Professor Weeks
CRTW
10 October 2014
Education
As I sit here at my desk thinking about the problems with our nation’s educational system, I reflect on my own secondary education experience and realize the struggles I had to deal with for several years. I was taught to be a lazy learner, someone who did things to just barely get by instead of someone who put in the effort to learn. My teachers never emphasized the importance of good study habits but instead lead us to the easy, quick way of learning which has bit me in the butt in college. We breed learners who depend on memorization instead of teaching them different ways to understand subjects being taught. If we were to show our youngest students how interesting learning …show more content…
We are actually quite the opposite. According to the Huffington Post, we are ranked 17th in the world for education with Finland, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan being the top four leaders. The rankings are based off of students who decide to attend college, international test scores, and graduation rates between 2006 and 2010 (Huffington Post). In an article written by the National Education System, Finland has been the nation to watch since they completely changed their entire education structure in order to reach success. “Over the past 40 years, Finland has shifted from a highly centralized system emphasizing external testing to a more localized system in which highly trained teachers design curriculum around the very lean national standards” (NEA). Avoiding the broad testing and allowing the teachers to dictate what should be focused on during the course of the year has brought them tremendous success since they have used the creativity of the teachers who are constantly with the children. Finland has strict requirements in order to become a teacher with changing their original three-year schooling program to now four to five years, and also focusing more on problem-solving and critical thinking to practice for a research-based career. These changes have made a huge difference in the classroom because it allows the students to learn to trust their own minds and thoroughly enjoy learning like every student should. The teachers focus on every student learning with challenging curriculum, and involve students in research and review on an everyday basis (NEA). Finland’s success is a tool we all could use and work off of. They show us how education can be reformed if we are able to accept the things we are doing wrong and try and change