A Chinese Mother's Education Observation: How Finland, where All Staff Are Lying Flat, Can Create a "Miracle" in Education

Letsight

2024-06-19 09:00Published in Beijing

Finland is located in Northern Europe, has always been not well known to the Chinese people, since the mid-1990s Nokia mobile phone in the global popularity, Finland into the field of vision, especially in 2001 Finnish high school students won the first PISA results, more people who attach great importance to education pay attention to Finland.

There are many articles and videos about Finnish education in the Chinese media, such as Zhou Yijun's documentary "Childhood in a Foreign Country", such as the high threshold of Finnish teachers and the high quality of teaching, such as the low competition in Buddhism to raise children, such as freedom of thought so strong creativity......

Source: "Childhood in a Foreign Country"

I studied in Finland since 1991 and worked until 2014, my son was born in 1994, my son went to kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school in Finland, graduated from the University of Helsinki (hereinafter referred to as the University of Helsinki) Computer Science, and now is engaged in programming in Finland.

My baby is Puwa, but he studied in the computer science department of the university, such as Linus Torvalds, the founder of Linux, the predecessor of the now widely used Android system.

Therefore, I have a deep understanding of Finnish education and children's education, and now it is a time when thousands of students in China are working hard to take the college entrance examination and choosing a university major, so I would like to introduce to you the college entrance examination and major selection in Finland.

Later, if you are interested (i.e., if you like and retweet a lot), I will continue to tell you about Finland's kindergarten, primary and secondary vocational education based on my son's school experience in Finland, as well as the author's thoughts and experiences on raising children.

01

Finnish college entrance examination

University entrance exams in Finland are usually held in the spring of each year, depending on the needs of universities and courses.

Generally, the exam will be held between March and May, and candidates need to pay attention to the official website or admission brochure of the university they are applying to in advance for the latest information on the exam time.

University entrance exams in Finland mainly include language proficiency tests, mathematics tests, and subject-related tests. The language proficiency test assesses the candidate's level of Finnish or English, while the mathematics test measures the candidate's mathematical foundation and ability.

For some specific professions, such as medicine, engineering, etc., basic knowledge and aptitude tests related to the specialty may also be included.

Generally, the results will come out at the end of July, and the enrollment will start in early September. University admission scores are calculated based on 50% high school graduation score + 50% test score.

My son's computer science major he applied for also has a major-related test: the logic exam.

High school academic performance can be improved by hard work and make-up classes, but we didn't know that there was this logic test at the time, and we didn't give the child any guidance and training at all.

Of course, parents who know about this system may have given their children some logic training, but I didn't look into this.

This experience only shows that studying computer science requires strong logical ability. I understand that the country is determined by the results of mathematics and physics competitions, whether there is already a special logic test I don't know, if there is any, please leave a message to tell me.

02

Apply to universities and choose a major

As mentioned earlier, the direction has been roughly decided during the college entrance examination.

My son's choice of computer science is completely his own decision, and I support and agree with my son's choice of computer science major, because employment is relatively easy (and I am also realistic). According to his own account, he decided when he was 8 years old when he was playing a computer game at a Finnish friend's house.

If he had a poor grade, he would have gone to some other university at the lower end of the grade, but he would still be a major in computer science and technology.

In addition, my son is a semi-professional gamer (also known as an esports player) and has participated in some world-class competitions. For this problem of playing games, which is a special headache for parents, I will write another article to share with you my painful experience and awareness, hoping to inspire parents in pain.

Modern Finnish parents are more respectful of their children's own choices, and the school has a one-week internship in the second semester of the third year of junior high school, which is to go to a variety of workplaces, encourage children to understand the workplace, find their own personal interests and strengths, and also encourage children to engage in some jobs within their ability, such as store salespeople, so that children can have more contact with society and prepare for entering the society in the future.

Source: "Childhood in a Foreign Country"

One of my leaders when I worked at Nokia, he was sent to Suzhou to launch the Nokia R&D center, and his son wanted to be a chef after graduating from junior high school, and the couple respected his choice very much.

Of course, this is not always the case in Finland, and in the previous generation, their thinking and thinking are similar to many of our parents in China today, except that their socio-economic development has reached the current level, allowing them to respect their children's choices.

For example, a sound social welfare system allows everyone not to worry too much about basic life, so some bloggers are telling everyone that children with poor family conditions should be more practical, which also makes sense, because some children in China do not have this basic guarantee.

In addition, most parents in Finland recognise that their children are independent individuals, that their children will have their own ideas and lives, and that parents can provide advice, but that children do not have to choose their own profession and future exactly according to their parents' wishes.

What if my child chooses a major but is not well employed?

Source: Internet

Finland also has re-employment training programmes, and the government provides subsidies to ensure basic living. There was originally a government subsidy for going to university in Finland, and many college students can be basically independent by working part-time jobs during the winter and summer vacations, and most parents with good financial conditions will also support some. Even those with poor family conditions can maintain their university life.

These benefits are all based on high taxes, according to my own words, the wool comes from the sheep, the people work hard to pay the taxes, and the government makes good use of them.

For example, my son's classmate when he went to university was a Finnish mother who was 8 years older than him who already had a master's degree in environmental protection, but there were no employment opportunities, so she changed to computer science, and after graduating at the age of 33, she quickly found a job, and the government provided some subsidies to ensure her basic livelihood during his studies.

Then the question arises, why didn't her parents give her guidance and let her study technical computer science a long time ago? I haven't talked to her, and I think there are a few reasons for this.

1) Although environmental protection majors are not easy to employ, there are still some employment opportunities;

2) Life may be more about experience, and parents can only let you experience it;

3) Parents themselves are not very clear and cannot provide guidance.

The elder brother of one of my Finnish classmates studied finance under the guidance of his father, who worked in the Bank of Finland, and entered the Bank of Finland with the help of his father, with a monthly salary of tens of thousands of euros, my classmate was in the computer industry, and the salary was 5,000 euros/month at that time (2014), my classmate was a little "jealous" of her brother's easy job and high salary.

This is very similar to some well-paid companies where children in our country enter the employment of their parents.

Finland has a population of just over 5 million, compared to China, with a population of 1.4 billion, it cannot be completely compared, but there are many similarities, the ultimate goal of most higher education is still to obtain high-paying employment, most people still choose a good job and high-paying major, and their parents will also bless them.

But a good welfare system and parents' perception will allow and respect children to go to low-paying technical jobs without higher education.

In the context of a market economy, government departments are also necessary to prepare funds, support for retraining and employment, and entrepreneurship, and the Chinese government is currently working hard to support these.

I hope that thousands of students will get their wish!

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