Tim Walker moved to Finland with his family. They have moved permanently, as Tim’s wife is Finnish. Tim now teaches fifth grade in Helsinki. He experienced culture shock. Here is what he learned: children need time to refresh, teachers need time to refresh. Both groups take frequent breaks during the day. But that’s not all: read on.

Categories International, Students, Teachers and Teaching

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Dienne says:

December 24, 2013 at 10:13 am

I like the lessons he learned, but I’m a little gobsmacked that he was planning to teach fifth graders how to walk in straight quiet lines. If that were the expectation in Finland, doesn’t he think they would have learned that by fifth grade? Thank heavens that’s not the expectation in Finland, and why the heck do we do that here?

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- Ann B. says:
  
  December 24, 2013 at 10:40 am
  
  That detail did not strike me as true. It was all a bit too pat.
  
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- Teacher Ed says:
  
  December 24, 2013 at 2:33 pm
  
  And Americans believe we are the ones who are all about independence. It has become about power and control here, especially in no-excuses charter schools. How can we expect children to learn delayed gratification and develop impulse control if we so often demonstrate a lack of trust in them to behave properly and are frequently exerting power and imposing external controls over them? I’ve always wanted children to develop internal controls, so I’ve never aimed to make kids into soldiers.
  
  I’m no doormat and I believe in limit setting, so that children know what is expected of them, but I think rules need to be understandable and within reason. I’ve preferred to have my students walk through the halls in line with a partner and have taught them they could talk to each other then as long as they whisper. How can we expect children to learn social skills in school if they are never allowed to socialize? Opportunities for socialization within school also enable teachers to capitalize on their ability to have a positive influence on those who are apt to bully –before they try to claim the playground turf.
  
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  - Dienne says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 6:28 pm
    
    Beautiful.
    
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Joe says:

December 24, 2013 at 10:49 am

Things sound great in Finland but I would have liked to have known how many kids were in the classroom. In the article Walker states, “… it’s expected that children will spend their breaks playing outside, rain or shine.” The rain part would not have worked in my teaching situation. I would have been sued if a child had gotten sick by playing in the rain and they would have tracked mud into the school and then the principal would have been on my case for taking the kids out in inclement weather of any sort. I often had very large classes and so it was extremely important for them to walk in quiet straight lines or else my colleagues would have complained and some would have even reported me to the principal for having a loud disruptive class interfering with their lessons. The kids would have to be really quiet walking past the principal’s office and most of the principals I had over the years would circulate throughout the school during the day and they definitely would not have liked noisy classes in any location. I taught fourth grade and most of the classes I had needed plenty of structure, guidance and constant reminding about proper behavior. My actual lunch break amounted to about 25 minutes and getting to the lavatory was of prime importance since I had so few breaks during the day. I’m not clear about whether Mr. Walker had a paraprofessional take the kids out for recess or if he took them outside?

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- Nina says:
  
  December 24, 2013 at 2:51 pm
  
  Joe,
  When I taught in Finland before moving abroad, we teachers shared the recess monitoring duty – so some days I had more breaks but other days I went in and out with the students. It got really hectic at winter sometimes when all the kids of my class (24) wanted to go skating, but weren’t able to tie their skates… 🙂
  ~Nina
  
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john says:

December 24, 2013 at 10:50 am

I spent a lot of time living in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark during the 1980s and 1990s. It’s a completely different culture. There is very little anger, and fear. People are very trusting of you. America is completely barbaric in comparison. There is a social safety net and people are not just left to “rot” on their own in the name of “freedom.” If you lose your job, you get health insurance, etc. College is free, etc. People over there become doctors because they want to help people, not to become rich. Imagine that. Most Americans are too ignorant to see that our system “winner take all Capitalism” is a great crime against most of society. Allowing a few billionaires to take 40% of the country’s wealth is wrong. Go watch Henry Giroux’s interview with Bill Moyers recently and learn the bitter truth about our country. If you want a Scandinavian lifestyle, move to Scandinavia. We are going in the complete opposite direction. We will never have that type of life here. Over here, it’s just the rich and the rest. It’s those who have lunch and those who are lunch. That is America. Teachers are “lunch” in case you didn’t know. Our model is the Middle Ages: Lords and serfs.

