system. But Scandinavia is known for their success in that field.
I wouldn't say that our system is totally wrong but there are a lot of things I would change. There are subjects where memorising without thinking is the best way to learn.
BW
Oozo
Profile Joined December 2009
Finland432 Posts
October 04 2011 09:03 GMT
#3
Well, more or less. Our schools make learning so that when you're motivated, you will learn stuff yourself rather than shoving those books to our throats. Thus making students learn lot by them self and wanting that information.

Knowing yourself, that without proper education. You will end up in cleaning or similar crappy job. That makes you study harder and learn stuff. I recall my self at 7th grade when our guidance counselor asked "What you want to do when you are old?", and I just shrugged at that moment. Then she just showed me cleaner at halls and said, "that's pretty much what you're going to do if you don't study enough for what you desire". And I got really fast what I wanted to do, and what grades to aim for.

Also teachers being quite highly educated helps, does smooth out all the misconceptions and wrong information on our studies.

Somewhat our society has changed in past years and its going to bit wrong way in all honesty. 10~ years ago, when someone got bad grade from test, usually parents scolded the kid. Now they call our teachers, and start yelling to them for giving their children bad grade. So it can turn to worse at our ranking to be honest, if this keeps up.
SKT for OSL!
Kukaracha
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
France1954 Posts
October 04 2011 09:09 GMT
#4
Sounds like a dream.

Here in France, you start working from 8 AM to 5 PM every working day of the week (except Wednesday, which starts at 8 and ends at 1 PM) at the age of 6. There is homework everyday and it's common to have an hour of homework everyday if you're a serious student.

But it's always more relaxed than Korea though.

Or so I thought... our government cut the public school budgets and now every teacher is under severe depression and stress.
Le long pour l'un pour l'autre est court (le mot-à-mot du mot "amour").
AnxiousHippo
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Australia1451 Posts
October 04 2011 09:26 GMT
#5
Finland just generally seems like a great place to live.
An apple a day keeps the Protoss away | TLHF
jamssi
Profile Joined January 2011
Finland36 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-04 09:49:24
October 04 2011 09:48 GMT
#6
On October 04 2011 18:26 AnxiousHippo wrote:
Finland just generally seems like a great place to live.

Only if you like 7 months of cold and darkness each year.
Grettin
Profile Joined April 2010
42381 Posts
October 04 2011 09:49 GMT
#7
On October 04 2011 18:26 AnxiousHippo wrote:
Finland just generally seems like a great place to live.


Yeah, yet i still want to move out from this country as soon as possible. :p

But yes, our education system is wonderful and everyone who are born in Finland (or any country) are lucky to have this kind of system. Sadly, there is still a lot of people who really doesn't care about education at all, or when they do it might be a bit too late. And people who doesn't realize how good this system actually is compared to other countries.

I'm one of those who really didn't give a shit about it till i was 'done' with my compulsory education, and now i'm regretting it a little. Even though i have already graduated and planning to continue my studying, i should have paid more attention to all of this. But it's not like i'm gonna be a cleaner or anything like that, but if i would like to study something else now, that might not be possible because of that.

So the education system here is pretty 'forgiving' sometimes if you ask me.
"If I had force-fields in Brood War, I'd never lose." -Bisu
micronesia
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States24680 Posts
October 04 2011 10:09 GMT
#8
On October 04 2011 18:03 Jienny wrote:
Somewhat our society has changed in past years and its going to bit wrong way in all honesty. 10~ years ago, when someone got bad grade from test, usually parents scolded the kid. Now they call our teachers, and start yelling to them for giving their children bad grade. So it can turn to worse at our ranking to be honest, if this keeps up.

Haha that's just like schools in the US. Only difference is it's been happening here for more than 10 years...
ModeratorThere are animal crackers for people and there are people crackers for animals.
Tomken
Profile Joined January 2010
Norway1144 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-04 10:32:38
October 04 2011 10:25 GMT
#9
Hmm... I've seen several rankings (school/education stuff) there Finland always is top 5 and I've always wondered why (cause I never checked it up)... I always thought Finnish school system needed to be some type of jp/cn/kr, but this was kinda _shocking_ rofl. Finland jjang VITTUPERKELETHEDUDESONS

Edit: some other vid: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8601207.stm
MBCGame HERO FIGHTING!!!~
AnxiousHippo
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Australia1451 Posts
October 04 2011 10:42 GMT
#10
On October 04 2011 18:48 jamssi wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 04 2011 18:26 AnxiousHippo wrote:
Finland just generally seems like a great place to live.

Only if you like 7 months of cold and darkness each year.
Where I live you get 12 months of cold a year. Schooling in Australia seems alright, but teachers could use some more money.
An apple a day keeps the Protoss away | TLHF
Soleron
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United Kingdom1324 Posts
October 04 2011 10:44 GMT
#11
On October 04 2011 19:09 micronesia wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 04 2011 18:03 Jienny wrote:
Somewhat our society has changed in past years and its going to bit wrong way in all honesty. 10~ years ago, when someone got bad grade from test, usually parents scolded the kid. Now they call our teachers, and start yelling to them for giving their children bad grade. So it can turn to worse at our ranking to be honest, if this keeps up.

