A Better System : Finland Vs. United States Education System

The Common Core State Standards are considered to be a high-quality group of academic standards. Before the standards were developed, it seemed as if the progress of the students in the United States was remaining stagnant and that America students were falling behind their international peers. The blame for this setback has fallen on the fact that standards are not consistent and from state-to-state students are required to know different things at different grade levels. As a result students are not graduating with the same set of skills (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2014).

"What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success" by Anu Partanen begins by talking about the great success Finland has had with their school system after they reformed. Finland completely changed their outlook on school and how it is perceived. Finland now has the highest test scores among the world without all the standardized test and ample amount of homework. The focus is on engaging children in creative play and providing a healthy, safe environment for children. There are no private schools in Finland and children are provided with free schooling, free meals, easy access to health care and counseling. From pre-K to a Ph.D there are no tuition fees. The three major reforms made to the school system

Adopted by forty-two out states in 2010, the Common Core State Standard Initiative strives to provide an educational structure which details what English language arts and mathematics should be taught from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The initiative is the federal government’s attempt to ensure all students who graduate from high school are adequately prepared to enter a two or four year college or the workforce. Despite their intentions, the Common Core has caused much controversy in the education community. The thought behind Common Core is very valid and has the potential to help students, however changes must be made to unrealistic standards and wordy statements. Common Core must first be rewritten so that the language is clear and can be easily understood by the general public. Next ask experts on childhood development and elementary school teachers to review the standards and rewrite standards they see as unneeded or irrelevant as well as unrealistic.

Countries around the world take a world exam to see their students’ scores and to see where they rank globally. Finland has done a great job in their testing by being of the few countries to be on top. Parthanen says “Finland national education system has been receiving praise … Finnish students have … highest test scores in the world” (969). It shows that Finland has an effective method to help their students to reach to the top. The author primary audience is mainly the world to notice the achievements that Finland accomplished and try to follow their steps on education

The article “Use the Common Core. Use It Widely. Use It Well” by William E. (Brit) Kirwan, Timothy P. White, and Nancy Zimpher states that many high school graduates lack the skills needed to enter and succeed at college level courses. Though the writers list much support of Common Core State Standards there is also political resistance and assessment difficulties. Colleges and students are using many unnecessary dollars to bring high school graduates up to college entry level standards. This national problem affects all areas of the country and the cost of not finding a solution to improving student success in college and vocational training could be detrimental to society.

The lack of educational benchmarks and standardization in the United States of America, USA is disjointed and subpar leaving students ill prepared to enter the workforce and college. As evidenced by the persistent problem of students graduating and passing required exit exams in high school; yet, they still needed remediation upon entry to college. The Common Core is good because it provides a set of age appropriate learning goals and sets a national high-quality academic standard for Math and English to prepare students for college and career readiness. In essence, the Common Core defines what a student should know and be able to do at different grade levels.

The educational system in the United States was originally developed using concepts from around the world, created using ingenuitive ideas from countries such as China, Japan, and Korea. However, as the United States quickly moved into position as the leading country for state-directed educational standards, America looked less and less to the systems of other nations and more into how we could improve what was locally and currently being applied in education. Consequently, an improved type of education instruction was officially launched in 2010. These new state standards, practically titled Common Core, were declared to focus on developing a child’s skills in reasoning, problem solving, communication, and competition (Conrad, et al. 52). While the standards are professed to be an extremely practical and beneficial method of teaching today, there are issues which have recently surfaced and raised some concerns. The Common Core State Standards are emerging as the subjects of a provocative controversy in society today as they prompt discussion on global economic efficiency, nationwide academic standards, and the ultimate well-being of school-age children.

Like an epidemic terrorizing the western hemisphere, the Common Core State Standards program has swept across our nation, and at each stop, threatened a new way of thinking and learning. These standards were created to ensure that more students graduated from high school with the skills to succeed in college, life, and career, no matter where they might live (“About the Standards”). In 2009, this fresh new take on education was launched to each state’s educational leaders in the U. S. The officials of each state decided whether the implementation of the program was beneficial for them, or if the current techniques were the best option.

