Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Education

Rick and I saw this on the news a few days ago...
It was a report on education in the US in comparison to Finland. Just 40 years ago Finland wasn't even a contender in many areas such as education or economy. They were a poor country, dependent on agriculture. But, as a country they have made a commitment to education. And it starts with full dedication on the part of the family. Masters Degrees are required for all teachers. Most class rooms have 3 teachers--2 for instruction and 1 for helping students who are falling behind. Many students have the same teacher for 2 or 3 years. The average Finnish student speaks 4 languages including English. One thing that has made a difference in their education system is that their teachers make 6 figures. They are not punished for poor performance, but rather resources are used to help teachers with their own skills to make them better teachers. In the US, 47% of teachers come from the bottom third of their college class. However in Finland, teachers come from the top 10% of college graduates.
The US has a 25% dropout rate, whereas the dropout rate in Finland in less than 2%.
Finnish students are at the top in Science and in Math. The US ranks 17 in Science and 24 in Math and continue to fall behind each year.
Interesting.
you can see the video here

1 comment:

The Blairs said...

Very interesting and sad for us.

I wish our country valued teachers more. My parents are both teachers (with Masters Degrees) and I would have grown up a lot wealthier if they were paid like the teachers in Finland:)

Are you still homeschooling yours?