Why are Finnish students smarter then the rest of the world?

[Ramirez]

In your neck of the woods perhaps, the figures here show that education for the masses is popular and widely taken up. For someone who thinks his country is the best in the world you have a very poor opinion of your fellow countrymen, dear me, I think better of them than you do!

LOL, on one hand they the best of the best of the best....then they are beer swilling droogs .....

 

[Makalakumu]

Personally, I'm an autodidact. I don't need my information presented in any particular format or manner; I'll do the thinking, thank you very much. I develop myself; the very notion that someone would 'develop' me by a specialized system of education makes me slightly queasy.

++ Good. LOL!

The root word of education actually means "to draw out." There's nothing about shaping or developing anything.

Here's a different thought, one thing that might explain the discrepancy in what we see. The US nominally values freedom and, since we live in a diverse society, people can choose how much education they want. As much or as little. In countries with strong socialistic tendencies, you have less choice and are forced to learn standardized material. The US tried to do this with NCLB, but I think the general culture of individualism and freedom is dooming this effort to failure. There is too much we have to change about our society in order for that to work.