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• Anonymous

  It would be worthwhile for the U.S. to look at some of these educational models in Finland and incorporate what is working over there into our educational efforts.
  1.  We need to stop demonizing teachers in this country.
  2. Teacher qualifications should be focused on more,. and tightened We need quality teachers. Showing teachers respect and expressing appreciation for  what the good and dedicated  ones do, should be part of attracting more future teachers to the profession.

• Anonymous

  It would be worthwhile for the U.S. to look at some of these educational models in Finland and incorporate what is working over there into our educational efforts.
  1.  We need to stop demonizing teachers in this country.
  2. Teacher qualifications should be focused on more,. and tightened We need quality teachers. Showing teachers respect and expressing appreciation for  what the good and dedicated  ones do, should be part of attracting more future teachers to the profession.

• Anonymous

  I don’t think people are demonizing teachers. Their union maybe, but not teachers.

• Anonymous

  I don’t think people are demonizing teachers. Their union maybe, but not teachers.

• Anonymous

  You don’t think telling a teacher they aren’t worth the money they make. or telling them they shouldn’t get the pension promised, is not demonizing? calling them union hacks is not demonizing them. I’d hate to see what you think is demonizing. Teachers belong to unions because it is their right to do so. Remember this is a free country, and part of living in this country and having the freedoms we have, Paying taxes is part of making sure you have the freedom to speak out when you want, and always remember freedom isn’t free and you alone don’t get to decide who dose what.

• Anonymous

  I like the idea of not focusing our teacher qualifications on “Education” degrees. A teacher should be immersed in the content area they intend to teach. Teaching teachers how to teach is not useful if they don’t know much about what they are teaching.

• Anonymous

  And I have a right to attack the union.

  Hopefully the union and the teachers are two different things. If teachers feel they are union members first they are not doing their jobs.

• Anonymous

  And I have a right to attack the union.

  Hopefully the union and the teachers are two different things. If teachers feel they are union members first they are not doing their jobs.

• http://twitter.com/Brian_Hubbell Brian Hubbell

  In trying to insert Finland’s educational system within the peculiarly American narrative of ‘accountability’,  this editorial in fact fully misses the lesson that Finland offers.  

  Accountability, as the term is employed by American educational ‘reformers,’ means evaluating the performance of teachers and administrators on the basis of their students summative standardized tests and making student’s standardized test scores, at least partially, the basis for teachers’ continued employment.

  Not only is the word ‘accountability’ utterly foreign to Finnish education but so are such summative tests.  The closest translation to ‘accountability’ in Finnish is equivalent of ‘responsibility’ in English.

  Rather than employing a regime of testing with punitive consequences, the Finnish system is based on trusting their teachers to perform as professionals and giving them the career security to improve with experience.

  It seems increasingly strange that those who bang the drum for the current American brand of education ‘reform’ remain blind to the counter-examples that  root the success of Finnish education.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FAFPBUNT45MDVT46IWVGOEDQLQ Thomas

  In the late 60′s teachers were given the right to organize; since that fateful decision the quality of our public education has declined year after year. Unions by their very nature stymie change and protect incompetency by allowing the rule of seniority to bring the skill of its members to the lowest common denominator.  In reality unions have prevented the profession  from reaching the level of prestige, pay scales and status we all would like to see it reach by representing them as if they were a commodity and not a group of professionals.

• http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FAFPBUNT45MDVT46IWVGOEDQLQ Thomas

  In the late 60′s teachers were given the right to organize; since that fateful decision the quality of our public education has declined year after year. Unions by their very nature stymie change and protect incompetency by allowing the rule of seniority to bring the skill of its members to the lowest common denominator.  In reality unions have prevented the profession  from reaching the level of prestige, pay scales and status we all would like to see it reach by representing them as if they were a commodity and not a group of professionals.

