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建议 What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?
What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?
Finland's teens score extraordinarily high on an international test. American educators are trying to figure out why.
By ELLEN GAMERMAN
High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don't start school until age 7.
Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old students who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the world's C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards and rules. Finnish youth, like their U.S. counterparts, also waste hours online. They dye their hair, love sarcasm and listen to rap and heavy metal. But by ninth grade they're way ahead in math, science and reading -- on track to keeping Finns among the world's most productive workers.
The Finns won attention with their performances in triennial tests sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group funded by 30 countries that monitors social and economic trends. In the most recent test, which focused on science, Finland's students placed first in science and near the top in math and reading, according to results released late last year. An unofficial tally of Finland's combined scores puts it in first place overall, says Andreas Schleicher, who directs the OECD's test, known as the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA. The U.S. placed in the middle of the pack in math and science; its reading scores were tossed because of a glitch. About 400,000 students around the world answered multiple-choice questions and essays on the test that measured critical thinking and the application of knowledge. A typical subject: Discuss the artistic value of graffiti.
The academic prowess of Finland's students has lured educators from more than 50 countries in recent years to learn the country's secret, including an official from the U.S. Department of Education. What they find is simple but not easy: well-trained teachers and responsible children. Early on, kids do a lot without adults hovering. And teachers create lessons to fit their students. "We don't have oil or other riches. Knowledge is the thing Finnish people have," says Hannele Frantsi, a school principal.
Visitors and teacher trainees can peek at how it's done from a viewing balcony perched over a classroom at the Norssi School in Jyväskylä, a city in central Finland. What they see is a relaxed, back-to-basics approach. The school, which is a model campus, has no sports teams, marching bands or prom.
Trailing 15-year-old Fanny Salo at Norssi gives a glimpse of the no-frills curriculum. Fanny is a bubbly ninth-grader who loves "Gossip Girl" books, the TV show "Desperate Housewives" and digging through the clothing racks at H&M stores with her friends.
Fanny earns straight A's, and with no gifted classes she sometimes doodles in her journal while waiting for others to catch up. She often helps lagging classmates. "It's fun to have time to relax a little in the middle of class," Fanny says. Finnish educators believe they get better overall results by concentrating on weaker students rather than by pushing gifted students ahead of everyone else. The idea is that bright students can help average ones without harming their own progress.
At lunch, Fanny and her friends leave campus to buy salmiakki, a salty licorice. They return for physics, where class starts when everyone quiets down. Teachers and students address each other by first names. About the only classroom rules are no cellphones, no iPods and no hats.
TESTING AROUND THE GLOBE
Every three years, 15-year-olds in 57 countries around the world take a test called the Pisa exam, which measures proficiency in math, science and reading.
• The test: Two sections from the Pisa science test
• Chart: Recent scores for participating countries
Do you think any of these Finnish methods would work in U.S. schools? What would you change -- if anything -- about the U.S. school system, and the responsibilities that teachers, parents and students are given? Share your thoughts.
Fanny's more rebellious classmates dye their blond hair black or sport pink dreadlocks. Others wear tank tops and stilettos to look tough in the chilly climate. Tanning lotions are popular in one clique. Teens sift by style, including "fruittari," or preppies; "hoppari," or hip-hop, or the confounding "fruittari-hoppari," which fuses both. Ask an obvious question and you may hear "KVG," short for "Check it on Google, you idiot." Heavy-metal fans listen to Nightwish, a Finnish band, and teens socialize online at irc-galleria.net.
The Norssi School is run like a teaching hospital, with about 800 teacher trainees each year. Graduate students work with kids while instructors evaluate from the sidelines. Teachers must hold master's degrees, and the profession is highly competitive: More than 40 people may apply for a single job. Their salaries are similar to those of U.S. teachers, but they generally have more freedom.
Finnish teachers pick books and customize lessons as they shape students to national standards. "In most countries, education feels like a car factory. In Finland, the teachers are the entrepreneurs," says Mr. Schleicher, of the Paris-based OECD, which began the international student test in 2000.
One explanation for the Finns' success is their love of reading. Parents of newborns receive a government-paid gift pack that includes a picture book. Some libraries are attached to shopping malls, and a book bus travels to more remote neighborhoods like a Good Humor truck.
Finland shares its language with no other country, and even the most popular English-language books are translated here long after they are first published. Many children struggled to read the last Harry Potter book in English because they feared they would hear about the ending before it arrived in Finnish. Movies and TV shows have Finnish subtitles instead of dubbing. One college student says she became a fast reader as a child because she was hooked on the 1990s show "Beverly Hills, 90210."
