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The Utopian Education System 

Daphne Yoner, ID#: 001195279


March 13, 2019
Comparative Education: Ed 4310
Introduction

There is not just one answer to the question “what makes an education system

better than another”, yes there may be schools across the world that fair better then

others according to academic standards however there is not one set of framework that

can create a superior system. When determining what is better for the education system

of a nation there is many questions that are frequently asked. Some of these questions

are whether or not to give students more or less homework in order to improve

achievement, whether or not to have more time spent in schools studying rather than

having more time off with breaks throughout the school year, to have universally free

school system or to have parents pay into the system, and whether it is more beneficial

to have few or many tests to show achievement? These are only a few questions that

are asked when considering education. The real question we are looking at is: is there a

better system? There are pros and cons for both systems and it is definitely worth the

time to analyze these advantages and disadvantages. To analyze these questions we

can look at two very different countries education systems; the United States and

Finland. Both education systems have advantages and disadvantages but is one

system truly better than another?

Finland

Firstly we can look at the education system of Finland and see what areas of

education they see as priorities. The structure of the schools in Finland are unlike ones

in Canada, the students start school around the age of about 7 however the big
difference is with the higher education. Around the age of 16 they are set with the task

of determining if they want to go further in the academic stream and specialize in field or

they can decide to go into a vocational school for different trades such as welding or

construction. They have to make this difficult choice very early on in their education

however it is very beneficial for the student to specialize in what they are eager to learn

more about and increases motivation in school. Another comparable difference to most

countries is the curriculum required to be learned throughout the students schooling,

they have three main focuses which entails languages, cores and arts. By the time that

Finnish students graduate they have to have learnt three different languages a mother

tongue language, generally english and swedish/russian ect. The cores that they learn

is courses such as mathematics, sciences, and social studies. Then the last category is

the art portion which entails courses like music and art. This is very different then what

the United States focuses on because the biggest priority is the core classes. Another

big difference is the cost of education in Finland, it costs nothing to be educated in

Finland even at the post secondary level. This is a very effective way to lessen the

wealth gap because all people in Finland have the opportunity to go to school and get

the job that they want to get. However the drawback to this model is that they have to

pay a lot of taxes in Finland to get this privilege as well as the fact that most professions

are paid the same wage. Another debate is about testing, in Finland students face

several large tests at the end of high school to determine if they can get into a

post-secondary school instead of rigorous testing throughout students schooling like

they do in the United States. Another plus to this education system is that the teachers
talk less then the students do which is a strategy that has been proven to show more

learning taking place for students, in the “Finland Phenomenon” film they said that

teachers talk about 40% of class time were the students speak 60% of the time. Getting

students to speak out and show initiatives like they do in Finland is definitely more rare

in the United States. Another interesting fact about Finland that is hard for Canadians

(and many different countries) to understand is the fact that the students do not get

homework and their summer break consists of 3 months rather than 2 months. These

students spend less time in school then in Canadian schools yet they have more

success with achievement, which is an interesting thing to analyze. These are just some

of the things that makes Finland stand out from other counties. There is a lot of

advantages to this system however at a price which is based on the taxation system, in

this system they value services over economic income diversity and this education

system is analyzed by many countries and sought after to this day; however this system

would not work for every country such as the United States and so it is hard to tell

whether this is the best system or not.

The United States

Secondly the United States have a different approach to their education system.

Their structure differs in the fact that they start school around 4 or 5 years old and then

the differentiation is different from school to school, some schools have elementary/

junior high school until the grade 8 level and then grade 9-12 is high school and other

schools start high school later. There is not much difference between these different
levels except for difficulty; there is no major career choice at the high school level for

these students. The curriculum is very similar to Canada in that they are taught mainly

the core subjects such as mathematics, sciences, language arts, and social studies with

a few option courses that they can also take. “According to the Common Core State

Standards Initiative, the Common Core is a set of “high-quality academic standards in

mathematics and English language arts/literacy” and outlines what a student should

know, and be able to do, at the end of each grade.” (K-12 Curriculum and Pupil

Assessment). These guidelines are very specific regarding which grade level that each

student is in. It is also evident that the United States has less academic diversity with

the courses offered and the core subjects are weighted more heavily with importance.

