Finnish Education System: The Best In the World
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Niall Shaky
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Great article!
But what do you think makes great overall education? Is it the people or the system? Which is more important?
If you'd take all the Finns and put them into a British-style of education system....I'm sure they'd continue to do well.
Now if you'd take all the Brits and put them into a Finnish-style of education system.....I'd doubt they'd all suddenely do very well.
But what do you think makes great overall education? Is it the people or the system? Which is more important?
If you'd take all the Finns and put them into a British-style of education system....I'm sure they'd continue to do well.
Now if you'd take all the Brits and put them into a Finnish-style of education system.....I'd doubt they'd all suddenely do very well.
Re: Finnish Education System: The Best In the World
Interesting and well done article. It's unusual in such articles that the journalist doesn't seize the opportunity to take a relative ideal and attempt to make a formula for a curative for all that ails the object of the comparison.Niall Shaky wrote:http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools ... 79,00.html
Where did he get the 'Presbyterian work ethic' bit though? I thought Finland was Lutheran.
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Niall Shaky
- Posts: 832
- Joined: Mon May 05, 2003 3:41 pm
I guess that means Lutherans can also be presbyterians? Hmmm... you (I) learn something every day...presbyterian [prézbi tri ən]
adj
relating to administration by presbyters: characterized by or relating to the government of a church by democratically elected lay officials
n (plural presbyterians)
supporter of administration by presbyters: somebody who supports and advocates church government by democratically elected lay officials
Microsoft® Encarta® Premium Suite 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Cue dreadful but mightily cute pun...
"I always thought the mailroom at http://www.whitehouse.gov was a presbytery".
Oh, you'll get it sooner or later.
Hey, how come THAT suddenly went into URL format without me adding coding?
"I always thought the mailroom at http://www.whitehouse.gov was a presbytery".
Oh, you'll get it sooner or later.
Hey, how come THAT suddenly went into URL format without me adding coding?
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Ace
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Hank W.
- The Motorhead
- Posts: 29973
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- Location: Mushroom Mountain
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According to the Porvoo agreement, we're all Anglicans!Niall Shaky wrote:I guess that means Lutherans can also be presbyterians? Hmmm... you (I) learn something every day...
http://www.kirken.no/engelsk/engelsk_porvoo.html
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.
How can a very relaxed system be enough motivating? 
Knowing though that you won't have to starve or do poor jobs though you're highly quallified can be this country's secret. You don't need to sweat from first years and you can wait as long as you are the citizen of a flourishing state. Let others be concerned by that, for instance ulkomaalainen cream of the brains invited here temporarily to do the work for Nokia. You can learn all by your pace, fast or slow, as the foreigner employee will get kicked out first if it is the socio-economical case and if he's not a genius enough to keep his place in Suomi.
Knowing though that you won't have to starve or do poor jobs though you're highly quallified can be this country's secret. You don't need to sweat from first years and you can wait as long as you are the citizen of a flourishing state. Let others be concerned by that, for instance ulkomaalainen cream of the brains invited here temporarily to do the work for Nokia. You can learn all by your pace, fast or slow, as the foreigner employee will get kicked out first if it is the socio-economical case and if he's not a genius enough to keep his place in Suomi.Fact: (oh, ALRIGHT then)
Extravagant unsubstantiated claim (is that better?): Finns as a whole place a higher premium on education than they do on mere money. The size of yer wad is nice, but the questions mums ask about their prospective sons-in-law do not concern the car he drives or what he makes a month, but where he went to school, and that doesn't mean primary school. There is something almost Jewish (and I'm not being mocking here) about the concern with intellectual betterment, and the whole ethos of the "white cap" as a rite of passage goes way beyond anything I recall from Britain.
Of course my data is hopelessly out of date, but I wonder if Britain STILL suffers from the working-class phobia of the intelligent son/daughter who will "go off to college and come back talking all funny". That sort of thing doesn't wash here.
Add to it the largely homogenous nature of the society and you've got a good basis for high education standards.
However... the word on the street is that Finnish schools are increasingly finding a much broader spread of ability in classes. I have had personal experience of this in writing textbooks: more and more often I am instructed to pen something that will "work" for a vast spectrum of abilities, as the good students get increasingly better and the slow ones go from a canter to a crawl. This is not a good sign.
Extravagant unsubstantiated claim (is that better?): Finns as a whole place a higher premium on education than they do on mere money. The size of yer wad is nice, but the questions mums ask about their prospective sons-in-law do not concern the car he drives or what he makes a month, but where he went to school, and that doesn't mean primary school. There is something almost Jewish (and I'm not being mocking here) about the concern with intellectual betterment, and the whole ethos of the "white cap" as a rite of passage goes way beyond anything I recall from Britain.
Of course my data is hopelessly out of date, but I wonder if Britain STILL suffers from the working-class phobia of the intelligent son/daughter who will "go off to college and come back talking all funny". That sort of thing doesn't wash here.
Add to it the largely homogenous nature of the society and you've got a good basis for high education standards.
However... the word on the street is that Finnish schools are increasingly finding a much broader spread of ability in classes. I have had personal experience of this in writing textbooks: more and more often I am instructed to pen something that will "work" for a vast spectrum of abilities, as the good students get increasingly better and the slow ones go from a canter to a crawl. This is not a good sign.
Good article.
I wonder whether he uses "Presbyterian" rather than the more common Protestant work ethic, because they are more puritanical than the Anglican church. I , for example, tend to associate Presbyterian firstly with Scotland (my parents are Scots Presbyterians). Also the Scots in general have a higher regard for education than the average English person.
From a church site:
http://www.northminstertucson.org/beliefs.htm
"Presbuteros, the Greek word meaning elder, is used 72 times in the New Testament. It provided the name for the Presbyterian family of churches, which includes the Reformed churches of the world. Both Presbyterian and Reformed are synonymous with churches that have grown out of the Calvinist Protestant tradition. "
I wonder whether he uses "Presbyterian" rather than the more common Protestant work ethic, because they are more puritanical than the Anglican church. I , for example, tend to associate Presbyterian firstly with Scotland (my parents are Scots Presbyterians). Also the Scots in general have a higher regard for education than the average English person.
From a church site:
http://www.northminstertucson.org/beliefs.htm
"Presbuteros, the Greek word meaning elder, is used 72 times in the New Testament. It provided the name for the Presbyterian family of churches, which includes the Reformed churches of the world. Both Presbyterian and Reformed are synonymous with churches that have grown out of the Calvinist Protestant tradition. "
... As someone else interested in human behaviour, read the following
quickly, then re-read it
'Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist
and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you
can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey
lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. ceehiro.'
Interesting isn't it - this is from work done at Cambridge University.
Wtih taht siad, I'm giong dwon the pulbic huose tihs afertonon to get
largered up!
quickly, then re-read it
'Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist
and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you
can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey
lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. ceehiro.'
Interesting isn't it - this is from work done at Cambridge University.
Wtih taht siad, I'm giong dwon the pulbic huose tihs afertonon to get
largered up!