The Parable of Finland

Discussion in 'Education' started by LafayetteBis, Dec 8, 2019.

  1. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    From the Economist: Education - The parable of Finland - excerpt:

    So, what's going on in Finland? Nothing really, but it appears that other countries are "catching-up". Meaning that they have understood that what Finland has done previously to get the OECD's highest score is now happening in other countries that copy Finland.

    And that was what? The Economist sums it up in this manner, that key to schooling is understanding, which is largely the function of style-of-instruction (ie."group work"):
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2019
  2. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    - excerpt:

    So, what's going on in Finland? Nothing really, but it appears that other countries are "catching-up". Meaning that they have understood that what Finland has done previously to get the OECD's highest score is now happening in other countries that copy Finland.

    And that was what? The Economist sums it up in this manner, that key to schooling is understanding, which is largely the function of style-of-instruction (ie."group work")!

    And in my own personal experience - long after schooling - was that people at work react in the same way. That is, it is "group work" that bests "educates" people in the jobs that they must perform. And not just a MBA from Hah-vahd ...
     
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  3. william kurps

    william kurps Banned

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    What the hell did Finland invent?
     
  4. william kurps

    william kurps Banned

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  5. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    WHAT IS PISA?

    Here: Programme for International Student Assessment - and furthermore How are PISA results related to adult life outcomes? - explanation:

    Those two questions are highly debatable; but what we do know from simple observation is that more educated populations generally do better economically as well. Not always, but very often.

    And, along that line of thought and from the texts on the site: How are PISA results related to adult life outcomes?

    (The above clicks through to a readable document, but not transferable. That is, printable. Unless someone knows how to finagle the document to print it, which is not evident - to me - from the website itself.)

    Frankly, anyone with the slightest bit of foresight should be able to understand how important Education is to determining ultimately Life-style for the individual and also the "collective of individuals".

    Cautionary Note: Any Tertiary-level Education allows an individual the possibility of a better lifestyle
    - but education alone is by no means any guarantee of such an outcome
    ...
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2019
  6. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    PISA Results (2015/2016)

    [​IMG]

    The US is 31st (out of 70) in the ranking ...
     
  7. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    It has taken in less migration than Sweden.

    Finland is basically a poorer working class version of Sweden.

    Why do all the countries Progressives seem to hold up so high in esteem on a pedestal NOT have a lot of diversity?

    (related thread on that here: Why is it all the countries Progressives want to emulate are White? )
     
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  8. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Depends upon how you look at the answer. An economic-measurement of diversity will never be the same as, say, religious diversity. Or, language diversity in the same country.

    France, for instance, has the same population (about) as California? Why should it have the same "economic diversity" as the US?

    Does the US have the same "diversity" as Europe? Let's define first "economic diversity". That is, from here:
    And for a fuller treatment of the subject, here: What Is Economic Diversity? - excerpt:
     
  9. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I wish I had a little country to play dictator with. Then I'd bring in plenty of immigrants from Japan and the major first-tier cities on the Western Chinese Coast (Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou), and then everyone would be wondering why the education system in my country was so good.

    If I wanted to improve my test score rankings, I'd bring in South Koreans, but then the youth suicide rate in my country would probably start going up because they'd be studying so hard they'd kill themselves. The school could be a mud hut, like they have in African countries, and the test scores would still be better than Europe.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2019
  10. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sounds like a numbers-boosting scam to me. Little Timmy won't do his classwork, and its making us look bad. So we'll team him up with students that work hard and give them all the same grade. Now we can let little Timmy continue to self identify as a bum and the other kids will do his work and get our numbers up.

    'Group work.' Collectivism.
     
  11. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You have no idea how right you are, with the education model in Finland and Sweden.
     
  12. LafayetteBis

    LafayetteBis Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I used to feel sorry when I saw the TV-reports on African children in school, which was a thatched hut. What was there to read, anyway? No books, just words on a blackboard. And if they probably read nothing more ever again, did they live miserable lives?

    People I have known who volunteered to work there actually feel sorry for them. I am beginning to wonder if that was the right emotion. Are we so much better-off running around looking for "the next best thing that we gotta have because everybody else has it"?

    I never did understand the economic merit of Conspicuous Consumption - but it seems to be what makes modern democracies "go around, go around, go around";

    The Africans live miserable lives? If they do, they are for the most part not Short Miserable Lives:
    [​IMG]
    And, as usual, the women outlive the men ... !
     
  13. kazenatsu

    kazenatsu Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Well, we're getting pretty off-topic now, but to comment on the life expectancy statistics in the above graph, that's pretty much what I would expect. The life expectancy between Eastern and Southern Africa don't seem to be that different. Western Africa probably has a lower life expectancy mainly due to disease, since there is so much tropical forest and jungle there. Middle Africa has lower life expectancy because many of these nations are more remote in the interior and poorer, with less access to outside Western influence, and if you look at how "Middle Africa" is defined on a map, it includes even more of that rain forest and jungle. Western Africa has a lot of interaction between Islamic militant groups attacking Christians, resulting in displaced people, conflicts usually carry high death tolls in famine and disease caused by the displaced people. And many of those Western Africa people live in difficult desert conditions.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2019

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