Finlands #1, Finlands #1

All Hail Finland!

IF AMERICANS harbored any doubts about their eroded global edge, the recent release of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s fourth international comparison of educational performance should rattle the nation from its “We’re No. 1’’ complacency. The latest Program for International Student Assessment study revealed that, although the United States made some modest gains, it is lagging behind many other developed nations in the ability of its 15-year-olds. The country isn’t flunking: like France, England, and Sweden, learning here has stagnated at below-average levels. That “gentleman’s C’’ should be a call to change course. 

Take heart. Finland, one of the world’s top educational performers according to the last PISA study and a recent McKinsey report, was once in a similar slump and can offer lessons for the United States and others seeking a cure for poor public schools.

The article goes on to discuss what Finland did to turn around their educational program:

• No Standardized Testing (!!!!!!!!!)



AWWWWWESOME

• All parties involved in education are apart of the evaluation process (Teachers, Students, Parents, etc).
• Teachers are treated as autonomous professionals who are required to have advanced degrees.
• All Educational Leaders are... shockingly... FORMER TEACHERS! 

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Wow! This is a breath of fresh air. I whole heartedly agree with and support the entire premise of the article. More needs to be done by our government to make teaching a respectable profession again. It needs to require higher standards for people to become teachers (the average teacher in the USA was a "C" student in  high school) and expect a greater degree of intellectual prowess. In return, they need to give teachers back their classrooms. Teachers are no longer trusted to do what is the best academic interests of their students, and are viewed almost as villains by many in the greater community. Teachers are the most powerful commodity in the educational system. They need to step being treated as cogs in a machine. Period.

I would also like to address one other point the article made: School Leadership = Former Teachers. In America there is an interesting phenomena that has occurred. The macrolevel leadership of education is willingly placed into the hands of people who have no experience in education and no educational training. Answer these questions for me:

• What type of degree do you need to have to sit in a government position to oversee medical professionals? A medical degree.
• What type of degree do you need to have to sit in a government position to oversee financial professionals? A finance degree.

Yet, in America there is a feeling that because a person has spent 13 years as a student in public education, they are an expert in running public education!  The Republican who ran for the top educational office in North Carolina in 2008 had a finance degree. His experience that qualified him to do this job was that he raised two girls and sent them through public school. Seriously? If I commit a bunch of crimes and stand trail on numerous occasions, does that make me qualified to be a lawyer or sit on the board? No way. [/rant]

In closing, way to go Finland! May we take the bold steps necessary to turn from our faulty ways.

Biz-Ed: Who Moved My Cheese?

**Biz-Ed is a reoccurring segment of this blog where business books are reviewed, making connections between the business theory and the education world**

Title: Who Moved My Cheese?
Author: Spencer Johnson

Summary
Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable about two people and two rats who live in a maze, in search of cheese. Once a large pile of cheese was found, the cheese becomes the center of their lives: effecting where they live, their identity, their purpose for living. Then one day the cheese is gone. The book chronicles the reaction of each character as they grapple with what to do once their cheese has disappeared. It centers around the questions: (1) What is your “cheese”? (2) What do you do when change messes with your cheese?

Education Connection
This book is a soul searcher. It leads the reader to ask key, important questions about purpose and dealing with change. The educational applications of this book are two fold.

The first application is for Teachers. Teacher Burnout is a major problem in education today. At the end of each year, thousands of teachers, myself included, feel fried to a crisp; worn out from the intellectual and emotional marathon of the school year. A large number of teachers choose not to return. This is a big problem. Who Moved My Cheese? can lead teachers to ask themselves some important questions to avoid this burnout:

What is your cheese? What is it that fuels your passion, gives you identity and makes you feel alive? Teachers are often attracted to this profession because of a desire to serve a grander purpose. Unfortunately, teachers easily loose sight of them the fray of the daily tasks of the job. Once you have re-identified your cheese, what do you need to do to protect your cheese? What do you need to do to make sure that you are staying connected with those things that keep you vitalize? If you find that at the moment you do not have a cheese or that your cheese has been moved, what do you need to do to go find new cheese? A life without purpose a life not worth living.
Find out what your cheese is. Protect your cheese.

What do you believe your students’ cheese to be? What do your Students’ believe their cheese to be? What is the difference between our expectations and their reality? So often we focus on what WE want our students’ cheese to be that we loose sight of what our students believe about themselves. How much more power and influence if we identify and connect with their cheese; using that as a launching point of our curriculum?

Final Thoughts
Who Moved My Cheese is an excellent book that is a quick read. It provides nuggets of wisdom to shape and guide a soul-search for purpose and what to do when life brings change.