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Thursday, December 29, 2011

What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success - Anu Partanen - National - The Atlantic

What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success - Anu Partanen - National - The Atlantic:

What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success

DEC 29 2011, 3:00 PM ET

The Scandinavian country is an education superpower because it values equality more than excellence.

finnish-kids.jpg

Sergey Ivanov/Flickr

Everyone agrees the United States needs to improve its education system dramatically, but how? One of the hottest trends in education reform lately is looking at the stunning success of the West's reigning education superpower, Finland. Trouble is, when it comes to the lessons that Finnish schools have to offer, most of the discussion seems to be missing the point.

The small Nordic country of Finland used to be known -- if it was known for anything at all -- as the home of Nokia, the mobile phone giant. But lately Finland has been attracting attention on global