NY TImes on Finland Schools

From the story: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/from-finland-an-intriguing-school-reform-model.html

Finland is going against the tide of the “global education reform movement,” which is based on core subjects, competition, standardization, test-based accountability, control.

“Education policies here (USA) are always written to be ‘the best’ or ‘the top this or that,’ ” he said. “We’re not like that. We want to be better than the Swedes. That’s enough for us.”

The story talks about Finland's schools that happen to be a lot like the schools I attended until I started Jr. High School. I am a big fan of the let kids be kids until they are tens.

Finland has their head screwed on straight on a great many subjects..skidpad as part of driving test, and a tuning shop that made a cossie modelA sleeper, just to name two...

This seems like a good place for this:

But they're filthy Socialists most of them and they've been that for decades and decades.
Better dead than well read.

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Better dead than, well, RED!

Commies, I mean they're practically IN Russia!!! And my wife has a second cousin (or something like that) who has visited us! We must be on the Homeland Insecurity Watch List.

With two boys (just turned 5 and just turned 3), the school situation is scary. I very much do NOT want them learning how to take standardized tests in first grade. I already write big checks for a Waldorf preschool (which is wonderful), but as you move up to elementary school costs go up to something like 16-17 HANS devices a year. Ugh. But I'd like my kids to enjoy school and not become bitter cynical grouches by age 15 like me.

As a no kid guy I can not say too much about education in the US but I can say of the kids I get to interact with the one going to Waldorf is by far the most fun, well behaved, inquisitive and all around good kids to spend time with.

My stint at private school was a lot like the Waldorf program. It was the right thing for me at that time, but the public schools I finished up at were also excellent, holding off on homework, testing, grades etc until Jr. High worked for me.

Besides their schools and their drivers and their cool tuning shops and their relaxed gun laws and thier batshit WRC pilots, the Finns have my undying respect for what they told Stalin when he told them he needed most of their territory in WWII. They told him they were gonna go ahead and use the GFY clause. Though they ended up losing a lot of territory, they fought the Red Army to a godam standstill. All by themselves with no outside help and outnumbered something like 10 to one. Don't fuck with Finland.

Well, they lost 10% of their territory. In the first war (Winter War) some of the western countries, England and Sweden, did help them. Sweden sent a third of their troops even. When it started up again (Continuation War) shortly after peace, those countries were not helping but Germany was willing to supply them so they teamed up with Hitler to fight the Soviets. They retained being a democracy, fought no one other than the Soviets, didn't prosecute jews, wouldn't join the Axis powers and when they finally were at peace with the Soviets, the next war (Lapland War) started which involved expelling the Germans back out of Finland.

Quote
NoCoast
Well, they lost 10% of their territory. In the first war (Winter War) some of the western countries, England and Sweden, did help them. Sweden sent a third of their troops even. When it started up again (Continuation War) shortly after peace, those countries were not helping but Germany was willing to supply them so they teamed up with Hitler to fight the Soviets. They retained being a democracy, fought no one other than the Soviets, didn't prosecute jews, wouldn't join the Axis powers and when they finally were at peace with the Soviets, the next war (Lapland War) started which involved expelling the Germans back out of Finland.

1/3 of its equipment but no troops officially, even if they looked the other way as about 8000 people volunteered.

Say the Finns "Of course they couldn't fight without helmets, and they had none cause they couldn't find a factory that made square helmets"

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2011 07:01PM by john vanlandingham.

It's the fawkinn finn fann clubb.