In November, a U.S. delegation visited, hoping to learn how Scandinavian educators used technology. Officials from the Education Department, the National Education Association and the American Association of School Librarians saw Finnish teachers with chalkboards instead of whiteboards, and lessons shown on overhead projectors instead of PowerPoint. Keith Krueger was less impressed by the technology than by the good teaching he saw. "You kind of wonder how could our country get to that?" says Mr. Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking, an association of school technology officers that organized the trip.
Finnish high-school senior Elina Lamponen saw the differences firsthand. She spent a year at Colon High School in Colon, Mich., where strict rules didn't translate into tougher lessons or dedicated students, Ms. Lamponen says. She would ask students whether they did their homework. They would reply: " 'Nah. So what'd you do last night?'" she recalls. History tests were often multiple choice. The rare essay question, she says, allowed very little space in which to write. In-class projects were largely "glue this to the poster for an hour," she says. Her Finnish high school forced Ms. Lamponen, a spiky-haired 19-year-old, to repeat the year when she returned.
Lloyd Kirby, superintendent of Colon Community Schools in southern Michigan, says foreign students are told to ask for extra work if they find classes too easy. He says he is trying to make his schools more rigorous by asking parents to demand more from their children.
Despite the apparent simplicity of Finnish education, it would be tough to replicate in the U.S. With a largely homogeneous population, teachers have few students who don't speak Finnish. In the U.S., about 8% of students are learning English, according to the Education Department. There are fewer disparities in education and income levels among Finns. Finland separates students for the last three years of high school based on grades; 53% go to high school and the rest enter vocational school. (All 15-year-old students took the PISA test.) Finland has a high-school dropout rate of about 4% -- or 10% at vocational schools -- compared with roughly 25% in the U.S., according to their respective education departments.
Another difference is financial. Each school year, the U.S. spends an average of $8,700 per student, while the Finns spend $7,500. Finland's high-tax government provides roughly equal per-pupil funding, unlike the disparities between Beverly Hills public schools, for example, and schools in poorer districts. The gap between Finland's best- and worst-performing schools was the smallest of any country in the PISA testing. The U.S. ranks about average.
Finnish students have little angstata -- or teen angst -- about getting into the best university, and no worries about paying for it. College is free. There is competition for college based on academic specialties -- medical school, for instance. But even the best universities don't have the elite status of a Harvard.
Taking away the competition of getting into the "right schools" allows Finnish children to enjoy a less-pressured childhood. While many U.S. parents worry about enrolling their toddlers in academically oriented preschools, the Finns don't begin school until age 7, a year later than most U.S. first-graders.
Once school starts, the Finns are more self-reliant. While some U.S. parents fuss over accompanying their children to and from school, and arrange every play date and outing, young Finns do much more on their own. At the Ymmersta School in a nearby Helsinki suburb, some first-grade students trudge to school through a stand of evergreens in near darkness. At lunch, they pick out their own meals, which all schools give free, and carry the trays to lunch tables. There is no Internet filter in the school library. They can walk in their socks during class, but at home even the very young are expected to lace up their own skates or put on their own skis.
The Finns enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world, but they, too, worry about falling behind in the shifting global economy. They rely on electronics and telecommunications companies, such as Finnish cellphone giant Nokia, along with forest-products and mining industries for jobs. Some educators say Finland needs to fast-track its brightest students the way the U.S. does, with gifted programs aimed at producing more go-getters. Parents also are getting pushier about special attention for their children, says Tapio Erma, principal of the suburban Olari School. "We are more and more aware of American-style parents," he says.
Mr. Erma's school is a showcase campus. Last summer, at a conference in Peru, he spoke about adopting Finnish teaching methods. During a recent afternoon in one of his school's advanced math courses, a high-school boy fell asleep at his desk. The teacher didn't disturb him, instead calling on others. While napping in class isn't condoned, Mr. Erma says, "We just have to accept the fact that they're kids and they're learning how to live."