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- teachingeconomisot says:
  
  December 24, 2013 at 11:30 am
  
  College is not free, it is just that someone else gets to pay for your college education.
  
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  - Joe says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 12:03 pm
    
    You are wrong teachingeconomist, university is FREE (or the fees are minimal depending on the country) at the point of entry. Of course university education is funded through taxes but they get value for the taxes that they pay. These are democratic countries which have decided that free university education is a positive asset for their societies. This means that poor people, working class people and middle class people have the chance to attend college without graduating with a huge debt and they can give back to their countries. John makes excellent points with which I heartily agree. Teachingeconomist obviously is some kind of Ayn Randian who believes that everyone except for the elite are moochers and that poor people should just be allowed to rot in the gutter.
    
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  - teachingeconomist says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 5:31 pm
    
    Joe,
    
    When I pass a BMW in a fraternity parking lot I think about the taxes my foster son pays out of his to minimum wage jobs. As a practice matter free tuition would be a great boon to the relatively wealthy paid for, in part by the relatively poor.
    
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  - Ann B. says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 2:05 pm
    
    No, it is not free. Taxes pay for these things. Government policies ensure that the fruits of everyone’s labor is shared more equitably. Government policies in the US ensure that wealth, created by labor, is distributed upward.
    
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- cary444 (@cary444) says:
  
  December 24, 2013 at 12:40 pm
  
  Exactly!
  
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- Robert Rendo says:
  
  December 25, 2013 at 9:59 am
  
  John,
  
  Perfectly put. Do or die/winner takes all systems here are a crime against humanity.
  
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john says:

December 24, 2013 at 11:43 am

Yes, they use taxes to pay for college, healthcare, and public transportation. What sick values they have! They should be spending their money on weapons (drones) like we do. What is wrong with their priorities as a society? If they spent most of their tax money on weapons then they could have college for $40,000 a year, cracked, disintegrating roads, and need I mention our healthcare? Those sick Socialists. I want my freedom to collect cans, work at Walmart, carry a gun and live under a bridge. Don’t they know that America is number #1?

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Mike Brocoum says:

December 24, 2013 at 11:47 am

Our capitalist system requires maximum “productivity”!

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Joe says:

December 24, 2013 at 12:15 pm

Sadly our society is dominated by the right wing, rabidly pro corporate libertarian philosophy that deems any social program to be, oh horrors, socialism. We don’t even have universal FREE healthcare that would be funded by tax dollars. Thank goodness we do have Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security but the usual suspects are working over time to discredit, cut, slice, dice and destroy those necessary social programs. It’s up to the American people to see the light but the media is so dominated by pro corporate interests that are hugely invested in promoting laissez-faire free market predatory crony capitalism.

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ECE Teacher says:

December 24, 2013 at 12:33 pm

If you’ve ever spent any time interacting with an infant, you’ve probably noticed, but possibly didn’t know what to call, those moments when a baby seems to have lost interest and disengages, such as by looking away or even struggling to break free, and then blissfully does his or her own thing. You may have attributed that to a short attention span, but child development experts see much more to it than that. We recognize this as a necessary recovery period, when children have reached their maximum capacity for external stimulation and need to center themselves within their core.

What a shame that Americans have failed to recognize and acknowledge that this need continues throughout childhood and never goes away completely. During waking hours, throughout our days, these recovery periods enable us to tap our inner selves and then reset, allowing us to approach the world again with refreshed eyes.

Hooray to the Finns for regularly accommodating the need for recovery in both children and teachers! We have so much to learn from them about nurturing humanity.

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john says:

December 24, 2013 at 12:34 pm

Who is going to change anything? Both parties are determined to privatize everything, destroy pensions, and eventually greatly reduce Social Security and Medicaid. It is just a matter of time. Who are you going to vote for? The Democrats are doing more to destroy public education than the Republicans could have dreamed? I think in our era of open borders and free movement of people, you can vote with your feet. Pick a society that has values more like yours and move there. I would not count on America changing. We are moving towards the far right. This time is very similar to Germany in the early 1930s. You sense disaster coming on so many levels. Most sensible, educated people (who were able) left Germany before all hell broke loose. This is sadly the only individual choice that we have left. Vote with your feet and leave before it is too late. That is the only freedom you have left.

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- Dienne says:
  
  December 24, 2013 at 12:49 pm
  
  What country is taking in refugee Americans?
  