• http://twitter.com/Brian_Hubbell Brian Hubbell

  How do you square that hypothesis with the fact that virtually all Finland’s teachers are unionized and that Finland’s Minister of Education describes their Ministry’s relationship with the teachers’ union as a productive partnership?

• http://twitter.com/Brian_Hubbell Brian Hubbell

  How do you square that hypothesis with the fact that virtually all Finland’s teachers are unionized and that Finland’s Minister of Education describes their Ministry’s relationship with the teachers’ union as a productive partnership?

• http://twitter.com/Brian_Hubbell Brian Hubbell

  How do you square that hypothesis with the fact that virtually all Finland’s teachers are unionized and that Finland’s Minister of Education describes their Ministry’s relationship with the teachers’ union as a productive partnership?

• Anonymous

  I know .   So those against the unions are not making much sense if they are honest enough to see that it is working in Finland; the results speak for themselves.

• Anonymous

  Because Finland, though it may have something to teach us, is Finland and not the US. Different culture to start with.

• Anonymous

  Because Finland, though it may have something to teach us, is Finland and not the US. Different culture to start with.

• Anonymous

  You’ve got to be kidding.  You and others consistently lump all teachers into union hacks.  That’s not demonizing??

• Anonymous

  You’ve got to be kidding.  You and others consistently lump all teachers into union hacks.  That’s not demonizing??

• Anonymous

  You and others always seem to equate teachers and their unions.

• Anonymous

  You and others always seem to equate teachers and their unions.

• Anonymous

  Unioization, at least in some parts of the country, occured much earlier.  How does that fit with your timeline?

• Anonymous

  Unioization, at least in some parts of the country, occured much earlier.  How does that fit with your timeline?

• Anonymous

  Actually I don’t. The union defenders do but I don’t. That seems to be the problem. Because I am capable of separating the two, union & teachers, people like you take it as an attack on teachers when I go after their union.   The same union that will freely admit that the educational needs of the children do not necessarily correlate with the needs of the children.

• Anonymous

  The union cannot hire
  The union cannot fire
  The union cannot set work hours
  The unions cannot determine school schedules
  The union cannot set the school year
  The union has no control over curriculum
  The union cannot buy books
  The union cannot draw up school policy
  The union cannot tell universities how to train teachers
  The union cannot tell the state how to certify teachers
  The union does not serve as parentis in loco
  The union cannot dictate the pay scale or how teachers are paid

  The union does two things only.  It helps teachers bargain with the local school board over wages and it makes sure the school board is following school policy when it fires or disciplines a teacher.

  If you do not like the way a school is run you need to address the local school board that you elected.  They are the ones that do all those things you seem to believe unions do.

• Anonymous

  The union cannot hire
  The union cannot fire
  The union cannot set work hours
  The unions cannot determine school schedules
  The union cannot set the school year
  The union has no control over curriculum
  The union cannot buy books
  The union cannot draw up school policy
  The union cannot tell universities how to train teachers
  The union cannot tell the state how to certify teachers
  The union does not serve as parentis in loco
  The union cannot dictate the pay scale or how teachers are paid

  The union does two things only.  It helps teachers bargain with the local school board over wages and it makes sure the school board is following school policy when it fires or disciplines a teacher.

  If you do not like the way a school is run you need to address the local school board that you elected.  They are the ones that do all those things you seem to believe unions do.

• Anonymous

  The union cannot hire
  The union cannot fire
  The union cannot set work hours
  The unions cannot determine school schedules
  The union cannot set the school year
  The union has no control over curriculum
  The union cannot buy books
  The union cannot draw up school policy
  The union cannot tell universities how to train teachers
  The union cannot tell the state how to certify teachers
  The union does not serve as parentis in loco
  The union cannot dictate the pay scale or how teachers are paid

  The union does two things only.  It helps teachers bargain with the local school board over wages and it makes sure the school board is following school policy when it fires or disciplines a teacher.

  If you do not like the way a school is run you need to address the local school board that you elected.  They are the ones that do all those things you seem to believe unions do.