The United States pride themselves on the fact that they are the country of opportunity,

they attempt to create equality across the country. Although a disadvantage to this

system is that typically the poor stay poor and the rich get richer, because the world of

opportunity only affects the people that can pay for their education. This is one big

difference between Finland and the United States because Finland is more of a socialist

country so they share their wealth and everyone can be educated and then the United

States is almost the complete opposite where they are a capitalist country so there is

opportunity but only if you can afford it. The United States education system is mainly

focused on teacher lecturing process and the students learn from the teacher mainly;

not like in finland where the students learn from the teacher and each other. The

students get quite a bit of homework and they get 2 months for summer vacation rather

than 3 like in Finland. The main advantages to this particular system is that if you work
hard and have the money for it you can become very wealthy and if you enjoy your job

then you would have a very good quality of life. Disadvantages is the portion of the

people in the United States that can not afford the education stay where they are in the

hierarchy of the system. This system can be more preferable to some people, however

is it better? This is highly dependent on the individuals motivations.

Finland and the United States Similarities

There is not many similarities between these two education systems because the

cultures are very different and the economic dynamic of the country are different too,

however there is a couple of things that are parallels between the two systems. The first

thing is that regardless of being in Finland and the United States the academic stream

in the education system is highly sought after. In the United States the main stream is

based on the academic aspect leading to students pursuing academic based jobs and

generally higher paying jobs as well. As for Finland there is equal chance for students to

go into the academic stream or the vocational stream, there is no pressure to be in

either stream and both streams are very prestigious although the amount of students

that go into the vocational route is about 35% (from the “Finland Phenomenon”). Both

systems also promote the idea of opportunity, the United States promote opportunity

however the system provides opportunities only for the part of the population that can

actually afford it and through this system the idea is if they work hard then the sky's the

limit, as for Finland the opportunity is actually for everyone because the education

system is free to all students because the country is more socialist. Lastly the age that
these students start school is around the same age about 5-7 which means that both

countries possibly could share the same view that in early childhood development it is

beneficial to spend this time with the parents before they are sent to school. All

education systems have similarities that are necessary for the countries to flourish and

through these similarities they set up a necessary backbone to support each system.

However these similarities are not of much interest when comparing if one education

system is better than another.

Which System is Better?

There is no right way to set up an education system because all cultures are

different and there are different economic models that pay a lot into how an education

system is made up. Although there are different statistics that can show the benefits of

one single education system although it is very difficult to fully compare systems

because of things such as culture and economic models. In the “Finland Phenomenon”

film it was stated that the United Nations ranked Finland's education system as the best

in the world. Another article states that “​Ninety-three percent of Finns graduate from

academic or vocational high schools, 17.5 percentage points higher than the United

States, and 66 percent go on to higher education, the highest rate in the European

Union. Yet Finland spends about 30 percent less per student than the United States.”

(Why are Finland Schools Successful?). These statistics are pretty solid evidence that

the Finland school system are succeeding however this system would not work for

every school system in the world. One of the biggest reasons this system is hard to
compare to the United States is that the United States is a capitalist country and Finland

a socialist country so with these different ideologies in play it makes it difficult to

determine a set framework that all school systems should abide by to be the best that

they can possibly be. As for the students it is a lot easier on them in the Finland system

because they do not have any major tests until the end of graduation to then get

accepted into a post-secondary system, as well as the course load that the students go

through is a lot less strenuous than the United States system which leads to increased

motivation for learning and a great deal of trust in the entire system. The teachers are

very trusting of the students to get their work done when they need too and this makes

the system flow nicer. One of the only reasons that this system works in Finland is

because of the trust factor. Even though there is not one system that will work for

everyone I personally see a lot more benefits in Finland’s education system then in the

United States education system, stress is less for the students, they get to learn what

they want to learn earlier in their education, there is trust between the students and the

teachers, everyone has equal opportunity to get an education and find a career they

want to pursue. Although there is a lot of factors that come into play with these

education systems so there is truly not one set framework that would work for all

education systems.

Conclusion

In conclusion there are advantages to both systems and there are disadvantages

too and not every education system would work in every country. Finland has a system
that is very sought after and many people try to take ideas from the system to improve

their systems which is a great strategy for strengthening your own education system.

There is not one proper education system however, just constant re-evaluation and

trying new things. Building upon our own education systems is what is going to

strengthen education as a whole. This is the main goal overall is to better our education,

teaching our students the skills and giving them the knowledge that they need in order

to be successful in our societies. Education is our power in the world so we have to use

it wisely.
Citations from in class:

● “The Finland Phenomenon” film: ​EcoworldReactor. (2016, December 01). Retrieved


March 09, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jJONUXGsNo

Citations from outside sources:

● Education in the United States. (2019, March 09). Retrieved from


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_States
● Magazine, R. (n.d.). K-12 Curriculum and pupil assessment. Retrieved from
https://www.relocatemagazine.com/articles/education-k-12-curriculum-the-us-education-
system
● Why Are Finland's Schools Successful? (2011, September 01). Retrieved from
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859
555/

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