However, it is difficult for foreigners to understand how another country's educational system works and how its various elements influence the final results. As a rule, the only way to get a good understanding of top essay services or a particular system is to see it from the inside. In the framework of a one-week visit to see schools and communicate with specialists you are unlikely to get a sense of the specifics of Finnish education. It is much preferable to come here yourself and try yourself as a teacher and let Finland teach you.
That is exactly what Tim Walker did, who had a unique practical experience. Having lived and worked in our country for several years, this man now has a good understanding of all the nuances of Finnish culture and the resulting features of school education. In his works he discovers much that is new and useful for foreign teachers, but Finnish colleagues read them with great interest, too.
I met Tim shortly after he and his family moved from Boston to Helsinki. We discussed several times how Finnish schools were different from most American schools. Tim worked as a teacher in Helsinki at Ressu, a public comprehensive school that also offers programs in the international model of pre-university education.
I had often visited this institution before and know it well, but I was fascinated by my American colleague's accounts of what was going on with his fifth graders. A fresh perspective is always very helpful. Tim encountered many different aspects of the Finnish school in practice and then described them in detail in this book. I am convinced that no one could have done it better.
As I was about to publish the second edition of Finnish Lessons, I asked the editor if I could put a warning on the back cover: "WARNING! Don't try to do it again yourself!" I wanted to do this primarily because I received a lot of feedback: teachers, officials, and even politicians were interested in how to implement the Finnish educational system in their countries.
The publisher understood my concern, but did not support the sticker idea. Nevertheless, I think that by no means should educational systems simply be transferred from one place to another. After all, these are complex and natural cultural formations that, like grass and trees, only grow well in their native soil and climate. Tim Walker, in his book The Finnish Learning System: How the World's Best Schools Work, explains this quite convincingly and offers practical steps to make schooling more fun and enjoyable. If you can use his ideas, you will partly teach the way we do.
