Surpassing America

Many people know that the U.S. does not rank very high in education. You hear about how they are always trying to improve education, but they still fall short of where they strive to be. In Anu Partanen’s “Finland’s School Success, What Americans Keep Ignoring” she addresses this issue. She points out what Americans are doing wrong, what Finland is doing right, and how the U.S. can improve the education system in many ways.

For many years the school system in Finland has been very successful. In the PISA survey, which compares reading, math and science knowledge of 15 year olds around the world, Finland is not only the top European country but also competes with Asian giants like Shanghai, Singapore and South Korea. But what makes the educational system in this small country so strikingly different from others in the western world.

The book The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way written by Amanda Ripley, tells about the various types of education systems from several of the countries that are in the lead for the most educated countries in the world. In Ripley’s book she does not just explain the importance of education but also how it affects the countries and how the students that are getting the education experience it. What led to the finding out of which country was the smartest country in the world was the Program for International Student Assessment or the PISA test. The PISA test is a test that was made to test a person 's ability to think critically, their communication skills, the ability to solve problems in math, reading and science, along with the students’ preparedness to do well in and be able to cooperate in society. Education is something that every country needs to move forward and gain powers in more ways than one so obviously in every country education should come first above all else for the young minds of the future. Author of The Smartest Kids in the World and How They Got That Way, Amanda Ripley, explains the issues concerning education and how the world is making huge leaps in education through many unbelievable factors that can affect a student 's education. She follows several completely different students that are from America and go off to other countries to go to school through a study abroad program. The American education system needs to follow what the

Finland and america both have good education but both don’t spend the same proportion of the money on the schools because Finland spends 7% of the money on it but America only spends about 6% of the money on

As a result of this, the system is constantly receiving criticism concerning the quality of the American system. (U.S.D.E. The Educational System in the U.S…) In fact, a recent study done by the National Institute on Student Achievement, Curriculum, and Assessment, states that in fourth grade math, Japan ranks third out of twenty-six countries while the U.S. ranks only twelfth, and that in eighth grade math, Japan keeps the ranking of third out of forty-one, while the U.S. drops to twenty-eighth. As result of these criticisms, sets of voluntary guidelines and standard achievement tests have recently been introduced as an effort to “catch up” to the other

In Anu Partanen’s article “Finland’s school success, what Americans keep ignoring,” she talks about how Finland transformed its education system to one of the top education systems in the world. First Finland’s success comes from engaging student’s creative imaginations, and demanding less in homework. In addition since the 1970’s, the education policy in Finland is that no child would be left behind. Regardless of background, every child will have the same opportunity to obtain an education.

For roughly thirty years, international test scores have shown that the United States is falling behind in the education rankings. Many Asian and European countries have much higher test scores. Professionals have argued for years that these rankings are “Threatening the country’s economic growth”(Carnoy). One test in one year compared to all these countries is very inaccurate and should not be taken so literal. Being that the US is so large, each state is in charge of their own education systems. Many different rules and the way exams are graded could be a variable that is being overlooked year after year. Another variable being overlooked is social class(Carnoy). In many countries, only those who come from middle to upper classes may go to school(Carnoy). Along with that, many there are various regulations that are much

Although the United States is one of the most highly industrialized nations in the world, students in many other industrialized nations are outperforming U.S. students in various academic areas. As a result, the U.S. has implemented standard-based reform, and its educational costs have soared. No longer are American graduates competing with each other for jobs, in the present global economy, they also are competing with graduates from other industrialized nations, many of whom are preforming at higher academic levels in reading, math, science, and problem solving as measured by their performance on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) (“FactSheet”1-2). The PISA is an assessment that is administered every three years to fifteen year old students in OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development) countries. The OECD consists of the world’s highly industrialized nations that comprise more than 85% of the world’s economy. (West 2) The PISA was first administered in 2000, and it has been administered every three years since that time. This assessment measures student performance in the areas of reading, mathematics and science. The 2003 and 2012 administrations of the PISA also measured students’ problem solving. On the 2009 administration of the PISA, U.S. students preformed below average in the academic areas of math and science compared to students in other OECD countries (West 2). In math, the U.S. trailed seventeen OECD countries and

American students aren’t developing as many science, math or language skills as students in other countries. When American students took a two hour test it showed how they did compared to their peers from around the world and the results were disappointing. While U.S. schools struggled to reach even an average score on a key international exam for 15 year olds in 2012, BASIS Tucson North, an economically modest, ethnically diverse charter school in Arizona, outperformed every country in the world, and left even Shanghai, China’s academic gem in the dust (Kronholz). The problem isn’t the students because they’re as smart as those students in different countries but the problem is our public school system. Our students need the skills and

Show up. Sit down. Keep Quiet. Do your homework. Repeat. If you’ve ever attended a k-12 school in the United States, you’re more than likely familiar with this routine. You are told what to think and how to think with absolutely no exceptions of anything otherwise, and because of this, you are unmotivated to attend school or do any school work, which leads to low grades. However, across the Atlantic Ocean in Finland, students are doing exceptionally well in school and are placing number one in subjects such as math and science (Gardner 1). The main reasons why the education system in Finland is significantly more successful than the education system in the U.S. is because the teachers require more education, there is more freedom and room for trial-and-error, and because the schools do not allow big corporations and politics to control their curriculums and spendings.

Did you know that in Finland the students normally spend a total of seventy-five minutes outside? When it comes to academics Finland has got the U.S beat. Not only do they care about students, but the teachers too. There in Finland, they realize how crucial it is to start at an early age. So if you want to give your kid a good education send them to Finland.

“How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver! “The finish school system is an essential educational system in Finland which consists of a nine-year comprehensive school from 1st to 9th grade, from the ages of 7 to 16 in which attendance is mandatory. According to (Hammond, 2010) Finland built a robust educational system, nearly from the ground up, Finland was fading educationally in the 1970s, when the United States was the undisputed educational leader in the world. Thus far Finland country created a creative teaching and learning system by intensifying access while investing firmly in ambitious educational goals using a calculated approach to be building the

Before we begin explaining the Finnish system of schooling, it is important to understand that they are not only one of the top performing countries, but also how far they have come. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which began testing in 2000, rated Finland as one of the top 5 countries, as it has since its inception. In 2009 they ranked sixth in math, second in science and third in reading, comparison, U.S. students ranked 30th, 23rd and 17th, respectively, of the 65 tested countries (1). By 2012, the gap between the

Education can be taught in many different ways, but the most important thing is that everyone gets a chance. United States has one of the least successful education systems in the world and is ranked below average in science and math . Finland on the other hand has one of the best educational systems that have been number one for many years. Finland from the start has taught the importance of education to its students and being a teacher is one of the hardest profession to get into. From a devastated country they unified and starting focusing on educating their youth because of their effect on the future. Finland focuses on the success level of both the teachers educating the students and that none of the students are ever left behind. United States on the other hand believe a test based system can achieve success which has shown no result.Finland has kept its high position in education for many years and the United States has been falling behind because it is unwilling to learn from Finland 's success.

From a close analysis of statistics, America long lost its educational standards and status to other nations whose policies and educational terrain appear polished. Supporting this reasoning, one could argue that economic challenges are pushing nations to invest much on education as a means of realizing solutions to the same economic woes. The implication is that other nations with better educational models have better opportunities for finding effective solutions more than the U.S. One significant question to pose could be the level of education of the future generations and the manner in which they could be able to compete at