Common Core State Standards is being heard throughout the education world. Many cringe when the words are spoken and many fight to support what the words stand for. Common Core was introduced in 2009 by state leaders. Common Core State Standards were developed to prepare children for the business world or the reality after grade school. “The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy, also known as ELA” (About the Standards, n.d.). The goals for the standards outline what students should know before leaving his or her current grade level. “The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live” (About the Standards, n.d.). This is an ambitious goal, but with much support can be accomplished. According to Common Core State Standards Initiative (n.d.) The Common Core has been adopted by forty-two states already and is accompanied by District of Columbia and Department of Defense Education Activity. Common Core was developed to improve the academics in society’s schools. Academics in the past years have not been successful and the United States has fallen behind international education. “One root cause has been an uneven patchwork of academic standards that vary from state to state and do not agree on what students should know and be able to do at each

Education in the United States is in an abysmal state. It continues to spiral downward as students and educators fail to meet standards. The standards are then altered on a patchwork basis throughout the states. The goal is no longer to have a high standard educational system. The goal now is to maintain the status quo, allowing students and educators to strive for the minimum. There is no common approach to achieve success. Incipit Tragoedia, in comes the Common Core, agreed upon by educators, politicians, and

“Nineteen countries and education systems scored higher than the United States in reading on the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, up from nine systems when the test was last administered in 2009. “While we’re standing still, other countries are making progress,” said Jack Buckley, the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which issued the U.S. report on PISA.” (Heitin). From the outside the initiative, “Common Core” that President Obama and the government have been pushing since 2009 seems like it would be a great thing for education ,our children, and the future of our society, but once you look closer it is not. I believe that we definitely need serious improvement in the US

Many Americans, including teachers, are very displeased with the new standards children are having to live up to. If parents knew what the Common Core is doing to the classroom, there would be a revolt.; a quote directly from a New York high school instructor. Instead of teaching the fundamental basics of education, many teachers are too heavily stressed on the fact they have to meet a deadline and rush through important materials needed for adolescents future success.

Finland is a country with a well known reputation for excellent education. Finland is ranked twelfth in the world for education, whereas the United States of America is ranked fifteenth (Iceland is number one). (Human Development indices) Finland also has the highest PISA scores in the world. (Human Development Indices) The U.S. used to be the top, but now we are slowly falling behind. Perhaps the U.S. should examine the Finnish education system and use some of its ideas to revamp our system.

Compared to America, Finland has a different education system. Children in Finland go to school from age 7 to age 16. They rarely have homework and are only required to take one standardized test, at age 16. Middle School aged students are allowed a 75 minute recess, and teachers only spend an average of 4 hours a day 5 days a week in the classroom along with 2 totals extra hours a week which are spent working on, as the article states, "professional development."  There's a broad list of curriculum outlines that all teachers must follow. One specific thing is that all students learn is 3 languages: Finnish, Swedish, and a third that they pick. There are no academic competitions, rankings, or comparisons of students. Students aren't separated into different classes based on intellect.   Though this seems like an odd way of teaching, studies show Finland has the smallest difference between "strong" and "weak" students in the world. 96% of students graduate high school, 17.5% more than in the U.S., of these 66% go to college and 43% go to vocational school. All schools are 100% government funded and provide students with food, medical care, counseling, and taxi service. Teachers must have a masters degree and all are picked from the same group. Finland's goal is to provide every student, native or foreign, with equal opportunities to education. They strive to have all their students on the same level of knowledge when the graduate.

In the 1970’s Finland was not at the top of the education chain, in fact their education system was doing poorly (NEA). Finland has been changing their education system over the past 35 years to make their education system better. They have changed their education system to become very successful. When looking at the differences between the United States education system and Finland education system has obvious differences between the testing, the paths for the students to take, time management during school hours, and the environment of the classroom.