Back in California, I was speaking with other soccer moms and mentioned that our kids go to Finnish school every other Sunday for an hour and a half. One of the moms misheard or misunderstood and approached me later to ask for details about the "finishing" school our kids went to. I thought this was a really funny mistake at the time but now that I've been reminded what Finnish schools are like, perhaps this isn't actually so far off. Our middle schooler did learn how to set the table after all...
One of my personal goals for our children has been to raise "renessaince men" (or women). Per Encyclopedia Britannica, "Renessaince Man was an ideal that developed in Renessaince Italy from the notion that a man can do all things if he will. The ideal embodied the basic tenets of Renaissance humanism which considered man the centre of the universe, limitless in his capacities for development, and led to the notion that men should try to embrace all knowledge and develop their own capacities as fully as possible." In practical terms for us that means we try to embrace and expose kids to what I call the 3 A's: Academics, Arts & Athletics. I also think "academics" involves broadening your level of general knowledge as much as possible. There are many reasons why I think Finnish schools are excellent (more on some other reasons in a separate post) but for me one of its most important accomplishments is that they do seem to support the notion of developing the whole person per my 3 A's apparoach. There are a variety of subjects that expose kids to many facets of human endeavor, and everyday life skills, that hopefully will help each child find something that resonates with them. In comparison school, especially elementary school, back in San Jose seemed somewhat more narrowly focussed on reading, writing and math.
The kids enjoy an amazing variety of subjects. For example, they get exposed to multiple different languages already in elementary school. They of course study Finnish similar to how in the US kids would study English Language arts (reading/writing/literature) and the 2nd official language Sweden, which they can start at the latest in 6th grade. (The opposite is true for those with Swedish as the mother tongue.) The first foreign language, often but not necessarily English, starts in 1st grade. (BTW, kids start school with 1st grade, not kinder garten, the year they turn 7.) You can then add another optional language in 4th grade and/or another in the 8th grade. Hence it woudn't be unheard of to have kid who has 3 foreign languages before high school.
Our middle schooler says math in Finland is easier - but he was also in a special accelerated math class in CA so perhaps not a fair comparison... However, he says history and geography are more advanced. He also has separate physics, chemistry and biology classes. (The elementary school kids study generic "environmental sciences" and in 5th/6th grade they also have civics.) One of the hardest classes for the middle schooler - because of challenges in studying in Finnish language - is actually "religion". Majority of Finns by default are Lutheran and religion is studied as a school subject. It is what I'd call history of religion or comparative religion because they look at all religions vs "bible study". The classes are offered in other religions as well and those who are non-denomitional (or choose it) take a life philosophy class instead.
But it isn't the "academic" subjects that the kids love the best or where I see the biggest differences. It is the subjects that for some reason have dropped off US school curriculum over the years: home economics, wood shop, sewing/crafts. Our 2nd grader (8 year old) is learning how to sew with a sewing maching while our 4th grader crocheted and sewed a pillow case but also made something in wood shop. Our middle schooler loved welding and made a metal coat rack but wasn't a fan of knitting. But by far, home economics has been the best experience for the middle schooler. They cook something every class and he's now made fish in oven, jambalaya, pizza including dough from scratch and numerous different deserts etc. In the home economic class they also have to clean up and learn about house cleaning and how to read washing machine labels etc. Amazing life skills and I feel like just based on this one year in the home economics class, he is already all set to one day move out on his own! Of course we all also benefit from him practicing what he learnt at school at home.
On the arts front the elementary kids seem to do a lot of singing in music class and your usual array of drawing/painting etc visual arts. The middle schooler loves the fact he has had a chance to learn drums, electric and classical guitar and the piano in his music class. The funny story there is that one day his music teacher said, thanks to his strong Finnish accent, that they'd be learning to play a song by a group "beat less" on the guitar. Our son was confused and curious about a band that had no beat until he heard the song and realized it was "Hey Jude" by the Beatles :)
And then to round off the little renessaince men/women, there is PE (physical education). Back in California the middle schooler PE classes follow a pretty boring routine often involving running laps around the school or basketball etc gym sports. Here it seems the PE classes are always double classes so they engage in quite a long/involved activity. The 7th grade class seeems especially focussed on rotating through every activity known to man. They have for example done bowling (to which the kids are expected to make their own way on bikes or city buses), gymnastics, cross-country skiing, skating/ice hockey, soccer, tobogganing and indoor field hockey. They even played "American Football" once class and our son felt the pressure to succeed... and he did given he was basicaclly the only one who knew how to throw the ball. Even the elementary kids go skiing and skating in the winter and are expected to walk to school and haul their skiis/skates with them! And for indoor sports the kids need to bring a change of clothes and towels and they actually take showers at school... So, given the broad exposure including teaching kids real life skills (and a bit of "suck it up buttercup" attitude to tough it out across the board e.g. lugging skis to school), perhaps calling Finnish schools finishing schools isn't a misnomer after all?
PS translation for the above schedules: (note the middle school one rotates subjects for 4 semesters during the school year) liikunta=PE, matematiikka=math, kotitalous=home economics, ruotsin kieli=Swedish, englanti=English, kemia=chemistry, käsityö=crafts, musiikki=music, kuvataide=art, maantieto=geography, historia=history, suomi toisena kielenä = Finnish as a second language, ympäristötieto=environmental science
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