Decades ago, when the Finnish school system was badly in need of reform, the
goal of the program that Finland instituted, resulting in so much success
today, was never excellence. It was equity.
The problem facing education in America isn't the ethnic diversity of the population but the economic inequality of society, and this is precisely the problem that Finnish education reform addressed. More equity at home might just be what America needs to be more competitive abroad.
Read through this article and highlight or comment on things that you think would resonate with your students or colleagues.
He is a big thinker, always chasing new ideas, and a conversation with him can feel like a one-man TED conference, dotted with references to the latest work by behavioral psychologists and management gurus and design theorists.
Obviously a school leader who dosn't mind being different! Nice to see.
in America that if you worked hard and you showed real grit, that you could be successful,” he said. “Strangely, we’ve now forgotten that. People who have an easy time of things, who get 800s on their SAT’s, I worry that those people get feedback that everything they’re doing is great. And I think as a result, we are actually setting them up for long-term failure.