"What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success" -- The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/
snipets:
"Compared with the stereotype of the East Asian model -- long hours
of exhaustive cramming and rote memorization -- Finland's success is
especially intriguing because Finnish schools assign less homework and
engage children in more creative play. All this has led to a continuous
stream of foreign delegations making the pilgrimage to Finland to visit
schools and talk with the nation's education experts, and constant
coverage in the worldwide media marveling at the Finnish miracle.
[. . . ]
And while Americans love to talk about competition, Sahlberg points out that
nothing makes Finns more uncomfortable. In his book Sahlberg quotes a line
from Finnish writer named Samuli Paronen: "Real winners do not compete."
It's hard to think of a more un-American idea, but when it comes to
education, Finland's success shows that the Finnish attitude might have
merits. There are no lists of best schools or teachers in Finland. The main
driver of education policy is not competition between teachers and between
schools, but cooperation.
[. . . ]
From his point of view, Americans are consistently obsessed with certain questions: How can you keep track of students' performance if you don't test them constantly? How can you improve teaching if you have no accountability for bad teachers or merit pay for good teachers? How do you foster competition and engage the private sector? How do you provide school choice?
The answers Finland provides seem to run counter to just about everything America's school reformers are trying to do."