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  - jon says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 3:34 pm
    
    We take in refugee, but we don’t well equip schools and society for them to fit in. We do things to make America look good, but we don’t know how to deals with or plan for the consequences.
    
    We throw money at poverty, but that’s not going to fix it. American’s make their own problems and blame others for it.
    
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  - teachingeconomist says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 5:34 pm
    
    I imagine many countries might take US citizens.
    
    Have you ever been to a naturalization ceremony? I was at one a couple of months ago. Eighty one new citizens from fourth one countries. All professions from physicians to laborers. I found it very moving.
    
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  - Dienne says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 6:31 pm
    
    Yes, my husband is a naturalized citizen.
    
    My question, however, is, as people start becoming aware of how badly we’ve messed up our own country, what other countries are going to want us? I think there may be a time in the not-so-distant future when many Americans find out what it’s like to be an illegal immigrant.
    
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  - Ex-Teacher says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 7:27 pm
    
    I keep hoping a blue state like Vermont will break away and turn socialist. I’ll be there in a heartbeat.
    
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  - teachingeconomisot says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 7:36 pm
    
    I am curious about what you would consider socialist. What would Vermont have to change in order to “turn socialist”?
    
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  - Robert Rendo says:
    
    December 25, 2013 at 10:02 am
    
    TE,
    
    For starters, banning you from entering Vermont would help turn it socialist, in part.
    
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  - teachingeconomisot says:
    
    December 25, 2013 at 10:09 am
    
    I was actually looking for a more substantive reply. From my perspective, economies can be somewhere on a continuum, some relatively more socialist, some less. Whit interested my is where the poster thought there was a bright line that would indicate Vermont had become socialist. Do you have any thoughts about how we could determine when a society had become socialist?
    
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  - Robert Rendo says:
    
    December 25, 2013 at 10:26 am
    
    TE (aka Mr. Obsessed with Measurement and Data),
    
    “Socialist”, like any other term, is on a spectrum and varies from country to country, community to community, and person to person.
    
    A friend once told my wife that she had too “high a taste in material goods” (meaning what she liked to look at and talk about, not what she actually acquired) to be a socialist.
    
    This was a purely American view of the word, and was as stupid a declaration as stupid can be.
    
    However, I would be happy to restore our tax codes, for starters, back to when Nixon and Carter had administrations. I would like to see APPR dropped and RttT repealed, giving trust and autonomy back to teachers, adminsitrators, and parents. I would like to see our military budget sharply curtailed and use the money for public infrastructure, public education included as one of its recipients. I would like to see SS strengthened by taxing above the $113,500 limit. I would like to see a real single payer health care system managed efficiently, as they do in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, and Germany.
    
    If those things make me a “socialist”, then tattoo a big fat “S” on my arm; I will wear it proudly.
    
    However, I used to view the United States as a true free market capitalist system with veritable, susbstantive mechanisms built in for checks and balances. This is relatively not the case any more. It is hardly the case.
    
    Vermont is phasing in a state single payer system between 2014 and the last installment of it is 2017. Bernie Sanders, who I respect deeply, is one of its master minds, and he is one of few decent politicians, I might add.
    
    Congratulations on your less cryptic and newly improved communication style. You have much potential to look forward to . . . . .
    
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  - teachingeconomist says:
    
    December 25, 2013 at 11:00 am
    
    Actually it seems to me that none of your suggested reforms would make you a socialist except perhaps the single payer healthcare system (which I think we will inevitably end up having in any case).
    
    I do wonder about your desire for autonomy on the part of teachers, administrators, and parents. I assume you do not want to go back to the bad old days of state rights, segregation, and ignoring the needs of students with special needs. The federal government took away local autonomy here and I assume that we all think that is a good idea.
    
    I am most curious about your desire to increase parental, teacher, and administrator autonomy.Traditionally parents with sufficient means were free to choose a school that they felt best fit the needs and desires of their students, so we see private schools that take different approaches to education. Parents without the means to pay tuition at private schools were told where to send their students and the curriculum at those schools is, at best, a compromise between the politically powerful residents of the community. Teachers and administrators would have to go along with this compromise approach to education.
    
