(This was in response to an Atlantic Monthly article on the Finnish education system). Here is the link:
What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's Educational System
The Conversation We Aren't Having About Education
If American visitors to Finnish schools are returning without having learned the real reasons for Finland's educational success , this is because reforming our education system is not just a matter of electing new policies. It has to do rather with making fundamental changes to our national culture.
The author connects the inequality of our society to our uneven educational outcomes - fair enough. This is the main thrust of her argument. But she also mentions, somewhat in passing, that in Finland, prestige is conferred on teachers. This is decidedly not the case in the United States.
A study that was just published concluded that teacher quality was the main factor not just in educational achievement, but in students' success over the course of their lifetimes.
Yet teaching does not attract the best college graduates, as measured by G.P.A. Yes, there is Teach For America, the program that draws graduates of elite colleges and universities into public-school teaching. But, tellingly, the great majority of teachers from that program leave the classroom within two to five years. As a 22-year educator, I feel I can state with confidence that no one, not even a Harvard graduate, becomes a properly-seasoned educator in that length of time. And even on the assumption that Teach For America participants master the craft of teaching during their first year, once departed, their new-found expertise is obviously no longer of any use.
Though Teach For America teachers have been accused of dilettantism, I am sure the majority of them are not blameworthy. They simply get tired of the low pay, lack of resources, and most of all the lack of public regard for their work. Though we like to think we celebrate our nation's teachers, we really do so only in theory. In practice, we think teaching is "not a fit profession for a gentleman (or woman)." It is for the person who is seen as not being able to succeed in a more prestigious profession. In the popular culture, the teacher is a risible figure, exercising authority futilely or incompetently. The sexual peccadilloes of teachers are covered with lurid enthusiasm by mainstream news outlets. And so on.
Until the profession of teaching below the college level becomes more prestigious, we simply won't attract the sort of person who could spark young minds over the span of a career, which is the real remedy for our educational deficit.
What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's Educational System
The Conversation We Aren't Having About Education
If American visitors to Finnish schools are returning without having learned the real reasons for Finland's educational success , this is because reforming our education system is not just a matter of electing new policies. It has to do rather with making fundamental changes to our national culture.
The author connects the inequality of our society to our uneven educational outcomes - fair enough. This is the main thrust of her argument. But she also mentions, somewhat in passing, that in Finland, prestige is conferred on teachers. This is decidedly not the case in the United States.
A study that was just published concluded that teacher quality was the main factor not just in educational achievement, but in students' success over the course of their lifetimes.
Yet teaching does not attract the best college graduates, as measured by G.P.A. Yes, there is Teach For America, the program that draws graduates of elite colleges and universities into public-school teaching. But, tellingly, the great majority of teachers from that program leave the classroom within two to five years. As a 22-year educator, I feel I can state with confidence that no one, not even a Harvard graduate, becomes a properly-seasoned educator in that length of time. And even on the assumption that Teach For America participants master the craft of teaching during their first year, once departed, their new-found expertise is obviously no longer of any use.
Though Teach For America teachers have been accused of dilettantism, I am sure the majority of them are not blameworthy. They simply get tired of the low pay, lack of resources, and most of all the lack of public regard for their work. Though we like to think we celebrate our nation's teachers, we really do so only in theory. In practice, we think teaching is "not a fit profession for a gentleman (or woman)." It is for the person who is seen as not being able to succeed in a more prestigious profession. In the popular culture, the teacher is a risible figure, exercising authority futilely or incompetently. The sexual peccadilloes of teachers are covered with lurid enthusiasm by mainstream news outlets. And so on.
Until the profession of teaching below the college level becomes more prestigious, we simply won't attract the sort of person who could spark young minds over the span of a career, which is the real remedy for our educational deficit.
