Monday, March 03, 2008

Meanwhile, in Finland - Why are the Finns so smart? They focus on - get this - education: "Finnish students, who start school at age seven, are expected to be more independent than American children. Well-trained teachers focus on making sure slower students keep up; there's no special attention for gifted students. Homework is minimal. So are extra-curriculars: A model school has "no sports teams, marching bands or prom," writes Ellen Gamerman." (More here).

3 comments:

JorgXMcKie said...

Waaaaaaiiiiit a minute. You mean children are supposed to go to school to *learn* stuff?? With an attitude like this you're going to have the Educational Establishment all over you.

I mean, what about 'enrichment' and 'diversity' and 'self awareness' and 'social justice' and so on? You actually expect students to give up valuable time taken from that to *learn* stuff?

You'd better go into hiding now, before the NEA/AFT hit squads find you.

Anonymous said...

Ssshhhh. Dave's being clever again. Nobody tell him that the biggest problem currently afflicting American education is the deliberate, across-the-board *LOWERING* of criteria so that schools can "meet" arbitrary standards. (See: "teaching to the test" and No Child Left Behind, which link funding to the acquisition of superficial, sham results.)

Anonymous said...

If Finnish children are so smart, please explain black metal/death metal.