    I have made the much criticized argument that the only feasible way to increase the autonomy of all three groups is to allow parents to choose a school. This way like minded parents, teachers and administrators can gather in a single school and do what each think is best. How would you increase autonomy of all three while keeping the traditional system of geographically zoned school admission?
    
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  - Robert Rendo says:
    
    December 26, 2013 at 9:34 am
    
    “Actually it seems to me that none of your suggested reforms would make you a socialist except perhaps the single payer healthcare system (which I think we will inevitably end up having in any case).”
    
    Really?
    
    So does that mean that Americans and the American body politic and our system during the Nixon and Carter administrations were socialist as well?
    
    Nixon wanted to start up a single payer system and Prescott Bush and friends put a sharp stop to him. They also may well have framed Nixon for much of the spying he may never have committed simply because he did not want to go along with everything Grandpa Bushie wanted. Not that Nixon was an angel.
    
    Nevertheless, I have been searching all my life for some definition, and thank goodness I am now a TE-endorsed/ordained socialist. Please contact Harlan Uhderhill and let him know that you beat hom to the finish line. You two can celebrate over a beer.
    
    Me, I will enjoy a glass of beaujoulais from socialist Bordeaux, France and offer a glass or two to Hollande and his copaine . . . .
    
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  - Robert Rendo says:
    
    December 26, 2013 at 9:37 am
    
    TE,
    
    “The federal government took away local autonomy here and I assume that we all think that is a good idea.”
    
    Rheely?
    
    Are you _______________ ?
    
    If big federal policy were truly benefitting everyone and posing educaiton thought the lens of someone like Ronald Giroux, I would say fine: let’s go the way of big government.
    
    But big government serves not the interests of ordinary people . . .
    
    I don’t know where you come off with this assumption.
    
    Lay off the spiked egg nog and spend some more time with your sons, will you . . . . .
    
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  - teachingeconomist says:
    
    December 26, 2013 at 9:46 am
    
    Robert,
    
    Do you want to void all federal court decisions involving education? Eliminate Title 9, the IDEA act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act? I am sure that many local districts find compliance very inconvenient and would be happy to be freed from these big government mandates.
    
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  - Robert Rendo says:
    
    December 26, 2013 at 4:12 pm
    
    Do you know how to parse out the good from the bad? Not all federal mandates are productive . . . .
    
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7th grade teacher in a Texas title 1 public school says:

December 24, 2013 at 12:38 pm

The years I taught 5th grade, I always stayed out on for recess as long as I could. My end of year test scores were as strong as anybody’s. I needed a break, so did my students. This year, the principal decreed “no recess”, because scores were low. Gifted and talented students complained, their scores were good. All to no avail.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

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KrazyTA says:

December 24, 2013 at 12:41 pm

Just focus on one point in the linked article:

[start quote] During the first week of school, I didn’t get it. I designed back-to-back lessons so my students could have fewer but longer breaks. In the midst of a double lesson, one of my students confessed, “I think I’m going to explode. When are we going to get a break?” [end quote]

Let’s look at this from an “education reform” POV: a teacher getting ‘management-style’ advice from a fifth-grader, being so incredibly stupid and weak as to listen to the student, and then making earth-shattering adjustments without consulting with his school’s CEO.

Whatever happened to top-down, one-size-fits-all, kiss up-kick down management and pedagogy? Where’s the ROI in the Finnish example?

Leaving RheeWorld and arriving on Planet Reality, let’s sum up the latter’s POV: what the teacher described is more flexible and more practical and more productive and it even allows for that most dreaded of all outcomes—

It supports, nay, encourages the development of the “joy of teaching” and the “love of learning.”

Read this posting in connection with the one today on American exceptionalism. Perhaps it’s time to cast down false pride and self-destructive jingoism and show a little self-confidence—and not be afraid of discarding worst practices here for better practices from elsewhere.

But where’s the $tudent Succe$$ in that? Makes no ₵ent¢ for rheephormistas who follow the mantra of “unfettered greed will answer every need.”

From the last verse of Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

So we have a choice. Which of these will be the one we took?

😕

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jon says:

December 24, 2013 at 12:42 pm

john I’m with you.

Many people have a narrow view of the world.

Tim Walker gave us his perspective on what amazed him at the moment. There are many who have visited Finland’s schools from the US who could give us different accounts. What’s not to believe about Walker’s account when there is evidence available.

