Finland Education Vs American Education System

America used to thrive on its education system and that is why it became one of the greatest nations in the world. Education is the backbone of our country, and we must give high priority to improve its current condition. Unfortunately, in the past couple of decades, the education system has been regressing. It has been on the decline and not as effective. The quality of education in a country has an influence on GDP growth, social cohesion and social well being in general. In order to improve the quality of education in the U.S., the following must be taken into consideration: the structure of our education system must be reanalyzed, we must compare and contrast our education system to systems of other countries with higher rankings, and finally, there must be a solution.

In this Article, Partanen states the differences in America’s education system and Finland’s education system. She mentions that one of the leading Finnish authorities on Education reform, Pasi Sahlberg, visited the U.S. In this visit, there were many things revealed on how Finland has been so successful with their education,

4, Partanen).” Education is Finland is used as a way to even out social inequality. As Sahlberg addresses, “This means that schools should be healthy, safe environments for children (p. 4).” Because of this, school meals are free for students, and health care is easily accessible, as well as psychological counseling and student guidance. In the end, Finland has proven that it is indeed possible to achieve

The Finnish Model will work well on reforming the U. S. because it provides equal education and opportunity for everybody. In the country of Finland, “there were no high-tech, interactive whiteboards in her [Kim’s] classroom…no police officer in the hallway” (p. 83). This suggests that these students do not need fancy equipment or armed protection to be the smartest kids in the world. In addition, the Finnish want everyone to be successful despite their circumstances at home, and one way they do so is possessing academic and vocational schooling. This gives students a choice between two equitable options of education instead of forcing them down a one-way path to graduation. The U.S., in my opinion, would greatly benefit from allowing this option in their schooling system because it allows students freedom over their future.

In the world, countries are competing to have the best education system. Some countries such as America spend thousands of dollars per student during the school year yet have average test score. America should focus in a different system to help students raise their test scores and education. America should look at Finland education system. Finland grants equality education to all, have a better education structure system, and Finland comes to the top in test scores. While some people might say Finland does not have a large population, which helps the country with less education cost.

In Finland, a child’s education is taken very seriously. Their high schools can easily be compared to American colleges. Colleges and universities are free to all Finnish residents and colleges don’t use dorms for their students. If I were to visit Finland,

The American education has tried to make recent changes to accommodate higher education and learning by implementing Common Core Standards. According to “The Common Core State Standards” magazine by Allison Jones and Jaqueline King, “Common Core 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…” (Jones and King 37). Although the common core emphasizes these values, it is still an ongoing process with some issues. On the other hand, Finland focuses on these values and invests in the future of their country through their education system. Finland is ranked as one of the best educational systems in the world and uses different approaches to ensure the success of their students. Both countries have strengths and weaknesses in their education system, overall, Finland has a better education system than United States and by implementing some of the Finnish approaches the American education can be more successful.

Let 's begin with our standards of education here in America. We are at a far lower placing than several other first world countries in terms of standards for our education. In fact, an article from the MBC Times ranks the US 14th worldwide. In order the rankings read something like this: South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, Poland,

When schooling was first created in the US, there were not nearly as many rules. One-room schoolhouses where there were all different kinds of ages and education levels were the norm, and the type of education that was given to students was far different than what they receive today. As education developed and various needs came to light, larger schools were built and students were segregated based on criteria such as age. Separate schooling based on learning ability (special education) was something that came later, but it was eventually developed. The system that is available today is working well in many cases, but there are areas in which it is still failing the students - mainly because there are still too many countries getting ahead of the US in areas such as science and mathematics (Darling-Hammond, 2001; Figlio, 2002). Until the US takes back the number one spot, today's students will be at a disadvantage based on what they are learning and how they can put that education to use in the job market (Collins, 1999; Darling-Hammond, 2001).

The differences between Finland and American education systems start with the youngest students. Finland students start school at a later age than American students. In Finland their students don’t start school until they reach the age of seven years old, where as in America the students start school when they reach the age of five. Finland also doesn’t focus on testing their younger students. Instead, they focus on play and teaching their younger students how to understand their way of think and learn. Finland doesn’t start testing their students until they enter the fourth grade, around the age of twelve. In America the testing starts when some students enter pre-kindergarten.

American education and Finnish education systems are different in many ways. For example, American educations systems focus on standardized tests and base students intelligence on it while Finnish education systems only have one standardized test. Another is that all Finnish teachers must qualify using the same standards in order to teach while in the US standards that make a teacher qualified vary depending on the school system. Finland’s censorship is very similar to the US,but they sill contrast. For example, both countries have freedom of speech and press, but in Finland the citizens are allowed to see all government documents while in the US government documents  are secured from the public. Also, the US has restrictions on what books

As stated in the Atlantis, one of America’s leading political magazines, “Finland 's success is especially intriguing because Finnish schools assign less homework and engage children in more creative play”(Partanen). So how is Finland consistently turning in some of the highest test results? Could the United State’s k-12 education ever adapt to reform its system to reflect Finland 's suggests? To improve the United States current education, schools need to find an alternative to standardized tests and make classrooms more interactive. The curriculum needs to be focused on students’ futures to prepare them for the 21st century, not the past.

In this paper, it will be looking at the culture and education practices of Finland, Canada, and China. Education varies from country to country as well as does one's culture, lifestyle of the people who live there. In doing so will review their culture and the role of their education policies that are used to motivate schools and teachers to improve student learning along with how their culture plays into learning. Furthermore, children should be taught with respect to their culture. However, we can also learn from one another. In addition, we have similar and different educational practices from one another. Such as when it comes to the Finnish, Canadians, to the Chinese as, we all learn in different environments because of our

A plethora of European nations have found the way to properly educate their citizens, while the United States sits back and hopes methods of the past can solve the problems of the future. Proactivity and reform are absolutely essential to eradicating the national crisis Americans are facing in the realm of secondary

The differences between Finland and American education systems start with the youngest students. Finland students start school at a later age than American students. In Finland their students don’t start school until they are seven years old, where as in America the students start school when they are at the age of five. Finland also doesn’t focus on testing their younger students instead they focus on play and teaching their younger students how to understand how they thing and how they learn. Finland doesn’t start testing their students until they are in the fourth grade, around the age of twelve. In America the testing starts when some students art in pre-kindergarten.