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From the article: Key point: "The Scandinavian country is an education superpower because it values equality more than excellence.... The problem facing educa
by aik 14y ago
From the article:
Key point:
"The Scandinavian country is an education superpower because it values equality more than excellence.... 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."
Evidence:
"Like Finland, Norway is small and not especially diverse overall, but unlike Finland it has taken an approach to education that is more American than Finnish. The result? Mediocre performance in the PISA survey. Educational policy, Abrams suggests, is probably more important to the success of a country's school system than the nation's size or ethnic makeup."
- hugh4life 14y ago"Like Finland, Norway is small and not especially diverse overall, but unlike Finland it has taken an approach to education that is more American than Finnish. The result? Mediocre performance in the PISA survey. Educational policy, Abrams suggests, is probably more important to the success of a country's school system than the nation's size or ethnic makeup." The US is doing much better than Norway... and Sweden. The idea that Sweden doesn't value equality is just absurd. http://www.vdare.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/fullsize/images/James_Fulford/121910_ss001c.png http://www.vdare.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/fullsize...
- aik 14y agoI don't think they mean that Sweden/Norway don't value equality, but that there seems to be more focus on other aspects that are focused on in the US (e.g. competition, mix of private/public schools, options of cheap/expensive schools, possibly not as high teacher standards, etc.). It doesn't have to be a zero-sum game. I think there's also a difference between what equality is focused on. Sweden pushes equality in some ways probably more than any other country (e.g. gender equality), but that doesn't necessarily mean there is as much focus in other areas (e.g. socio-economic equality -- though I don't know if that's a good example or not).