I too have lived in other countries. America needs an attitude adjustment if we want to change. The ed system is just a small part of the equation. We have too many greedy people, apathetic, laxed gun laws, loopholes, etc., who will take advantage of the system and of their own fellow Americans. But we need more people who want to change instead of getting drawn into the “dark side” like Bennett who will do anything for money.

Currently, we live in self-denial and at the same time we don’t trust our government. We are desensitized to gun violence, domestice violence, sexual abuse, poverty, and the list goes on. When this happens, people’s view of themselves, others, and the world change. They don’t trust what’s out their. Our beliefs and values about goodness wanes.

Those who want to pick apart Walker’s account, whether it’d be true or false, have difficulties examing the values and beliefs of our society. Without passing judgment on Walker’s account, can’t they see that our ed system is not the fault of government and greedy people as it has more to do with their beliefs and values that these people conduct themselves.

Finland is highly rated not only for their quality of education but where those who live there are the happiest. Are we all going to question that too and not believe what their beliefs are?

People in America love to win arguments and we love to argue. We fact check everything to prove ourselves. We are in love with ourselves (self-centered). Ironically, we envy our neighbors. When we have more; we want even more. We waste not thinking about tomorrow. We are materialistic. Do we truly care about others when it is evident that we don’t? It is easier to do these things than to want to change, because it means giving up some of what we have.

We can’t wait for others to change especially not politicians and the wealthy. However, we out number them which makes it possible to change beliefs and values of our country.

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- Robert Rendo says:
  
  December 25, 2013 at 10:27 am
  
  John,
  
  Again, perfectly put!
  
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  - Robert Rendo says:
    
    December 25, 2013 at 10:28 am
    
    Oops: I meant “Jon”.
    
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Lisa Bailey Ogawa says:

December 24, 2013 at 1:00 pm

I noticed this pacing adjustment when I was visiting my grandfather in Canada. Everyone seems certain that a coffee break is as important as filing or planning or cleaning. Whew. What a great perspective!

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Reteach 4 America says:

December 24, 2013 at 1:03 pm

I completely understand the impetus to give up and move abroad, as I’ve been exploring that possibility myself a lot over the past couple years. However, after I reading these statistics, I’ve begun to feel that all is not lost:

Only 26% of Americans feel adequately represented by Democrats and Republicans and 60% think there is a need for a third major party:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/165392/perceived-need-third-party-reaches-new-high.aspx

Democracy may be our saving grace, but it’s going to be up to us to organize and unite the 99%, such as around candidates that support a democratic socialist party similar to Scandinavian countries. With only 15% of Americans today who do not use the Internet, I think that can be accomplished through social media.

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- Dienne says:
  
  December 24, 2013 at 6:35 pm
  
  I agree with you, but the right wing has so effectively tainted the word “socialist”, as well as the accompanying abstract concept of “government control”* that I don’t think the majority of the country will ever rally around a candidate who either uses a socialist title or uses socialist language.
  
  *Yes, socialism is a lot more – and a lot better – than just “government control”, but that’s what most Americans have been conditioned to think of in connection with socialism.
  
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  - Reteach 4 America says:
    
    December 24, 2013 at 7:01 pm
    
    I know, it won’t be easy across the country, primarily due to the lunatic fringe who vote against their own best interests. But the Working Families Party has already made great gains, such as in New York: http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/
    
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taxpaying truth teller says:

December 24, 2013 at 1:24 pm

This is just common sense, especially for anyone who knows anything about child development. The problem is that this could get you fired in many school districts, particularly LAUSD south los angeles schools.

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Robert Rendo says:

December 25, 2013 at 10:04 am

Indeed, compared to Finland, the United States is, humanity/labor/fiscal equity-wise, a fascist nation. Most Democrats and Republicans and far too many voters are all systemically to blame . . . . .

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deb says:

December 25, 2013 at 1:39 pm

I remember being evaluated on transitions between lessons… What was I doing to keep students “on task” when going from on lesson to the next … With disagreements as to the value of avoiding “wasting” class time. Not the Finnish manner, eh?

A fellow 4th grade teacher proudly skipped sending kids to the Bookmobile to avoid wasting HIS time. He also resisted having kids attend concerts, programs, field trips, even recess. But he was Golden Boy.

I’d like to send him to Finland…

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