03/01/2008
From the Wall Street Journal:
What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?
Finland’s teens score extraordinarily high on an international test. American educators are trying to figure out why.
High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don’t start school until age 7.
Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old students who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the world’s C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards and rules. Finnish youth, like their U.S. counterparts, also waste hours online. They dye their hair, love sarcasm and listen to rap and heavy metal. But by ninth grade they're way ahead in math, science and reading — on track to keeping Finns among the world’s most productive workers.
Gosh, I wonder what the reason could be. I’m totally baffled. It’s not like Minnesota kids usually score near the top of the NAEP tests in America.
Oh, wait, they do€¦
I wrote in VDARE.com last year:
In 2005, the Washington Post sent two reporters to Finland for several weeks to find out why Finland has "the world’s best educational system, produces such talented musicians and architects, and has more cell phones per capita than Japan and America."
Sitting here in my pajamas in California, I could have saved the Washington Post all the expense. The most important reason why Finland is so Finlandy is because it is full of Finns.
According to the CIA World Factbook, the population is 93.4 percent Finnish. The biggest minority group at 5.7 percent is … Swedes. Then come Russians at 0.4 percent and Estonians at 0.2 percent. Roma (Gypsies) make up 0.2 percent and the Sami (Laplanders) are 0.1 percent.
Finland maintains its borders and thus it can maintain a governmental and social system well suited to its unique population.
Of course, all these American educators will go over to Finland for a look-see and take home the exact wrong message to their schools in the 'hood: We need less discipline!
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.