Let's Look at Finland: Why America Has Been "Left Behind"

Awhile back I saw an incredible image a friend posted on Facebook.  It was short, sweet and to the point- a point that has apparently escaped the "great" leaders of our nation.   The image was a side-by-side comparison of how and why Finland dominates the international educational charts while the United States continues to fall flat on its face.  There were two columns.  On one side it listed the culture and policies related to Finnish education (all strikingly similar to the other Scandinavian counties that accompany Finland as dominant educational nations).  On the other side, the culture and policies related to American education.  The two columns were the exact opposite in each and every regard.  It was startling to say the least.  How in the world can we look at a model of true success, do everything the exact opposite, then throw our hands up in outrage when things turn out quite literally the exact opposite?!

As the American government is doing its best to destroy public education in the United States, everyone who is anyone in education has acknowledged the differences between the high scoring and successful counties such as the Scandinavian nations and our own system.  No need to Google it, I'll share many examples, starting with my favorite educational advocate Diane Ravitch, who wrote a wonderful piece titled Schools We Can Envy that eloquently highlights the differences between Finnish and American education while introducing Finnish educational expert Pasi Sahlberg, author of the book  Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?  Similar articles abound, like this one titled How the Finnish School System Outshines U.S. Education by Stephen Tung or this easy to read slideshow titled Finland's Education System:  10 Surprising Facts That Americans Shouldn't Ignore compiled by Andrew Freeman. 

It just seems obvious.  We are doing it all wrong, yet expecting to outshine the nations that are doing it all right.  It reminds me of the Albert Einstein quote about insanity.  "Insanity:  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  Clearly our educational reforms aren't propelling us any closer to Finland or its Scandinavian counterparts that we so desperately desire to out-perform, yet here we are with another administration forcing the exact same educational policies masquerading under a different name.  No Child Left Behind.  Race to the Top.  But statistics don't lie.  We're falling farther and farther behind.  All of America's children were "left behind".  And when you make education a competition as everything in America seems to be- you'll soon find that we're all losing the "race".

I want to jump on the "Look at Finland!" bandwagon too.  And I will.  In just a moment.  But I always try to look at both sides of a story before I jump on board.  Which is why in all the research I have done on America vs. Finland, my favorite piece is titled What the U.S. Can't Learn From Finland About Education Reform.  I must also stop to say this.  I am not a teacher.  I know a lot about teaching and what goes on in our schools.  I was raised by two public school teachers and am the wife of a public school teacher.  But I am not a teacher myself- I was not formally educated to be a teacher nor have I spent a single day standing in front of a class full of children. I am a mother.  Not the suburban white kind that Arne Duncan loves so much, though I am suburban and white.  I am an educated mother.  I am formally educated in child development and child psychology.  I have a deep and thorough understanding of how children learn- from their earliest days through their earliest school years as well as from a micro and macro prospective.   I have also been educated by my own sons.  For the last four years, I have seen everything I have ever studied unfold before my very eyes.  I have seen everything from the positive effects of a healthy meal and a good night's sleep to the way young children grapple with concepts like numbers and phonics.  I know from experience that children, even our youngest children, understand what is happening around them- the social influences and the culture and the expectations placed on them by their families and by society- and that such things affect their every day behavior and their evolving approaches to life in general.  And this is why I must pause before jumping on the Finland bandwagon.

Yes, classrooms and schools in Finland look very different than ours here in the United States.  Students in Finland have four hours per day of direct instruction.  They have 60 to 75 minutes of recess a day, usually 15 minutes after each instructional lesson.  Their class sizes are often less than 20 students per teacher.  They take very, very few- if any- standardized tests.  By nine years old, Finnish students are learning a second language.  By eleven, they are learning a third.  And by thirteen, many are learning a fourth. Teachers are given up to two hours per day for planning and curriculum development- as they are responsible for designing their own curriculum with the freedom to teach how they choose.  And yes- those things are partly responsible for the educational success in Finland.  But not wholly. And that is why it is not enough to say that such "simple" changes to align our US schools to more closely resemble the classrooms of Finland will rocket us to the front of the educational race.

Because here is the problem with educational policy.  Education is not impacted by educational policy as much as our government wants to think it is.  Here in the US, educational policy is merely a Band-Aid attempting to cover the larger problem.  This is why even an exact replica of a Finnish school would fail here in the US.  The difference in Finnish educational success lies not in its educational policies or direct practices in the classroom.  It lies in the general culture of the country.  And here is where I will finally board "Look at Finland" bandwagon.

Finland was founded on equality.  Not equality among rich white men, but equality in the truest sense of the word.  Men and woman are, and have always been, considered equal.  And Finland is a shining example of how welfare works for a country.  The Finnish care about all of their people, as is evidenced by the many policies ranging from health care to maternity leave to education.  Finland has very, very little poverty.  They have a startling low infant mortality rate, high quality universal health care, equal access to the highest quality child care and schools, and with 75 to 80 percent of Finnish workers being union members, they enjoy job security as well as safety and happiness in the workplace.  It's no wonder that Finland is continuously ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world.

