When I first came across Finland in my life, it was in the context of their war with the Soviets at the start of World War Two in the Winter War. I was (still am) a History buff, especially about the Second World War. I had read then about how the smaller Finnish army gave the Soviet Army a bloody nose despite being numerically inferior.

The second time I came across Finland was when I was doing Modern European History and Political Science at the university. That was when I came across the term “Finlandization”. Finlandization then basically refers to an independent state’s foreign policy that defers to that of a much stronger neighbor, meaning it would nto do anything to contradict the interest fo the stronger neighbor. That was the relationship then between Finland and the Soviet Union.

The third time of Finland hit me was due to Nokia. I am assuming everybody knows about Nokia so I shall not say very much about it. It is the fourth that I am interested in writing about. This is about Finland’s high quality education system.

If we read about Finland’s education system, its story is quite akin to that of their fight against the mighty Soviet Army. In an “education” world where “maintaining standards” have become a euphemism for centralized, high stakes testing of the written kind, Finland has been standing tall against the relentless onslaught of high stakes examinations or testing to produce a first class education system.

For many countries, this is almost unthinkable. But the Finland education model is very successful and more countries should try to imitate it instead of that of countries with high stakes written examinations like that of Singapore. Its success starts from the lowest rung at nursery level and goes all the way to the top. It is a system that ought to be given a serious look which what I will do in my upcoming posts.

I have written a few posts warning my friends and readers in the countries around Singapore, like Indonesia and Thailand, not to blindly ape Singapore’s much vaunted education system. I have warned about looking at Singapore with rose-tinted glasses. I have argued that Singapore does not have an education system. What Singapore possess is a huge test prep system. Everything that is done in the test prep centers (they call them “schools” in Singapore) is geared towards preparing students to pass those high stakes examinations. I have also written about how foreign observers are eager to praise and copy the Singapore system. Even Barack Obama has mentioned how “well” Singapore’s “education” system is during his campaign trail.

Some readers may argue that there are schools that are skipping traditional examinations like the GCE O levels but they forget these are only for the elite top schools in Singapore. Why is this not the norm in Singapore? I have argued passionately that the examinations system is out of date and is one factor for the disconnect that affects many teenagers in schools in Singapore.

Yet, the Singapore system is being imitated by schools in the Southeast Asian region in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam, and even as far away as China. Today, we see this trend being followed eagerly by Obama‘s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. To quote Gerald Bracey:

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wants a longer school day, a longer school week, and a longer school year and national subject standards, which will inevitably lead to one national test. Duncan wants to institute merit pay, which is a euphemism for paying teachers to produce higher test scores. Such merit pay, combined with national academic standards and one national test, will inevitably continue to transform our public schools into test prep factories. Thus, more and more of the same old industrialist factory model of education. All we need to do to improve schools, says Duncan, is intensify the command-and-control model of education.

Do all these sound familiar to Singaporeans out there? Is it a surprise that Arne Duncan wants something akin to what Singapore has now? TIMSS has caused American bureaucrats and politicians to panic. They fear that the dragons of the East will leave America in the dust with the dragons’ consistent high rankings in TIMSS. But they forget that it is precisely America’s lack of centralized control that has allowed it to produce the world’s most creative talents in all fields that has powered America’s ascendancy in the world today.

Yet, even in Singapore, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is trying, probably reluctantly, to move away from the traditional examinations mode because it recognizes at least officially, that there is a need to change the schooling experience to reflect the 21st century needs. But the change is only for the elite schools. But as Bracey puts it:

“Shouldn’t every child have an education like the President’s daughters?”

Bracey was of course commenting on Arne Duncan’s reforms. He was highlighting a clear contradiction between what the Obama Administration intends for education for the rest of America, and what the President’s daughter receives. In Singapore, what the “elite” receives, is different from that of the lesser mortals too. The elite in Singapore, like Obama’s daughters, will get schools that are not factory-like in nature, boasting of enlightened approaches to education. The rest of America, like the rest of Singapore, will get the rags and the factory assembly line which is indicative of where the powers-that-be think such students should be heading for.

“The working, the working, just the working life.”

- “Factory” by Bruce Springsteen

Recently, the Singapore Mass Rapid and Transit (SMRT), that is responsible for the MRT in Singapore, began airing in its stations and trains, a well-known local TV character as the teacher of basic courteous behavior for its MRT commuters. In a rap-like “musical” video, the TV character, Phua Chu Kang exhorts MRT commuters to stand away from the opening doors of the trains, give up their seats for elderly and pregnant and so on. It may seem strange to a foreigner to do this but the “exhortation-style of teaching” is fairly common in Singapore schools too.

Recently, and example of this teach by exhortation was revealed in Facebook. A teacher friend of mine was lamenting how difficult it was to teach her students to think deeply. This was a perfectly legitimate lament. However, soon there were others who chipped to say that it is not difficult as all my friend had to do was to tell her students that they will fail if they cannot answer the question which require deeper thinking and added that it always worked! And this is supposed to be many years after the teaching of thinking skills has been introduced to Singapore schools by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

I am frankly ashamed and indeed appalled by such a response form someone who is a teacher in a school in Singapore. I guess I felt appalled because I know that this is not an isolated instant of the kind of teaching practices that goes on in Singapore schools. To say that students can think better by just threatening them with failure, is tantamount to telling a drowning man that he better swim harder or he will drown. Absurd isn’t it?

Yet such an approach is used everyday in schools in Singapore. Students are told to behave well but not taught how to. For example, they are told must not fight with one another but are not taught skills to manage their anger. Students are told to write better but little time is given to serious teaching of good writing skills. They are even told to work harder to get better results but are not taught proper study techniques and skills. And as in the example above, students are expected to learn to think through some invisible osmotic process.

Obviously all the above seldom, if ever, work. But teaching by exhortation will continue to be one of the accepted ways fo teaching in Singapore. After all, the government in Singapore always exhorts Singaporeans to work harder. It is believed this is how learning takes place. Do you or your teachers teach like this?