Finland_052405.doc.docVIP

Focus on Schools Helps Finns Build a Showcase NationAchievements Reflect High Status Given to Vocation of Teaching By Robert G. KaiserWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, May 24, 2005; A12 HELSINKI A foreigner asking to visit a school in Finland this spring got an unexpected reply from the Helsinki City Education Department: Our schools are overwhelmed by visitors; do you have to visit just now? In fact, the Finns, who have long felt neglected by the rest of the world, are delighted to show off their schools. But they do have a logistical problem. Foreign educators in droves want to visit Finnish schools for the simple reason that they are so good -- very likely the best on Earth. Superb schools symbolize the modern transformation of Finland, a poor and agrarian nation half a century ago, and today one of the worlds most prosperous, modern and adaptable countries. Finland finishes first in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams that test 15-year-olds in all of the worlds industrial democracies. Finland also finishes at or near the top in many global comparisons of economic competitiveness: Internet usage, environmental practices and more. Finland, where the modern cell phone was largely invented, has more cell phones per capita than any other nation -- nearly 85 per 100 citizens. As recently as the 1970s, Finland required that children attend school for just six years and the education system here was nothing special. But new laws supported by substantial government spending created, in barely 20 years, a system that graduates nearly every young person from vocational or high school, and sends nearly half of them on to higher education. At every level, the schooling is rigorous, and free. The key, said Pekka Himanen, 31, a renowned scholar with a PhD in philosophy (earned at age 20) who is a kind of guru of information-age Finland, isnt how much is invested, its the people. The high quality of Finnish education depends on the high quality