Wednesday, April 15, 2009

What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

Today in class we read an article entitled "What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?".  We discussed this article in class but something that caught my attention in the article that was not related to the topic we discussed was a small quote that I think had a huge impact. 

"In most countries, education feels like a car factory.  In Finland, the teachers are the entrepreneurs." 

The first sentence of the quote is shocking but so true.  I have never though of it before but I think it makes a good analogy.  In the US for sure it seams that teachers are "teaching to the test".  They are just teaching what students need to know to pass national standard tests and they continue this way each new year with all new kids... like a factory.  

2 comments:

  1. I never caught this from the article! That is really interesting to think about though. I continue to wonder what U.S. schools would be like without so much regulation by the government. If we were a litle more laid back in our teaching styles, would we have higher test scores?

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  2. It is also interesting to think about who determines what needs to be on those tests. Are we allowing government officials to make regulations when they may not be suited to do that? Obviously having standardized testing isn't helping American students achieve at higher standards, so who are the tests benefiting?

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