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.
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