We should follow the example of Finland's education system.

Following your own logic, where is your argument to justify why you're against it? You have only stated your position. Now that I have stated my thesis, I will develop my argument. Finland has been at the very top of Pisa test results since 2000, whether it be in maths, science or reading. The US hasn't been faring so well: in 2012, it scored below OECD average in every test (1). You would think that as a world leading economy, their position would be slightly better. Indeed, it seems to give itself the means to do much better, being one of the countries that spend the most on its students: $10,559 per student while Finland spends $7,000 per student (2), but even then, we keep observing average results. 1. PISA results in 2012 2. Education spending per pupil in 2012 Not only are Finland's results much better academically, but Newsweek has also ranked Finland as one of the best countries to live in, taking into account factors such as education, health, quality of life, economic dynamism and political environment (3). This shows that Finnish students have a good quality of life. The US doesn’t appear in the top 10. Furthermore, their education system has efficient results in economic terms. While the Finnish PPP GDP per capita is inferior to that of the States ($35,617 against $53,101) (4), there is another dimension I would like to include to demonstrate my point: that of income inequalities. The Gini index is used to measure wealth inequalities, 0 being zero inequality and 100 being total inequality. Now, in 2009, according to this graphic, the US had higher levels of income inequality (around 46-47) while Finland has one of the lowest levels of inequality in the world (around 25) (5). What does this mean? This means that although the GDP per capita is inferior in Finland, far more people actually have that actual level of income, while in the US, you will actually find that the richest 10% of Americans detain about half of the total income and the richest 1% a quarter of the total income.5. Gini coefficient in 2009 in the world Thus my argument is that the Finnish education system prepares people for a healthy working life, thanks to investment into the right areas of education, and focuses on diminishing inequalities of chances. In the 1960’s, Finland re-evaluated the need to invest in its education system. All governments, from left to right have respected, over the past 4 decades, that economic growth is the primary goal, with education as the critical driver (according to some researchers, education explains 25% of Finland’s growth): “Investment in people is the best investment” (6). They have made their way towards an entirely free education, from meals to textbooks and tuition, therefore making sure that every student, from whichever background, has access to a similar education. Finally, teacher training has been put at the centre of all attention. Teachers need to have a Master’s Degree to even consider being a teacher. But that’s not all. Only 10% of the 5000 applicants each year are accepted to the faculties of education in Finnish universities (6). Why is there such competition? Because there is competition. Teachers are respected because they are not only civil servants, they are like the elders of the village, the people you go to for their wisdom. They know what they’re doing. Furthermore, this means that they can be trusted by the government. The government issues a core curriculum for the teachers to follow, but it is very small and gives these very competent teachers the freedom to make their classes as interesting as can be.Those are some of the reasons that lead me to think that the Finnish example is worth trying to follow. They are doing something right.1. PISA results in 2012: http://www.businessinsider.com...2. Education spending per pupil in 2012: http://www.businessinsider.com...3. Top 10 best countries according to Newsweek: http://news.xinhuanet.com...4. PPP GDP per capita in Finland and the US: http://en.wikipedia.org...(PPP)_per_capita 5. Income inequalities in Finland and the US: http://tifwe.org...;6. Education is the critical driver of economic growth: http://siteresources.worldbank.org... 7. Rate of teacher acceptancy: http://bertmaes.wordpress.com...;