Finland's Success

These thoughts have been provoked by the article, "A Model Lesson, Finland Shows Us What Equal Opportunity Looks Like" by Pasi Sahlberg.  Click here to read this article in American Educator Online.

I have been following the story of Finland's education success with interest.  I watched a program with one of Finland's education ministers and he said something that resonates with me because it seems to be such a common sense approach to education for a country like the United States of America.  It cuts to the core of what I believe this country represents.  Opportunity for all.  The minister said that while they were reforming Finland's education their goal was to create equity for all citizens.

In other words they were creating an education system to provide a level playing field for everyone.  Out of this system of equity developed a system of excellence.  It is hard for me to understand why the U.S.A. can not put the idea of equity at the core of our education system.  Why is it not possible to go to the failing schools and provide them with the resources and human capital they need to provide an education equal to that a student from a rich suburb has the opportunity to obtain.

The problem from my point of view is this,

In the United States we place our emphasis in education upon choice and competition, in Finland their driving philosophy is equity and shared responsibility.  

In the U.S. A. we think as individuals because we have been trained by an education system that places us in an age group cadre that rewards only those who can best follow directions for 12 years in a row.  This training skews our thinking toward competition and the idea that those who don't think like us don't think correctly.

We are now living in a world where all people are clamoring for access to the resources America has monopolized to become the powerhouse it is.  If we do not learn to cooperate with one another we may eventually be denied resources from outside our national borders.

 Remember what John Donne wrote, "No man is an island, entire of itself" this is true for nations as well, even those as rich and powerful as the U.S.A.  We must learn the skill of cooperation so that we might draw upon all members of society to build our future.