This video is making major rounds on Facebook these days. It's a clip from Where to Invade Next, which I plan to watch when it becomes available here in Finland. Once I've seen the entire Finland segment, I hope to write a more thorough response. But in the meantime, here are a few thoughts on this short clip.
I've addressed the no homework myth before. My trainee-teacher students and I are baffled as to where this particular idea comes from. I mean, obviously the Minister of Education says it herself in the video, but my guess is that that is a partial statement that has been taken out of context (about kindergartners, maybe). Schoolchildren in Finland definitely get homework.
The only other point I want to respond to here is the one Moore makes with the math teacher - the part where the math teacher says he cares about his students becoming happy human beings and Moore is so impressed. This part of the clip, at least in my experience, rings absolutely true. Right now I have over 70 of Finland's future teachers in my classrooms and I would expect every single one of them to give the same answer as that math teacher.
In fact, I've heard some of them say such things. We often have discussions in class, and one recent topic was about what a teacher's main purpose was. After conferring with each other, the small groups of students each reported that their main purpose was to make sure the kids in their classroom learned how to be decent human beings with skills to help them succeed in life. Not "learn math" or "master Finnish grammar" or "memorize the world capitals" - they want their students to be happy.
That said, the setup with the Finnish math teacher is a bit of a strawman, isn't it? Nobody is saying math teachers in the US (or wherever) want their students to be UNhappy. I'm sure if Michael Moore asked most teachers in the US this question, they'd give the same answer as the teachers here in Finland. But it sure makes for a poignant moment in the clip, doesn't it?
I look forward to watching the movie and seeing how its depiction of Finnish schools matches with my reality.
