Finland: Example for Education in the US?

There is a very interesting article about Finland's Education system compared to ours by Diane Ravich in the recent Education Weekly magazine. It is also very interesting to read the comments about the blog post.

I think that the most important things that it brings up are the differences in our goal in education, raising test scores and these stated goals in Finland:

"Finland has this singular goal: to develop the humanity of each child. Isn't that a shocking goal? Their guiding principles: equity, creativity, and prosperity."

It is hard to compare such a small country with our own, but when you think about what is important to a nation you can at least see huge differences which might make a big difference in outcomes. We have a 22% child poverty rate compared to their 4% rate. I think that the effects of that are MUCH larger than the effects of teacher quality. The way we are trying to deal with this is to create more accountability with test scores and measuring teachers based on test scores. This is demoralizing and crazy.

Take a look at the article and let me know what you think.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2011/10/what_can_we_learn_from_finland.html

Finally A School District Doing Project Based Learning!!!

"...under the project based model, student learning is reflected in  "more than just scores or grades. You see a transformation of their ability to take ownership...for their learning".

 Quote from the principal of a Manor Elementary School

This morning in the local news there was an article about the Manor school district which is not far from Austin. I was SO excited to read even the subtitle which said, "High School's success in project based learning prompts Manor to try program systemwide." The graduation rates and rates of graduates getting into College were much higher than what would be expected in the population that attended the schools.

The best thing about the article was that it put the idea of HOW to teach (project based learning) above the use of technology.  Although "beefed up techology is a big part of the program", the article spends VERY LITTLE time talking about that and spends many paragraphs talking about examples of lessons, learning and teaching. It is a refreshing article.

Here is a link to the full article:

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/by-embracing-new-tech-manor-school-district-is-1910852.html

On their website you can find testimonials from students in video.

See these Reflections

Facinating News of India's New Tablet-Al Jazeera Interview

Here is a link to a refreshingly thorough discussion of Technology in Education. I am so impressed with Al Jazeera. I do not agree with all that is said, but good questions were asked and the people interviewed were given time to give interesting answers. The footage of school in India is also really interesting.

Are technology and education inseparable? - Inside Story - Al Jazeera English


One thing that does not get said enough in these discussions about the value of technology in education is that technology is something that will influence the lives of all of our students. Those who do not have technology still grow up, still can get jobs. However, the good jobs will go to the students who have learned to be successful masters of technology.

The interviewer several times asked if it was worthwhile for India to invest so much in this device as compared to buying more books and hiring more teachers. I think that this view is really shortsighted. There certainly are problems with the roll out of something this big and there are dangers, like the poor getting overlooked and the middle class or rich getting richer.

I think that India will benefit in two ways from this project. First I think it may open up new possibilities for learning for students. Second just the process of doing this has already moved India up to a more important place in the world. The spin offs from this design will influence what is designed later and India will be ahead of the curve.