Haha that's just like schools in the US. Only difference is it's been happening here for more than 10 years...


I don't understand why you don't have national government-set exams. Letting schools set their own grades sounds unfair and hugely open to abuse, especially for university entrance. In the UK you just get three A grades on the national tests and you get a top 10 university place regardless of anything else you do, extracurricular or otherwise. There's not even more applicants than places for people with those grades.
RogerX
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
New Zealand3180 Posts
October 04 2011 10:46 GMT
#12
I would've loved to have this sort of education. I feel like I have to compare the asian school system with Finlands, less work less homework less tests = less PRESSURE by a whole heap amount than the asian school system. And the amazing thing is that Finlands' students still do well, we should learn a thing or two from Finlands amazing approach to the education system.
Stick it up. take it up. step aside and see the world
Sotamursu
Profile Joined June 2010
Finland612 Posts
October 04 2011 11:04 GMT
#13
The school system is generally pretty good, but it does have its problems. Also some teachers are just so fucking bad you learn absolutely nothing. The good part is that you can complain about them and get them fired.

It's true that there's pretty much no pressure until you apply to a university and even then if you did well on the matriculation and the entrance exams, you'll get in easily. This system does sort of promote laziness. I pretty much never studied to a single exam and yet I'm in one of the best schools in my country.
Dulak
Profile Joined August 2011
Finland33 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-04 11:14:46
October 04 2011 11:13 GMT
#14
The BBC piece touched on the subject a little and it is indeed a problem that the system doesn't really recognize exceptional students so there is a very high risk of them just getting lazy and coasting through on autopilot. That being said though it's still a great system and I can confidently say that I could live in any remote part of the country and send my kid to the local public school (private schools are virtually nonexistent) and he/she would receive an education similar to any other school in the country and would be ready to go to university or pursue whatever carreer he/she wished. And all of this completely free of charge, including university. (We can argue that the taxes are higher as a result but you get the point.)

haduken
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Australia8267 Posts
October 04 2011 12:04 GMT
#15
We all heard about Finnish schools but can anyone give me a summary on what's different about them?

I'd say if we can fix the parents and the teachers then the school problem will go away but honestly I don't know if they can be fixed.

Teachers need to be respected not just by the students but also the parents and society in general. Only then can more smart people join their ranks. These days they are more of a nanny/maid rather than educators.
Rillanon.au
FreshVegetables
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
Finland513 Posts
October 04 2011 12:08 GMT
#16
On October 04 2011 20:04 Sotamursu wrote:
The school system is generally pretty good, but it does have its problems. Also some teachers are just so fucking bad you learn absolutely nothing. The good part is that you can complain about them and get them fired.

It's true that there's pretty much no pressure until you apply to a university and even then if you did well on the matriculation and the entrance exams, you'll get in easily. This system does sort of promote laziness. I pretty much never studied to a single exam and yet I'm in one of the best schools in my country.


You can complain and get them fired, really? Also about the getting in to unis and other schools easily it all depends a lot on what branch your looking to study in. Your also implying that the system promotes laziness? How exactly because I have to strongly disagree. Your post was quite misleading and subjective imo Also I would like to know about these "fucking bad teachers", care to elaborate?
yummy tomatoes
laevat
Profile Joined November 2010
Finland27 Posts
October 04 2011 12:45 GMT
#17
On October 04 2011 21:04 haduken wrote:
We all heard about Finnish schools but can anyone give me a summary on what's different about them?


Free Free food all the way till Uni. That's the only thing that I can say for sure that I think is different. I'll let other finns speak more for this matter as I'm not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to comparing our school system to others. I just know that the food costs in most other countries while it is free here.
DNB
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Finland995 Posts
October 04 2011 13:28 GMT
#18
Some teachers are absolute trash, and I don't agree with many of the teaching methods either as in root memorization instead of actually thinking matters through (though this is highly dependent on the teacher — as I said, some are trash, but on the other hand there are also those who you can only listen to without doing homework or taxing memorizing, and still get the point thoroughly.)

It makes me wonder how our country is ranked in top of the PISA.

It's true that we have less pressure though, (but not non-existent) when compared to other countries. Maybe that is the influencing factor, as it allows more time for the brains to rest.
laguu
Profile Joined October 2009
Finland278 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-04 13:36:42
October 04 2011 13:35 GMT
#19
The video says there is barely any homework and very little testing which I think is a bit exaggerating.

Anyway, there was once a thread on a certain poker forum where people were wondering why there are so many high level players in Scandinavian countries compared to their relatively small population. The conclusion that I took from the thread was that since such a big part of the year is dark and cold, people are more inclined to spend their time inside doing "boring" stuff like reading books, studying etc. For example, you can't surf here at all and you can only go to the beach during 2-3 months of the year if the weather is nice. So I guess we have much less attractions to steer ourselves away from the "right path" or something. And you wonder why Finns drink so much?
Arguing with a fool proves there are two.
marttorn
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
Norway5211 Posts
October 04 2011 13:40 GMT
#20
I heard when I was younger that Finland's school system is apparently really successful, I haven't looked more into it since. The part of Norway I grew up in has literally one of the worst schools in the whole country though >,>
memes are a dish best served dank
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