Whatever It Takes

An article from the teachers' magazine TSTA Advocate and written by LynNell Hancock (winter 2011-12) titled "Why are Finland's school successful?" describes the amazing results public schools (not private) in that Nordic country have been able to achieve,  topping academic rankings on a worldwide basis for several years.

The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) publishes annually the educational ranking by country; Finland has been at the top for several years and we, the U.S. have vegetated in the middle of the pack for quite a while. We may reject these studies as fantasies concocted by international bureaucrats who have to justify their jobs. Perhaps! But the numbers still give a general idea regarding which educational system works best; the surprising findings indicate that the Finns have no standardized tests. As their top teachers frequently comment:"A test result cannot begin to describe what a good teacher does. It eliminates the human component which is all important in the classroom". One more fact: 90% of Finnish students go to public schools and have complete health coverage paid by the state until they leave high school. Wow! I can just hear some Republicans heading for the doors to vent their indignation at this blatant intervention by the national government. HOW DARE THEY? WE MAY AS WELL  SOCIALIZE THE WHOLE PACKAGE!                                                                                    

(The capital letters indicate right-wing politicians shouting) 




The article adds a very significant piece of information: "..its teachers are trusted to do whatever it takes to turn young lives around."

Whatever it takes! Wow! They refuse to allow failure due to lack of skills, low intelligence level, and/or family circumstances. Lest you readers accuse me of favoring the Nordic race, allow me to add a juicy tidbit that will resonate with our immigration foes:"..more than half of its elementary students are immigrants, from Somalia, Iraq, Russia, Bangladesh, Estonia and Ethiopia.."

And we complain because we have immigrants from Central America on our southern border? The teachers in Finland take a boy from Somalia who knows no Finnish and within a year, the youngster can sustain conversations with his schoolmates. They give him an intense, full immersion training in his new language day after day for 52 weeks. The head of public education stated that they don't teach children how to test but how to learn. Their students learn how to learn. Do ours? Granted, the Suomi nation has only 6 million inhabitants due to its abundance of Arctic land. But don't you think that it could be used as a perfectly valid sample in a research paper on education?


They have roughly the same proportion of kids with learning disabilities that we have and, except for the most severely affected, they mix them with the general population of students, a practice that is more and more common in U.S. schools. One of the "secrets" of Finnish academic success is to have small schools with small groups. The teachers there say that they know every kid and follow them throughout the years until they pass to the next level. That factor, to me, a teacher with 25 years of experience, is key to the academic success of the student. Again, in high school, we have begun doing the same and I can say that an intimate knowledge of the pupil and his/her family helps enormously when it comes time to make a decision such as going to college or to a vocational school.


Those who propose private vouchers to parents so that they may register their children in private schools push a very bad idea. A recent investigation of IDEA schools revealed that they receive mostly high functioning students who would be successful anywhere. It doesn't take a genius of a teacher to teach smart kids; they usually teach themselves very well. It takes a very dedicated instructor to achieve success with a learning disabled student. It takes time, patience, and savvy. Private schools lack time and patience as their main goal is to make money.

Why don't we "import" a 100 Finnish teachers who speak English to work in our most challenged schools; maybe they can teach us a few things.

Inner Eye

To be aware of a single shortcoming in oneself is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in someone else.

- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

How little we know about our own shortcomings and how fully aware we pretend to be about others' faults. Many of my teen students have complained about parents being hypocritical; they don't do what they preach. The same can be said for many teachers who present a different persona in class than they do in their private life. Students are quick to detect fakes; they have that special sixth sense in youth that seems to disappear as they get older. As a result, they shut their minds to that particular individual, and that includes parents. Trust is lost and communication suffers.

Honesty and Awareness are priceless tools in human communication, especially with children and adolescents. Psychotherapists know this very well and make it a center pillar of their treatment. Yet we fail to teach the Art of Communicating with our fellow humans in schools, whether public or private, just as we fail to teach the Art of Parenting to future fathers and mothers. A wise philosopher once said:" We have two ears and one mouth. That means we should listen twice as much as we talk." Regrettably, we do just the opposite with our most cherished people, wives, husbands, children, students and close friends. We have this urge to tell them what we think and the reasons for it. Seldom do we take the time to listen, actively, to their own position on the matter. Seasoned and successful diplomats know this and apply the appropriate strategy to achieve results.

How often have we heard our students say :"I wish my father would listen to me."? How many times does a wife complain to her best friend about the husband who never has time to talk, meaning of course serious discussions about important matters? How can we reach a good decision if we act without using the Inner Eye, the tool our conscience offers us to examine, weigh, assess, and analyze our motives, our emotional reactions, and our own shortcomings?

Remember the judge who was filmed whipping the back of his daughter of 16 with a belt? He was clearly enraged, out of control, and yet he justifies his actions as needed discipline. As parents, we should never, ever, punish while angry; the consequences will be disastrous for the child. He or she will cower in fear every time they hear their father coming home; their self-esteem will be shattered and their ability to love and care seriously affected even after they grow into adulthood. Humiliating a child, or an adult for that matter, can result in permanent emotional damage, not to mention the creation of distrust and maybe even hate. It takes a superior being to forgive his parents and/or his teachers for their past abuse, both emotional and physical.

Yes, there is a strong  need for discipline in any family; but too often, parents confuse discipline with severe punishment. Again, the need to prepare future fathers and mothers must start, believe it or not, in elementary school. Children 6 year-old or more are quite capable of expressing their feelings regarding good parenting. Using dolls as make believe children, these kids can be taught how to teach discipline with love and patience. We expect our dogs to behave, but if we use blows and intimidation to achieve that goal, the animal will eventually turn on his master. Should it be any different for human beings?