I don’t always understand why it happens, but this time I knew, because the next thing she said was, “Being from Alaska, you might have a chance at understanding our Nordic culture.” I hugged her (yes, I hugged a Finn) and quickly left into the early evening so that whatever mystery was there wouldn’t be dispelled.
I would be hard-pressed to tell you how old she is. It's hard to say. She still rides her bike to church and backpacks her groceries home. She walks everywhere. She talked about being a child before the war--World War II. She has a 97-year old aunt who still lives independently and cooks her own meals. She was in the states in the 60’s and various other parts of the world in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. And, I got to talk with her about Finland and education and many other things.
While she cooked me lunch, she taught me about Uno Cygnaeus (see below) translating from a Finnish almanac printed in 1927. She knew he had lived in Alaska and that experience had influenced his ideas about education. She pulled out her atlas, without any road north from Fairbanks in it (pre-1970?), and wanted to know exactly where Healy was and why it was there. How many of us haven't asked that exact same question? We talked of Lapland and Alaska, of the Finnish cabin culture and saunas, of central heating and socialism, of farmed salmon and the Pacific Ocean, of the Sami and Alaska Native peoples, of the energy crisis and environmental consciousness, of vanity and being unpretentious, of climate change and Polish Apples. We talked about how our perspective of weather changes as we grow older. We talked about ice climbing and mountaineering and risk. We talked about why I was in Finland.
I explained in detail, no holding back, the intent of my work and the questions I wanted to find answers to. She followed along--comprehending every word.
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| University of Jyväskylä Teacher Training School, Primary School |
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| University of Jyväskylä Teacher Training School, Upper Secondary |
And somewhere in the middle, she told me that there wouldn’t be many Finnish people who couldn’t tell me about the history of education in Finland--that the value of education was and is felt as a societal responsibility and that the history of education in Finland revolves around equitable education for all students. She said there are no private schools in Finland, every school is funded by the government (except for a few Steiner schools that are partially funded), and children are taught the same curriculum--there is guaranteed homogeneity ensuring equal access for all.
In educational research in the United States, a similarly ideologic principle called opportunity to learn (OTL) is often referred to. OTL is a measure of whether every student has equitable access to a high-quality education. We are good at talking about this theory, but our understandings and implementation practices vary. And, I wonder, culturally do we inherently believe in education to the same degree? What would we give up, as a society, to ensure equal advantage for every child?
Another example of this national philosophy is illustrated in this statement taken from a page of the University of Jyväskylä’s website, “Most of the higher education in Finland is free of charge as the Finnish government supports the universities and their educational programmes. The government wants to invest in the education of both Finnish and international students by providing them with high class education without tuition fees.” What if higher education were free for everyone in the United States?
I have been distrustful of myself in beginning to attempt to write about my observations of education in Finland, because I don’t want to make any assumptions, but here are some observations of the advantages and disadvantages of free higher education:
1. A well-educated society. While I was walking the dogs tonight, the man I talked to on the street said he had lived on Vancouver Island while doing his post-doc. (Turns out that not being able to speak Finnish is a great conversation starter for where are you from?) This is the norm of my encounters. Everyone seems to be completing a Master’s or a Ph.D. thesis in some discipline or other. But it does not decrease the rigor. In fact it's quite the opposite, and that's my point, in general the result is, it seems, a society of highly-educated people. And, I will not apologize for implying that education is a good thing. How could I?
2. Equity in who has access in continuing their studies at the university level. Greater equity in respect for the status of individuals in society.
Even Finland is wrestling with maintaining their high-quality education system. But, the national value for education permeates every aspect of this struggle from funding to teacher training, school lunch programs to research, technology to special education, and to who is involved in conversations about education.
Just think about this wonderfully, thoughtful woman I had lunch with. Her personal pursuit of knowledge on a diverse number of subjects and her understanding of the historical and current state of education in Finland were part of her everyday life and Finnish identity.
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| Hallway in Primary School |
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| Foyer and Cafeteria in Primary School |
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| Library in Primary School |
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| Outside Classrooms at the Secondary School |
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| Playground Outside Primary School |
*Uno Cygnaeus is sometimes called, “The Father of the Finnish Elementary School,” and lived in Russian America, now Sitka, Alaska, from 1840-1845. In 1858, he was commissioned to draw-up a plan for the Finnish elementary school system and amongst his recommendations was the implication that class distinctions within society would diminish, because children from all social ranks went to the same schools. He was also responsible for proposing the establishment of the first Teacher Seminary in all of Finland, centered in the region of Jyväskylä, which evolved over time to become the University of Jyväskylä. There is a least one street and one school named for Uno Cygnaeus in the town of Jyväskylä.
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