芬兰孩子凭啥比咱家孩子聪明？
芬兰青少年在国际学生测试中成绩突出，美国教育家想问问为什么。
在芬兰，极少有中学生晚上做家庭作业超过半个小时，没有清一色的校服，没有招贤纳士的社团，没有衣着光鲜的学生代表，也没有烦人的迟到铃，更没有天才特训班。他们有的是小规模的标准测验，也很少见家长对学校的教学挑三拣四。孩子都是到了七岁才入学。
但按照国际标准来衡量的话，芬兰青少年是世界最聪明的学生。在57国15岁学生测验中，芬兰孩子往往获得高分，与之相反的是，美国虽然给学生布置了更多的作业，制定了更多的标准和规则，可美国学生的成绩在世界上只停留在C的水平上。芬兰青年们也像他们的美国同龄人一样，不限时上网，染头发，说话带脏字，喜欢说唱乐和重金属。但是九年级的芬兰学生在数学，科学和阅读的分数上遥遥领先于美国学生，这也就为以后芬兰人成为世界最具创造力劳动者奠定了条件。
芬兰人凭借在经济合作与发展组织（简称OECD）举办的三年一次的测验中良好的表现赢得了国际声誉，该组织由30个国家赞助组成，监测社会经济走向。最近一次科学测试中，芬兰学生在科学成绩中位居第一，数学与阅读也有不俗表现。OECD组织的国际学生评测工程（简称PISA）考试考官Andreas Schleicher说，非官方的分数统计，芬兰学生的成绩合计为全球第一；美国学生数学和科学成绩停滞不前，阅读由于出错不进入参考范围。全世界大约40万学生要作答多项选择题和论文，考试旨在考察学生批评思考的能力和运用知识的能力。最具代表性的题目就是：谈论涂鸦文化的艺术价值。
近年来，芬兰学生在学术的不俗表现吸引了来自超过50个国家的教育者来芬兰寻求成功的秘密，其中不乏一名美国教育部的官员。来到后发现，高分的造就看似简单实际不易，这需要有高教学质量的教师和对自己负责的学生。很小的时候就独自一人动脑动手，辅助教师的因材施教。一位叫Hannele Frantsi的校长说：“我们没有石油，也没有别的矿藏，我们芬兰人有的只是知识。”
芬兰中部城市Jyv?skyl?的Norssi学校。参观的客人和“准老师”们可以在一间教室的阳台上观看到整个课程进行的情形：课堂气氛轻松活泼，传统的教学内容和教学方式。目前这所学校是芬兰的示范性学校，但在这里你却找不到一只球队，一个军乐团和一场舞会。
我们跟随15岁的Norssi学生Fanny Salo踏访了这座学校，发现学校课程安排简单有序。Fanny现在上九年级，热情活泼，喜欢美国“绯闻少女”丛书，也喜欢美剧“绝望的主妇”，还喜欢和朋友们一起在H&M时装店里淘宝。
Fanny的成绩总是全优，没有上过特训班，她时常在日志里涂涂写写，等着有人能赶上她，她也经常帮住成绩落后的同学。她说：“和同学一起学一起玩很有意思。”芬兰教育家认为多关注成绩差的学生比打造优而更优的学生更能有所收获。他们的主意是聪明的学生能帮助成绩一般的同学，而又不影响到自己的学习。
午饭的时候，Fanny和朋友们离开学校买了些salmiakki（芬兰的国吃，一种稍咸的甘草精），回来后就去上物理课了，一到上课，所有人都安静了下来。老师和学生互相以姓氏相称。课堂纪律规定的唯一一条：禁止带手机，IPods，和帽子进教室。
比Fanny更叛逆的同学大有人在，他们把金黄色的头发染成黑色或做成运动粉的小辫儿。还有的穿无袖短背心，佩带无仞短剑，这样能让人在天寒地冻的天气里看起来硬汉一点。朋友圈里流行防晒霜。青少年中分很多“时尚派别”，有预备学校学生圈，有嘻哈帮，也有预备生嘻哈联合会。假使你问的问题的答案显而易见，有人可能对你说：“傻瓜，不会上google去查啊！”重金属迷们都听芬兰本地乐队“夜愿”的歌，irc-Norssi中学的运营模式就像教导医院一样，每年大约800名受训老师，接受审核并最终被录用。硕士研究生开始只带孩子，后来逐步从副职的位子升到教员。教师必须上岗必须持有硕士毕业证，差不多40个人共同竞争一个职位，竞争的激烈程度可见一斑。被录用的老师工资待遇与美国老师无异，但他们拥有更多的自由。
芬兰的老师会根据学生的个体差异，为他们打造量身而定的教育计划，从选择书籍，定制课程，以期使学生们都能达到国家的教育标准。总部位于巴黎的经济与合作发展组织，2000年推行了国际学生测试计划，改组织的Schleicher先生说：“在大多数国家，老师教书育人就像汽车制造厂出来的车，定量生产，看的是数量；而在芬兰，老师个个都是企业家，当然质量第一了。”
对于芬兰教育的成功有一种解释是他们喜欢阅读。芬兰的新生儿父母都会受到由政府掏腰包的大礼包，其中就包括有小人书。有些购物商场配有图书馆，像送Good Humor冰激凌的卡车一样，载满图书的巴士不管多远的居民区都能深入进去。
