Finland and Alberta spawn star students

[LWolf]

By CAROLINE ALPHONSO AND KATHERINE HARDING
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
12-08-04

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041208.wxeducation8/BNStory/Front/

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Teenagers in Finland and Alberta rank at or near the top in international tests in math, science and reading, but that's where the similarities end.

Alberta students are taught in a very structured environment and are tested in Grades 3, 6, and 9 on a provincially developed curriculum. Finland rejects the idea of standardized testing, focusing instead on a curriculum that allows teachers to chart their own courses in the classroom. Many teachers hold a master's degree, and pupils start formal schooling at age 7, about two years later than in Canada.

"There's more than one route to overall high performance," Scott Murray, director-general of institutions and social statistics at Statistics Canada, said yesterday.

Cheers to Scott Murray for publicly stating that there is more than one way to achieve success.

Personally, I choose Finland's philosophy. I'd like to see it at work here. I'd like to see "choice" become the standard in American education, where more than one philosophy and methodology could thrive, and school "choice" would mean offering families public schools that didn't require all American children to be stamped on the same assembly line, by the same factory. Families that prefer highly structured, test-driven instruction and curriculum could choose such schools. Families that prefer a more child-centered, individualized approach could choose such schools. All public, all with broad common curricular goals; just different paths to success.