Take the Stress Out, and Education Will be Better

Free the student, and change the world.

We must look at Finland, and wonder why their students do so well. They spend less than us, yet their students outperform ours.

They start them in school at a later age. They test them less. They give them longer recesses. They have less homework. They don't test and evaluate them so much, so they feel less pressure to perform.

They don't break them into remedial and advanced classes, creating a stigma on the ones who are dragging behind and a pressure on the rest who feel a need to make the advanced class.

Their teachers put in fewer classroom hours. Their teachers have to deal with fewer students per classroom. Their teachers do not have merit pay, so they feel less stress to compete with each other. The teachers are given a broad curriculum, so they feel less restricted in what they teach.

And, so, the Finnish student is a more finished product. Why? Perhaps it is because their system is more relaxed.  They take the stress out, and put the fun in. They make it all more comfortable and inviting and peaceful. 

There might be a lesson to be learned here. 

http://www.businessinsider.com/finlands-education-system-best-in-world-2012-11?op=1When