Why are Finland's schools better than ours?

     There was a news feature on television recently about Finland's educational system, and how it is the best in the world.
     I know that offends some of my fellow Americans, who believe that our system is the best in the world, but there it is; the facts cannot be ignored.
     When you ignore facts, you can't be the best at anything.  Unless your goal is to be the best at ignoring facts, and if that's the case, we're a leader.
     Finland's school system was apparently not doing so well until about a decade ago, when they faced facts. Good schools are the result of commitment is fact number one.
     Fact number two is that commitment requires parental attention and involvement.
     Fact number three is that a good education requires good teachers, and an environment that allows them to teach.
     If you accept those three facts, others become self-evident. Finland, like America, had not paid teachers particularly well, and it was difficult to recruit the best college graduates into teaching. Now, they take their teachers from the top of the college graduating classes.
     American school systems often have applicants only from the bottom half -- or third.
     Finland's teachers have enough time; there may be three teachers to a classroom, two teaching and one working with that student or another who needs extra help. That's a real commitment, and not just a slogan, to leaving no child behind.
     Finland's teachers may stay with a group of students for three years. Here, you have a class for a year, then start over again with the next semester.
     They have planning time.
     Students believe that education is important, and not an interruption to their social agenda. Parents believe that they are obligated to help the child and the teacher succeed.
     School in Finland is a doorway to lifelong learning and a progressive, productive role in the culture, not a pro sports contract.
     Education is viewed in Finland as a right to which every child is entitled, equally, and has the highest priority in the lives of young people, their parents, and the leaders of their culture. They probably don't take off for a week in Disneyworld during the middle of the semester.
     You can probably think of a few things we need to work on in our culture before America is a threat to be the best in education.
     But then we have NASCAR, Spike TV, and off-roading.....