Finnish What We Started
By Grace Carballo ‘17
While many think of Madness and painstakingly-crafted brackets (to no avail, in my case) when they think of March, here at USC, this month has been chock full of EdMonth and an impressive array of guest speakers.
Last night, I had the pleasure of learning about the World’s Education Superpower…
and regret to inform you, my fellow Americans, that the United States is not it. Finland is! A total Cinderella story if you had asked me 48 hours ago, but after Dr. Sahlberg, a world-renown Finnish educator and global educational policy expert, broke it down for us, it became a lot clearer why Finland’s system works so well.
What surprised and frustrated me was the fact that many of the education superpowers simply have put into practice American educational theories. They’re practicing what we are preaching and reaping all the benefits we have yet to achieve.
Dr. Sahlberg pointed out that Finland is a successful state (It is ranked second internationally in political empowerment of women and also ranked second on the UN happiness indicator), as well as a proponent of smart education policy, with a strong public school system, focus on equity, and great, well-respected teachers.
The United States is a beautiful nation -seriously, I can and will sing its praises, and national anthem, until the day I die- but, we have a lot of room for improvement in this regard.
Sahlberg spoke about the need for long-term investment in equality, especially ensuring the health and wellbeing of students. We need to stop testing our kids to death and give them the time and space to play, be active, and think creatively.
When I first started thinking about the U.S.’s issues, I was a little discouraged; there are so many bad policies in place right now and I have already witnessed their inefficacy, especially in regards to the elimination of recess and incessant “progress” markers and measurers (The Race to Nowhere movement spoke to me personally, especially in high school).
But, as college students, the existing institutional flaws in America’s education system are our problem now. After all, we are the future.
I think the fact that EdMonth has been so successful thus far speaks volumes about how willing and able young women and men are to enact this much-needed change.
I mean, just look at how many people came to a lecture on education for no credit, without compulsory attendance, and to top it all off, it was held the Monday night after spring break. Have you ever been prouder of the Trojan Family?
(If you have copious amounts of free time, feel free to use this as a Where’s Waldo game of sorts and find me in this photo.)
For more of Dr. Sahlberg’s wisdom- and there is A LOT more he covered - feel free to check out his widely-acclaimed book, Finnish Lessons: What Can The World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? You also can find him at Harvard if you would like to hear him in person, which I recommend- he has a great sense of humor.
Definitely check out the remaining EdMonth events whether you have an interest in educational policy or just a love of learning. A final thought I will leave you with: in Finland, education, even higher education, is free of charge.
I would pay extra for guacamole EVERY time and live extravagantly in other less important ways with all the money I saved if all my schooling was paid for. Enjoy this food for thought.
- Grace
