The Finland Education Phenomenon

[Judi Lynn]

The Finland Education Phenomenon
Friday 8 July 2011
by: David Sirota, Truthout | Op-Ed

When I heard the news last week that the Department of Education is aiming to subject 4-year-olds to high-stakes testing, all I could do is shake my head in disbelief and despondently mutter a slightly altered riff off "The Big Lebowski's" Walter Sobchak.

Four-year-olds, dude.

You don't have to be as dyspeptic as Walter to know this is madness. According to Stanford University's Linda Darling-Hammond, who headed President Obama's education transition team, though we already "test students in the United States more than any other nation," our students "perform well below those of other industrialized countries in math and science." Yet the Obama administration, backed by corporate foundations, is nonetheless intensifying testing at all levels, as if doing the same thing and expecting different results is innovative "reform" rather than what it's always been: insanity.

In light of this craziness, it's no wonder we're being out-educated by countries going in the opposite policy direction.

Though bobo evangelists like David Brooks insist -- without data, of course -- that reduced testing "leads to lethargy and perpetual mediocrity," Hammond notes that "nations like Finland and Korea -- top scorers on the Programme for International Student Assessment" have largely "eliminated the crowded testing schedules used decades ago when these nations were much lower-achieving."

More:
http://www.truth-out.org/finland-education-phenomenon/1310136265

[PATRICK]

1. By the numbers

I was great at testing and rote. By its nature it produces mind-numbing lethargy, disassociation from all meaning, and a fear of the mysterious grading authority over all that I am sure was more keenly felt by the lower ends of the deliberately cruel bell curve. One time when asked about teasing and schooling I was startled to hear myself(who rarely spoke out in class or HAD to) that it was all some pointless game. Of course, I got no response except some startlement.

Now I understand the point of the game of controlled winners and oppressed losers(forget knowledge or growth) and it is not good, educational or honest.

Beating the system with your cunning and brain has led to the rule of mediocre manipulators, aping the manipulation of the testing/grading system as the Way, the Profit and the Good Life. The torture has spun off creative thinking by true seekers and doers only because the system reached all citizens and carried that competing democratic ideal and iterated goal foremost, however it was implemented- screwed up. The mess and hypocrisy had a sort of vibrant overpopulated dynamic, fueled by post-war prosperity, that now "they" want to shut down and own.

Lots of types of villains and blind fools and sycophants in this corrupt "they". Many of them seethe how they were graded and vetted by the schools.

[Jazz Ambassador]

2. But what Sirota doesn't say...

Is that Finnish teachers (like Singaporean teachers, to whom they're often compared) are drawn from the top third of their university graduating classes. In the U.S., by contrast, fewer than 1/4 of teachers come from a similar academic rank, and more than half attended non-competitive universities (that is, universities that accept all or nearly all applicants). Yes, Finland eschews testing; yes, they have strong unions; yes, teachers have extraordinary autonomy in the classroom. But they also have raised the bar on entry into the profession so high that 75% of U.S. teachers simply wouldn't qualify. At some level, saying "we want to be like Finland" is necessarily saying that we want better -- smarter, better-educated -- teachers than the ones we have.

[Doctor_J]

9. well, since teachers in the US are treated like garbage

in terms of pay, respect, working conditions (see NCLB), it's not surprising that many people choose other professions. Finland likely doesn't pay hedge fund managers, who perform absolutely zero service to society, one thousand times as much as teachers. One society has its priorities in order; the other is a fascist state run by billionaires and their media shills.

[Igel]

10. There's a lot he doesn't say.

That makes it a bit of a fairy tale in itself.

Things like having GPA and tests decide whether you go academic or vocational at age 16. It provides a lot of incentive--I've seen kids get their act together when they realize that they need to take SATs and pass courses to graduate. Now, move that from age 16 and 17 down to age 14 and 15, with a repetition of the stress at age 17 and 18. You get higher achievement. It's not that lack of tests results in higher achievement. That's flipping the syllogism and isn't a valid conclusion. I've seen the same thing in other countries, and the stress that kids have when they realize their performance is marginal but that vocational/academic fork in the road is looming is pretty intense. I like this kind of a system; most Americans think they do until they stop and think about their own kids, then they like Dewey's one-size-fits-all program. It's a crock and a root of all evil in the ed establishment.

It's good that the teachers and parents are on the same side. That doesn't happen in a lot of underachieving schools. Nor in a lot of good schools, but it's less of a problem. When parents and teachers are on the same side, there's a two-pronged approach to behavior management; homework assigned gets done; the kids want to fit in with the mainstream culture instead of feeling quite so alienated because they think they have a future and their effort will bear results. I'm disposed to believe that there's a bit more respect between generations so you don't have this automatic intergenerational protection system.

Having teachers come from the top of the talent pool and feel valued and respected isn't a cause, it's an effect. I've said it before: You don't have to write fine literature in Spanish to teach Spanish I, you don't have to have publications in molecular genetics to teach 9th grade biology, and you don't need an MA in real analysis to teach Algebra I.

Instead of learning what does work, the Finnish system is used as a cudgel to try to get rid of things in the US ed system that the writer doesn't like. In the case of exams, disposing of them doesn't matter--it's the *use* that they're put to in determining school funding and teacher "competence" that drives the furor of teaching to the test. In the case of teacher quality it's just an argument for yet more teacher pay increases, or to find excuses for why little Johnny can't do math with the answer being in greater funding or some pet teaching methodologies. In other words, instead of looking at why the Finnish system works the writer looks at superficialities and assumes that effect must be the same as cause.

[pansypoo53219]

3. i'd like to know WHO is making money off all this testing.

shit. i loved testing day. it was like vacation. no learning today!

[Demeter]

4. BFEE

[Doctor_J]

6. Yes, Neil Bush in particular

All the money he ripped off from the taxpayers at the Silverado S&L during the 80's was spent on hookers & STD meds. So he or someone else in the BFEE cooked up this "education reform" scheme, and the GWB-packed DOE came up with "No Child Left Behind", a program universally loathed by educators but guaranteed to funnel billions of tax dollars to Neil.

The Bushies are a crime syndicate.

[Fearless]

5. Of course this Administration doesn't give a damn... Testing isn't working? MORE TESTING!!!11!

:banghead:

[Doctor_J]

7. Sort of like the tax cuts

This admin is devolving from a wasted opportunity to an epic fail.

[bemildred]

8. Expecting taking tests to improve education is like expecting

measuring your tire pressure to inflate your tires.