You’ve probably thought of this, too. What could be do to make our economic world operate better? My answer is that I would try to follow the model that Finland uses in education. First of all, all schools, private or public, are paid for by the government. So far as private schools are concerned, they can only operate on the budget provided by the government and cannot charge additional fees. And they have to use a fair system of admitting students, so that everyone has an equal chance of being admitted. The same is true of public schools. (And if you want to homeschool your child, you can, so long as you provide the same basic education as provide in public schools).
All children must go to school or be homeschooled. That way, the new generation is educated properly.
Who gets to run the schools? The teachers. They get to appoint the administration, and if they don’t like what the administrators are doing, they get to fire them. And who gets to control the teachers? The administrators, but beyond that, the parents of the students are organized to deal with improper actions by the teachers.
The teachers are well-education. They all have master’s degrees. Moreover, they are well paid, so they have every incentive to be sensitive to what the parents want, because they want to keep their jobs.
The Finnish school system has developed some very interesting programs. For example, they don’t give out homework, because they want the students to have the time and inclination to engage in activities outside of school. The lack of homework doesn’t seem to detract from the education of the students. The Finnish schools are highly rated.
I believe that the two most important characteristics of the Finnish model are: (1) the government pays for everything and makes sure that all children can attend school and (2) teachers run the schools with oversight by the parents.
While the government pays for everything, the government doesn’t get to dictate how everything operates. It provides a budget and basic rules, but the teachers get to spend the money. (Their salaries are fixed in categories by the government, however). The economics of the schools are well figured, and yet the local teachers and parents get to decide how things shall operate.
Finland is a socialist country, but very different from China or Russia. China and Russia run from the top down. Finland runs from the bottom up. And Finland is a wealthy country, with very high tax rates imposed on its wealthiest citizens. Finland is very different from the United States, which has lowered its tax rates over the past thirty-five years to such an extent that it has great debt. Finland’s debt is 61.3% of GDP, while the United States debt is 107.17% of GDP. Per capita debt is $28,130 in Finland and $61,769 in the U.S. In other words, the Finnish system appears to work more efficiently than the American system, since it creates far less debt. By the way, Finland is the happiest country in the world, while the U.S. is No. 18, and declining.
Perhaps America should look to Finland for a better direction for its schools – and for other parts of its economy which need improvement.