But here is my biggest sticking point.  Respect.  The reason Finnish students are the most successful in the world is respect.  Respect for mothers.  Respect for children.  Respect for development.  Respect for teachers.  In Finland, a mother is given four months of paid maternity leave when her child is born.  Four months.  Paid.  At the end of those four months, both parents are given an additional 158 days of shared parental leave at partial pay (upwards of 70%).  This means that the parents- both mother AND father- can choose from any combination of ways that they can each spend time staying at home and raising their children during the most critical first year.  After the 158 days of shared, partial-pay parental leave, the parents have the option to remain home with their children until age three- unpaid but with guaranteed job security.  Nearly 70% of Finnish families utilize this parental leave policy.  For those who can't or choose not to, there is equal access to the highest quality childcare at heavily subsidized rates.  The bottom line?  In Finland, raising one's children is respectable.  They recognize the importance of the bond a child has with his or her parents- both mother and father- and that the parent/child relationship and the learning that occurs in the first three years of life are critical for that child's success as a human being.  Here, we have little to no respect for such things.  America is one of only eight- EIGHT- countries of the 188 countries known to have parental leave policies to offer NO paid parental leave.  Even the poorest nations in the world have more respect for what it means to raise one's own children than we have here in the greatest nation in the world.

Finland also respects the natural course of child development.  Kids are allowed to be kids.  Kids are allowed to play.  In Finland, preschool starts at age 5 and it is 100% play based.  Children as young as one year old spend an average of 3 hours playing outside, even in the frigid Finnish winters.  Formal schooling- actual academic work- doesn't start until age 7.  Yet in their first year of formal schooling, nearly all Finnish children learn to read.  Why?  Because they are developmentally ready.  When schooling follows and compliments the natural development of children, it is going to be successful.  When it flies in the face of everything we know about natural development, it is going to fail- with grave consequences for all involved.  Except of course those making such ridiculous policies and raking in the big bucks for doing so.

Lastly, Finland's respect for teachers is paramount to their overall success.  Many have claimed that Finland's teachers earn salaries equivalent to that of its doctors.  This is not true.  Finland's teachers earn a salary equivalent to that of US teachers and slightly lower that that of other European countries.  But they are respected like doctors.  In fact, in Finland, it is harder to get into primary education school than it is into medical school.  To teach in Finland, one must receive a three year master's degree.   Getting into one of these programs, fully subsidized by the government, is quite difficult.  To begin with, one must be in the top 10% of their college class.  Next one must be observed teaching.  Only those who show true promise will be invited to continue their education. In 2010, there were 600 open spots in Finnish master's programs for teachers.  6,600 applied.  People in Finland want to be teachers.  Only the best are allowed to become them.  With such an "evaluation" system in place for those entering the profession, there is little need to evaluate teachers in the classroom.  Instead, there is a culture of faith in those who are entrusted to teach Finnish youth.  Here, there is a culture of doubt.  Our government truly believes that few of our teachers are even remotely qualified to teach our children- and their solution is to replace them with those even less qualified.  It's no wonder our children are not succeeding.

At this point I'm sure the critics are crying out "But their taxes are ridiculous!!!!"  Yes.  Yes, they are.  And to those living in Finland and other Scandinavian countries, that is okay.  How on earth could anyone be happy with the highest taxes in the world you ask?  Because their needs are met.  Because their basic needs in life are paid for by those taxes.  And because the Finnish seem to understand that basic needs including safety, security, health, and education are more important than buying things.  The average household income in Finland is much lower than we see here in the US.  "They don't get to buy as much stuff," explains Olga Kakhazan of The Atlantic.  Here in the US, buying symbols of status and spending frivolously have become more important to us than what really matters.  Yet we are outraged when we see finally step back and see that what really matters has suffered gravely. 

So now I'm ready to shout LOOK AT FINLAND!!!!  But we must look at more than their education system.  Certainly, we should look at their schools.  In an interview with Stephen Tung of the Stanford Report, Finnish educational expert Pasi Sahlberg was quoted as saying "No high performing nation in the world has been successful using the policies that the U.S. is using."  Certainly our educational reform should take note of that.  But it is more than just Finland's educational policy we should be taking note of.  It is their culture- the values embedded deep within its people and its government.  We can't expect to replicate or even come close to Finland's educational success if we don't respect equality.  If we don't respect the right of a mother and father to raise their children, giving them the time and security to nurture those critical early years.  If we don't respect the children themselves.  If we don't respect ourselves as human beings. 

Finland does all of these things.  We do the exact opposite.  And so long as we do- so long as we let our system of inequality prevail, so long as we perpetuate the idea that those with no actual interest in the well-being of our youth and families are allowed to make the policies and cultural shifts that affect the future of our country- we will fail.  Our families will fail.  Our children will fail.  And ultimately our country will fail.  No educational policy will save us.  While our government wants us to think that education is the problem- that teachers themselves are the problem- it is not.  The problem exists long before any five year old steps foot into a kindergarten classroom.  The problem is that we are a nation of greed.  Of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.  We are a nation of politicians.  Of elected officials laying in bed with giant corporations and foundations.  We are a nation that lacks basic respect for its citizens.  We are a nation in need of much more than educational reform.  We are a nation that certainly needs to take a long hard look at Finland.  There is much to learn about the value of human life- and in that we may begin to understand how to save education as well.