(Host) Commentator Rich Nadworny is a parent of two school age children
and sits on advisory boards at local colleges. And like many parents,
he’s wondering how to make our schools better for our kids.
(Nadworny)
There’s a lot of discussion these days on what to do about our American
educational system. In the country in general, and in Vermont in
particular, we look at endless reports of lower test scores and
international comparisons. Then everyone comes up with often
diametrically opposed solutions to reforming our schools.
It
seems, though, that many agree on one thing: namely that Finland is a
model country when it comes to educational results. The challenge for us
here in the U.S. is that the lessons of the Finnish model are ones we
have a hard time swallowing.
The Finns, apparently, aren’t so
obsessed with the end results; they’re obsessed with the process. And
their process is one of equity and freedom, oddly enough.
The
Finns believe that every student, no matter their gender, ethnicity or
location, should have the same starting point and the same educational
experience. For instance, there are no private schools in Finland. None.
School choice is an oxymoron in Finland. I guess you do have a choice;
it’s just that all the choices are the same. From pre-school through to
the PhD level, every person in Finland attends public school.
Finland
doesn’t bother with standardized tests to evaluate students. Instead,
highly trained, highly regarded, well paid teachers are given lots of
freedom, and lots of responsibility, to assess students using
independent tests that the teachers themselves create. Finnish teachers
need to have a masters degree and getting into teacher training programs
are as hard to get into as a good medical school in the U.S.
Compared
with other countries, including ours, the Finns assign a lot less
homework and offer a lot more creative play. Focusing on equity, freedom
and process, rather than end test scores, results in Finland placing in
the top three ranking in reading, math and science on every
international survey since 2000.
Instead of equity, we in
America we obsess over another E-word: excellence. One can argue that
it’s unintentionally led to a hollowing out of our public schools,
limiting teacher responsibility and freedom, and focusing evermore on
rote homework and standardized tests.
And when we talk of
equity, we usually mean equity of outcomes, not equity of opportunity.
But by giving all kids equal chances to succeed, it also gives them much
more liberty and freedom to choose their careers and to craft their own
futures. That seems very American to me.
I don’t think it would
be too great a stretch for us to embrace the Finnish model. In fact,
many American schools and teachers taught that way in the mid 20 th
century. Somewhere we lost our way. I’m not sure why.
But I
think we can find our way back. If all of us parents – who are so
engaged in our kids’ education and who vote – decide to take one step
further and become more involved in shaping our education policies, we
could do a lot to improve our children’s future as well as that of our
country.