Are you amazed by the title of this article? Or in little confusion? If yes, then I would like to inform you that Finland is performing very well in all international mathematics and science competitions and global organizations recognize it a country with the best school system and even better than developed countries including the United States. That’s why in this article, we initiated to share the reasons with our readers why Finnish schools are better than the US schools.
To explore all of our reasons, you would have to read this article thoroughly. Here, we go:
No Standardized Tests
You would be amazed that Finnish students are outperforming the US students in international exams without any standardized test. Yes, it is a reality that schools in Finland don’t concentrate on monthly or semiannual exams, and one major test is only taken at the end of the final year of high school. On the other hand, if we look at the American schools, students live in significant stress of failure in exams. In our opinion, American schools should emphasize on learning instead of taking too many tests.
School Joining Age
School enrollment age is crucial. In American states, the age of school joining variety from 5 to 6 years but in Finland, child start school at the age of 7. Though Finnish society has a concept of preschooling as compared to the US parents, only elite class prefer to send their kids into kindergartens and typically, parents prefer to teach their kids at home.
State Supports Parents
Though the child poverty rate in Finland is only 5% but still state supports both moral and financial support to parents. New parents usually received a gift of the baby box which also includes 3 books. One book is given to the father of the baby, and one book is for the mother of a newborn. Luckily, one book is also given to newborn baby which he/she can read as a toddler. On the contrary, if we look at the US child poverty ratio, then it is 20%. Undoubtedly, US states also offer several kinds of funds and financial support to parents to overcome child poverty rate. However, due to the high population in the United States, there are still some deficiencies.
Quality Education
The state funds all public schools in Finland without any discrimination, but if we found biasedness in the US education system in this regard. Though low poverty schools of the United States are funded by states and have better support, but you will notice unequal funding for the high-poverty schools. On the other hand, due to national standardized tests, several students also study in the top-class schools of the cities, which is unfair. As compared to US schools, because there is no difference between the quality of education and syllabus in all state-funded schools, that’s why Finnish parents prefer to send their kids into public schools. It is also easy to get enrollments in public schools in Finland.
Cooperation Not Competition
It is easy to assume from mass shooting incidents in the US schools that students are being treated differently based on their abilities, grades and skills. However, Finnish schools don’t support such things. In Finnish schools, you will witness a friendly environment where the message of brotherhood and cooperation is delivered to students. It is also true that it is challenging to identify the topper and the weakest students of the class in Finnish schools because of deficient competition atmosphere. US schools should also adopt this policy to improve it’s within institute atmosphere.
Less Homework
Another thing which is making the Finnish schools popular among the kids is their policy of less homework. Instead of pressurizing kids towards the studies, Finnish schools prefer to focus on happiness and stress-free study activities. In this regard, they assign very less homework to students. In actual, the sparer time students would have after school, the more they would explore.
Highly Qualified Teachers
As compared to American students, more qualified teachers give lessons to Finnish schools. Even it is a state policy that Finnish don’t consider their teachers less than from the doctors and lawyers. To maintain the status of teachers, only a few candidates are approved for the job of teaching in Finland. Similarly, Finnish schools also offer high pays and compensations to their teaching staff and American schools should also try to learn these things from them. America should also concentrate on reducing the teaching hours of their teachers because, after 4 hours of lectors, teachers are almost free in Finland.
Hopefully, American school administrations will try to copy the positive aspects of Finnish schools to improve the quality of education. However, you can also share your suggestions in this regard by commenting here.