芬兰语只在芬兰一国内使用，甚至当下最流行英语书籍都要在其出版很长时间内才能看到。很多孩子费劲地阅读英文版的末系列的“哈利波特”，因为他们怕等到书被翻译过来的时候，就只能听到结局了。芬兰的电影电视只有字幕，没有配音。一个在校大学生说，她很小的时候就练成了快速阅读的本事，因为她太迷“飞越比佛利”了（注：上世纪九十年代FOX台著名电视剧《Beverly Hills 90210》，该剧及其续作《Melrose Place》在美国与《Friends》(老友记) 齐名）
今年九月，由美国教育部，全美教育协会和美国图书管理员协会的官员组成的代表团一行来访，他们希望了解斯堪的纳维亚的教育者们如何使用科技辅助教学。官员们在这里看到老师上课不用白板，用的黑板；课程展示时，都用投影仪，而非幻灯片。组织这次参观活动的学校联盟联合会总裁Keith Krueger对他们的教学手段印象不深，倒是很赞赏芬国良好的教学质量。他说：“想想咱们国家怎么才能达到人家的水平？”
芬兰高三女生Elina Lamponen先一步看到了两国间教育的不同。她曾在密歇根州科隆市的科隆中学上过一年学，在哪严格的纪律并没有带来更加紧张的课程，也没有造就勤学好问的学生。她说，她曾问她的同学做没做家庭作业，得到的答案往往是；“没呐，对了，你昨晚干啥了？”
历史测验基本上都是多项选择题，偶尔碰到一道论述题，一看给你填答案的空小的可怜；课堂上要讨论的题目都被贴到海报上，展览展览。后来回到芬兰，Lamponen的芬兰学校强迫她重修一年的课程。当时她已经19岁了，留了一头针尖状的头发。
南密歇根州科隆社区学校校监Lloyd Kirby说，外国学生如果认为课程简单易学，可以申请额外的学习任务。他说他试图通过说服家长对孩子严加要求来严肃校纪，整饬学风。
芬兰的教育模式看似简单易行，但要把它照搬到美国去却绝非易事。由于芬兰人种单一性的特点，学生基本上用芬兰语交流；美国教育部的数据显示，美国只有百分之八的人口英语水平过关；芬兰人中鲜有教育和收入水平上的较大差异，在芬兰，学生根据自己的分数，来决定他们以后三年学习生活的方向，其中53%进入高中学习，剩下的则进入职业技能学校就读（所有15岁学生都要经过PISA考试考核。）来自芬兰和美国教育部门的数据显示，芬兰中学生辍学率为4%，职业技能学校为10%；相比之下，美国则要高的多，辍学率大约在25%左右。
另一个不同体现在学校财政方面。每学年美国在每个学生身上要话8,700美元，芬兰则为7，500美元。芬兰政府的高赋税平均为每个学生提供资助，而比弗利山公学与偏远地区中学的资助差异就很明显。芬兰最好和最差学校间的差距在参与PISA测试的国家中是最小的，美国属于中流水平。
芬兰学生很少抱怨未能进入一流大学读书，他们也不必担心上学的费用，因为大学教育是免费的。大学中各种专门学院也存在竞争，比如说，医学院。但即便是芬兰最好的大学也不像哈佛大学那样，在世界上占据超一流的地位。
芬兰的孩子们可以不选择走“名牌大学”这条独木桥，所以他们的童年的负担就轻了很多；但是很多美国的父母望子成龙，望女成凤，想让自己的孩子进入学风浓的学前班学习。芬兰的孩子七岁才正式上学，美国孩子较之早了一年。
学期伊始，芬兰学生表现的更独立些，不像美国孩子那样，需要家长往返接送，还要父母规定他们每天的玩乐和外出，芬兰小学生们已经可以自己的事自己做了。靠近赫尔辛基市郊的Ymmersta学校，一些一年级的小学生每天都要摸黑徒步穿越万年青灌木丛到学校上课。午饭时，他们选择自己喜欢的食物，这些事物都是学校免费提供的，打完饭菜就端到桌子上吃起来。学校图书馆不安装互联网过滤器，学生可以只穿袜子在教室里走动。但在家里时，就算最小的孩子也要学会系溜冰鞋和滑雪板。
芬兰人的生活质量全球最高，但他们同时也担心在激变的全球经济中落后于人，芬兰的经济有赖于它本国的电子通讯公司，像芬兰电话业巨头“诺基亚”，森林制造也和矿藏产业为本国劳动力就业贡献非凡。一些教育家声称芬兰需要走美国培养学生的模式，高速培养精英学生，开办天才课程，培养更多学业有成，勤奋向上的学生。Olari中学的校长Tapio Erma说，父母也更加注意，潜心发掘自己孩子的潜力。“我们越来越理解美国父母的做法了。”
Erma先生的学校被定为师范性校园。去年夏天在秘鲁的一次会议上，说道采用芬兰的教学模式的时候，他举例子说，在学校最近一次 高级数学课上，一个男孩趴在桌子上睡着了，老师却没有打扰他的美梦，转而提问了其他同学。虽然上课睡觉不可原谅，但Erma先生却说：“我们得接受这个事实，他们还是孩子，还要慢慢学着长大。”
