I had heard of schools in Finland being really good earlier. The last few weeks I read a book called Stolen Focus. It was really, really good. It's about a journalist who realized that being on his phone and social media so much was causing havoc. He couldn't concentrate like he used to and didn't enjoy reading books anymore. He did something extreme: put away is cell phone and went "off grid" for a few months. He found that he started to enjoy reading again and enjoyed being outside more. In this book he interviewed numerous people about why people today have less ability to focus (largely because of technology). Towards the end he mentioned education and talked about the schools in Finland.
Schools in Finland rank as some of the best schools in the world all around. The students are smart, enjoy learning, and many of them go off to college or trade schools. Why? Part of it is that the teachers are really dedicated. They also have an underlying theme that kids should have time playing and being outside. For so many hours of learning they should have so many hours of play. The way they teach also inspires kids to want to learn. If any student struggles, they go out of their way to help them as much as they can. School doesn't start until a child is 7 years old. They do have a type of "pre-school" but it's almost all games and playing. Students also learn English as a second language early on (starting in 3rd grade) and start Swedish the following year. It seems like overall it's a really good system. There are few tests and it seems like the focus is preparing students for life and to enjoy learning.
No comments:
Post a Comment