Stephanie Bradshaw
June 27, 2013
Friday Class Blog –
Reflection on comparisons of countries discussed this week
I am absolutely fascinated learning about the educational
systems of other countries. One of my
life goals is to teach abroad to both be able to experience a different culture
as well as to observe firsthand what the school system is like in that other
country.
Finland from the
insights of a Finnish friend of mine
I have the fortune of having a very good friend of mine
who grew up in Finland and then came to the US for college, met her husband,
and settled here in the United States.
She is back in Finland right now for a 7 month job opportunity with her
husband and her 3 kids. When I e-mailed
her to get her “insider” perspective of Finnish schools, she not only shared a
bit of her educational experience, but she also shared a little from what her
oldest daughter (she was just about to finish 2nd grade here in the
US but started in 1st grade in Finland with their last 2 weeks of
school when they got there). Students in
Finland start school at age 7 although there is a preschool some students
attend starting at age 6.
A few things she said that stuck out to me:
·
* She said her
daughter only went to school from 8-12 or from 9-1. Consistent with what we’ve seen about the
shorter school day for younger students in other countries.
·
* Her daughter had
more homework than she was used to receiving in her US school (they live in
Montana)
·
* Her daughter had
to get used to not wearing shoes in school (I noticed that when we watched the
Finland video) as it is Finnish culture to not wear shoes inside school, home,
or day care.
·
*There are 17
students in her class and 3 first grade classes in her school.
·
* She learns music
as well as knitting from her teacher (I’m sure other academic subjects as well!).
·
* The school has a
Finnish as a Second Language class, but they did not put her daughter in that
class – they put her in a regular first grade class instead.
·
* Her daughter
will have the same teacher she got for the last 2 weeks of first grade for
second grade next school year.
·
* The students
start learning a second language in 3rd grade (students choose
Swedish or English). They then start
learning the other language in 5th grade. In 8th grade, you add another language
(French, German, etc.).
·
* When my friend
was in high school (they had grades 1, 2, and 3 in high school she said), in
the third grade of high school, she ended school in February. From February to May they had to study for
exams. They then took “mega big” exams
in May to be able to graduate from high school.
She then spent the summer studying for the entrance exams to
college.
·
* There were about
300 people applying for the college program she applied for – Commercial English
at a University in Finland. She was one
of 13 who were chosen for the program.
I replied to her e-mail
asking if they had any type of “cram school” when getting ready for the big exams. I’ll post
what she says when I get her response.
Now on to my thoughts as we’ve been learning about the
educational systems of Finland, Singapore, Taiwan, and Korea…
The theme that seemed to stick out to me the most was the
respect teachers receive in the culture as well as the competitive nature of
getting to become a teacher. These two
aspects are enmeshed. There is such a
demand/desire of some of the top students to become teachers because it is a well-respected,
well paid profession in their culture.
Given that high amount of interest in teaching, universities can be
selective in who they accept into their teacher education program. They truly are getting some of the best and
brightest their country has to offer which is something that in turn filters
down to the students those intelligent, high quality teachers instruct.
The other commonality between the 3 countries we read
about in The Flat World book is that their educational reforms took decades! The United States wants immediate results or
automatically starts looking for the “next best solution” when the reality is
we haven’t given the reform enough time to truly reap the potential
benefits. We do not seem to be a very
patient nation. Perhaps we need to
diagnose our country with ADD or ADHD in terms of our educational policies. If
we (meaning someone making the policies for education) spent the time to find
well researched, proven reforms, the time to implement these reforms in
schools, we ought to give them the time to see if the reforms actually work. I’m not sure any of that process is the way it
works here in the US.
Thank you for sharing your conversation with your Finnish friend with us. I think it is so insightful to hear real partakers of the system give their perspective. It sounds like what we viewed and read and what you shared are aligned very well. I am impressed with the fact that school starts at age 7, or preschool at age 6. I continually hear the cry for the need for public schooling to start earlier and earlier in order to prepare students. I'm not so sure that is the answer to the problem. I have heard or read that Finland's society really focuses on allowing a parent or both parents to stay at home with babies and kids for quite awhile. They value that time spent with the family and that it really is education at home for the early years of a child's life. I have always taken the position that my hubby and I are our childrens' best teachers, especially in their pre-school years. I know our society doesn't seem to have the same focus, as a whole, or so it seems to me. And I know that my demographic doesn't make up the whole of the U.S. I do understand the need for preschool programs in our country exists in many areas.
ReplyDeleteYes, it does seem that we jump from reform to reform to reform without letting anything take hold, work out the bugs and improve. I have to keep reminding myself that geographically we are enormous compared to some of the countries we have read about and that does make a difference.