Are Americans Exceptional?

I recently posted about the Finnish quest for equity in education and how the unexpected result of that quest was an exceptional rise in test scores and success in Finnish Schools.  I suggest that the American quest for exceptionalism might be having the reverse effect.

When we have exceptional schools and colleges the obverse is also true.  We have many schools and colleges that help define the exceptional by being mediocre or downright awful.  When we decide that it's OK to suffer along with good enough because the exceptional among us are doing well and we think that with luck and perseverance we can be exceptional too, we miss the point.  If we can all do well then no one is the exception.

This is hard for Americans to understand.  The propaganda we use to prove that we are the exception is flawed.  What is exceptional about America isn't us - it's our circumstance.  We have the good fortune to live an a land rich in resources and with a legal framework that reduces some inequality of opportunity.  That, my friends, is a matter of luck - not a matter of Americans being better or different - it's just plain luck!

We, like the Finns should be looking for ways to bring equity to all Americans, not just looking to become exceptional ourselves.

Does a Rising Tide Really Float all Boats?

Recently the Finnish Education System has been in the news.  They have gone from mediocrity to top achiever in just one decade.  What I find most interesting about Finland's rise to the top in student achievement is that the Finns didn't set out with the goal of academic excellence in mind.  Their stated goal was to provide equity among all students.

Think about it.  What Finland wanted was a guarantee that both poor and rich - native born and immigrant - learning disabled and gifted all receive the same chance to learn.  What they set out to do was to "Float all Boats".  When you think about it that seems a difficult task.  In the United States you would have to patch the rotting hulls of the poor - re-caulk the middle class boats and maybe monkey wrench the rich to get all to rise with the educational tide equitably.  The Finns, to extend the metaphor, used a different boatyard.

Where Americans would look at the equity problem as too large to solve (you just can't keep them all afloat), the Finns chose to act as if a solution was necessary.  Quite simply, they hired the best boat builders - all teachers go to the best universities and need masters degrees to teach.  Then they gave them control of their classrooms and provided nutritional and psychiatric help for all children.  Most importantly, all go to the same public schools together.

Think what it would mean for Americans if we had equity of education.  The poor and disadvantage would go to the same schools and have the same teachers as the well to do.  Could the rich then maintain the attitude of superiority and privilege that the current system allows?  Anti-government propaganda to the contrary, where students excel the state runs the educational system.  If all schools were in the hands of an adequately funded education department all schools would be funded adequately.  The rich could not take a chance with their children's education.  Perhaps they would even find some advantage to a system that taxes everyone and provides real service for all.

Here are some links to info about the Finnish Education System:  http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/?fb_action_ids=526843580719229&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%22526843580719229%22%3A10150550129111203%7D&action_type_map=%7B%22526843580719229%22%3A%22og.recommends%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

http://www.amazon.com/Finnish-Lessons-Educational-Change-Finland/dp/0807752576?tag=vglnk-c53-20