{"id":4621,"date":"2015-01-19T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-01-19T16:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=4621"},"modified":"2015-01-18T14:48:23","modified_gmt":"2015-01-18T21:48:23","slug":"what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-the-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/01\/19\/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-the-washington-post\/","title":{"rendered":"What if Finland\u2019s great teachers taught in U.S. schools? &#8211; The Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/answer-sheet\/wp\/2013\/05\/15\/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-not-what-you-think\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Sahlberg-300x210.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/>What if Finland\u2019s great teachers taught in U.S. schools?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;d likely quit in disgust.<\/p>\n<p>The US education crisis is not going to be solved by bringing in great teachers.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A great many American systems are based on competition and measuring things that are easy to measure.<\/li>\n<li>The American love affair with capitalism pretty much precludes any genuine standardization\n<ul>\n<li>private interests are profit-driven and do not &#8211; by definition &#8211; care about serving the needs of the population or the citizens (only customers and share-holders).<\/li>\n<li>success is measured in dollars, which has little to do with what makes the Finnish system successful<\/li>\n<li>teacher prep programs in Finland accept only the best and the brightest, not those most able to pay<\/li>\n<li>teaching in Finland is a respected profession, not the consolation prize<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The tremendous gap between the haves and the have-nots in the US makes the Finnish system impossible\n<ul>\n<li>the rich will expect to be treated better than the poor<\/li>\n<li>the rich will expect to\u00a0 be able to buy their way into whatever they want<\/li>\n<li>the rich do not want to share their riches<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The US preoccupation with competition and being able to think of themselves as the &#8220;best&#8221; also makes the Finnish system all but impossible.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I think it is incredibly telling that the Finnish system came about because they were trying to provide a solid education to ALL (regardless of economic status), and NOT because they were trying to beat anyone at anything.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In the United States, for example, there are more than 1,500 different teacher-preparation programs. The range in quality is wide. In Singapore and Finland only one academically rigorous teacher education program is available for those who desire to become teachers.<\/p>\n<p>Teacher quality in high-performing countries is a result of careful quality control at entry into teaching rather than measuring teacher effectiveness in service.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Some commonly held American fallacies <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>\u201cthe quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/em>False. People tend to live up (or down) to expectations.<\/li>\n<li><i>\u201cthe most important single factor in improving quality of education is teachers.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/i>False. There are a number of influences, but poverty is a biggie.<\/li>\n<li><i>\u201cIf <a href=\"http:\/\/voices.washingtonpost.com\/answer-sheet\/teachers\/stopping-the-three-great-teach.html\">any children had three or four great teachers in a row, <\/a><\/i>they would<i> <\/i><em>soar academically, regardless of their racial or economic background, while those who have a sequence of weak teachers will fall further and further behind\u201d.<br \/>\n<\/em>OK. This one is just goofy. Do people really think this?<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I think one of the big barriers to improving the education system in the US is the almost fanatical belief that they are already the best there is <em>at everything<\/em>.\u00a0 Rather than take a good hard look at how their systems may have contributed to the problem, they seem to think that all they have to do is create more competition (through more testing and grading of teachers).<\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-4621'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(4621);\" title='Like' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>1 person likes this post.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(4621);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(4621);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>What if Finland\u2019s great teachers taught in U.S. schools? They&#8217;d likely quit in disgust. The US education crisis is not going to be solved by bringing in great teachers. A great many American systems are based on competition and measuring &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/01\/19\/what-if-finlands-great-teachers-taught-in-u-s-schools-the-washington-post\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,24],"tags":[41,358,393],"class_list":["post-4621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academia","category-teaching-learning","tag-education","tag-schools","tag-teaching-learning"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-1cx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1926,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2011\/12\/31\/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success-anu-partanen-national-the-atlantic\/","url_meta":{"origin":4621,"position":0},"title":"What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland&#8217;s School Success &#8211; Anu Partanen &#8211; National &#8211; The Atlantic","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"December 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"American public education is like WAL-MART. What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success - Anu Partanen - National - The Atlantic. 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2680,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/08\/25\/where-ive-been-weekly-aug-19-25\/","url_meta":{"origin":4621,"position":1},"title":"Where I\u2019ve Been Online (Weekly: Aug. 19-25)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"~ A record of places on the web I want to remember ~ 22 Aug 12 Finland\u2019s Education System: 10 Surprising Facts That Americans Shouldn\u2019t Ignore Finland has consistently scored among the highest nations in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a standardized test given every three years by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":212,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2009\/08\/17\/do-teachers-need-education-degrees\/","url_meta":{"origin":4621,"position":2},"title":"Do Teachers Need Education Degrees?","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Saw this on the New York Times (Opinion) today: http:\/\/roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com\/2009\/08\/16\/education-degrees-and-teachers-pay\/?8ty&emc=ty Do Teachers Need Education Degrees? By The Editors Robert Stolarik for The New York Times In a Room for Debate forum in June on the value of liberal arts master\u2019s degrees, one group of readers \u2014 teachers and education administrators\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6240,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2016\/05\/27\/worth-sharing-donald-clark-plan-b-why-the-tablets-in-schools-debacle-is-over\/","url_meta":{"origin":4621,"position":3},"title":"Worth Sharing: Donald Clark Plan B: Why the tablets in schools debacle is over","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"May 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When will they ever learn? Had I said that iPads in the the schools were not the answer four years ago at the height of the love-affair with the iPad, I'd have been thought a crank. Wait, I DID. More than once. (For more, just try the iPad or iStuff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"iPad","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/2012-02-16_22-14-28_img_20120216_221429b-300x244.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2007\/09\/18\/what-teachers-want-episode-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":4621,"position":4},"title":"What Teachers Want [episode 1]","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"September 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been struggling with my youngest son's school of late. Again. Still. I've been struggling with schools, on and off since my oldest first started school - seventeen years ago in 1990. My kids are bright, creative, and independent. Schools like compliance. I've also been struggling with university, on and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3288,"url":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2013\/03\/10\/cargo-cult-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":4621,"position":5},"title":"Cargo Cult Education","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"March 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Evolution of educational technology infographic - Irish Innovation News \u2013 Siliconrepublic.com. First, this is a very US centric view. Also, it is focused almost entirely on devices rather than their uses. That's part of the whole problem with Ed Tech - people are too impressed with the Technology and not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/computers-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4621"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4666,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions\/4666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}