posted on Nov, 20 2011 @ 02:03 AM
I have lived in Finland for over half my life now, but I grew up in the US and am still a US citizen. Needless to say, I went to school there from
1969-1979. We *did* learn to balance a checkbook along with a fair bit of pretty useful stuff but even so, the vast majority of it was a waste of
time and a huge amount of sexism was present everywhere. The whole world was much more sexist back then.
We didn't have the requirement to surrender yourselves completely that you have now. I did have a business math teacher who chose to inform us all
that every time girls menstruated, it was murder, the killing of an innocent life. I suppose that was an omen for what was to come. That was in
Southern California and toward the end of the 70s.
But now I live in Finland. I've watched my own kids grow up and go to school here. An entirely different part of the world. Here, the teachers
cannot do anything at all to the kids. They don't give the kids anything to do at recess so my son and his friend, being young boys at that time,
chose to play a nice game of "kick the rock" in lieu of a ball that could have been supplied, right? My son lost his two front teeth. The school
paid for the crowns but they were terrible and the dentist was pretty crappy so he got infection in the roots of both.
Because the teachers were powerless, the classes were chaotic, loud, and completely out of control. The teachers pretty much couldn't teach. Many
left in tears at some point of the day. There was uncontrolled teasing. But they did manage to get pretty good scores on exams so somehow they
always made it through.
University is free here. You just have to get in and pay for your books, etc. No tuition for locals though. But what is the result? Everybody has
Master's or Ph.Ds and is there work? Nope. There are Ph.Ds cleaning offices here. You must have a degree in retail to work in a clothing boutique.
You can't do anything at all here without first going through extensive education and interning thereafter (on your own chit, of course). So kids
live at home here until they're 25 or 30. Parents have to support their kids until the kids are out of school. That's in the law. Society is
grinding to a halt because when people are spoon-fed just enough information to get them through those exams and into the next grade up, you remove
the motivation and curiosity of a person's mind and you end up with someone who can't think on their own. They have to be led.
My youngest daughter didn't want to go to high school. She was totally fed up with the whole system. She tried to get work first but heh.. not a
chance. Not at 15. So she thought about vocational school but really doesn't know what she wants to do. Who does at 15? But can you imagine any
reason in the world why you would need a 3.9 GPA to be a hairdresser? That's how it is though. Imagine needing a 4.0 to get into something slightly
more serious. Imagine what you need for university. Imagine that every student in that sort of environment should perform to some amazing standard.
She really didn't want to go to high school so she's now attending adult high school in the evenings. She's working on her 7th language now
(Japanese). She'll start her 8th next year (Chinese). She's far from stupid but she just doesn't like school! I don't know where this will all
get her but she's going to be done with HS in two years instead of 3 or 4 like the "regular" schools.
Why do we all think we should be standardized and programmed in all of our thoughts and actions? Why do we even accept this whole concept? How is it
a good idea?
One thing they are finding out here, having thrown out all the older, experienced (but not "educated") employees is that the diploma/degree doesn't
mean you can do the job. It means you know some stuff and some other stuff but it doesn't mean you have memory or vision. It means you got a bog
standard education and the employer knows that you're not going to go off and think for yourself. It means you're predictable and domesticated.
You won't argue with him. You won't challenge him. Comforting, isn't it?
Where are we going? What are we turning into? What do we really want from this whole "education" experience? Why does every single job need an
education?
Do you know that here, if you want to work as a cashier at the grocery store, you need a training course to do it? If you are just going to stock
shelves in the grocery store, you need a certificate that you've done the course? You need training and experience to be a dishwasher. You need
training and several certs to be a cleaner. And one cleaner isn't as good as another. There are house cleaners and there are public space cleaners
and there are chambermaids and there are office cleaners. One is not interchangeable with another.
Let's see... How can we make life more difficult?