Weakening state of basic education in Finland
If you were reading washingtonpost’s “Finland Diary” or any OECD education reports, you’d think that Finland’s education is the top in the world without hardly any problems whatsoever – But yesterday, Kokoomus, the conservative party of Finland, submitted an interpellation in Parliament over the weakening state of basic education in Finland and hopes that the whole opposition might join forces over the issue…
The party says that the Government’s policy has pushed the finances of Finnish municipalities into a state of crisis, forcing local authorities to cut costs in their most important basic services. Ben Zyskowicz says that cuts also target basic education, which he calls the backbone of Finnish competitiveness and the country’s future.
The party faults the Government for deciding to give up the stipulation in its own programme for channelling the savings resulting from smaller age groups into the development of the content of teaching.
The Finnish Teachers’ Union and the Finnish Association of Local and Regional Authorities have calculated that in real terms, the proportion of state funding for schools has declined from 57 percent to 45 percent.
That’s true. People are too short-sighted to see what impact education has on society and economy.
Comment by M — Fri, May 27th, 2005 @ 7:47 am
.shool, woh need is anytime
Sorry, had to. It’s Friday! And I have no idea what that means.
Anyways, although I don’t like to discuss politics from a party viewpoint, I’ll have to support their view on this. Education is one of the best ways – if not the best – to improve equality among people and standard of living. And you really shouldn’t be taking money away from education if you’re going to use it for something less important.
I guess the real issue is where do the people want the money to come from. Some experts claim that tuition fees would be a good idea. Some don’t. Some people believe in Santa Claus and think the case is settled.
Ah, politics. Gotta love it.
Comment by Mikko Gr?¶nroos — Fri, May 27th, 2005 @ 10:41 am
Again we see the old paradigm that if education is not 100% publicly funded, civilization will decline, people will become stupid and ignorant, society will collapse, etc etc ad nauseam.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Private schools could easily replace public school system. In fact, I would argue that the private school system would work better because governments suffer from the lack efficient economic calculation. Not to mention the socialist brainwashing in public schools.
Comment by pohatta — Sat, May 28th, 2005 @ 12:20 pm
Yes, well. How very convenient for Kokoomus to bash the current government, as it was actually Kokoomus during the depression of the 1990′s that began the underfunding of the Finnish School system. Doesn’t anybody remember how hundreds of elementary schools were closed in the 1990′s, when Kokoomus had both the seats of the Ministries of Finance and Culture and Education?
Comment by TH — Sun, May 29th, 2005 @ 9:58 pm