What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?

I really enjoyed reading the article, "What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart?" It really helped me put a perspective on the education system in the United States. Finnish students are among the smartest people in the world, and their system for homework and school is a lot different than expected. The article states that "students rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night." Students in the United States are known to get more than an hour or two of homework nightly. I think that less homework that means more helps students in the long run. If you tire them out by doing long tedious homework, they are not likely to put the needed time into it. I think that shorter to the point assignments are more beneficial to the student as well as the instructor.

They also mentioned in the article that there aren't as many standardized tests in Finland. I think that this is better because in the United States, teachers tend to teach to the test. They need so many students to pass the standardized tests to meet different requirements and the easiest way instead of teaching needed material is to teach the exact information on the test. I don't think this is beneficial to the students in the long run because they learn and memorize information for the test but do not keep that information in their brain.

Teaching Abroad

At the beginning of the semester I got the opportunity to listen to a guest speaker that teaches in Singapore at Singapore American School (est. 1956). Singapore is a good country to teach in if you are an English speaking person because it is an English speaking country. The Sinabpore American School has lots of students that are very eager to learn and recognize the importance of education. He was able to explain different overseas education opportunities that students can take advantage of. He stated in his lecture that "Overseas education is one of the best kept secrets in the world." After studying abroad, I have learned to believe that that statement could be very true. By learning overseas it gives you an opportunity to learn in the eyes of others as well as learning yourself. I think that if gives an individual more than one perspective to learning which is always a positive.

The guest speaker also gave us information on some benefits of overseas teaching. He stated how the schools provide a good salary and an allowance for housing. Although there are some good benefits to teaching abroad, the key to finding the best place to teach is to find the match of things you are interested in and what the schools have to offer.

As a Physical Education Teaching major, I feel that if I were to teach overseas, it would be difficult to learn the different popular sports and activities to do according to each country. Countries have different activities that are taught in physical education classes based on their culture. I think that it would be a lot of fun and interesting to learn the different activities based on the country I would teach in.

Guest Speaker from Vietnam

I enjoyed listening to Dr. Du speak. It was very interesting to hear the different perspectives that people in Vietnam have according to education, family, and relationships. They really have an emphasis on family. Their family continuously lives with them in the same house until death. It really puts things in perspective of how important relationships among family members are. Also, he explained to us the differences in relationships. They do not have a "Valentine's Day" because they do not believe that they should buy expensive gifts to say 'I love you.' One should always show to their loved one that they love them.

Overall, it was hard to understand Dr. Du, but it was very interesting to hear what he had to say and the differences in culture between the United States and Vietnam.