Until the 1980s, with those advantages present, Finnish education was generally regarded as average. So what changed? “Three reasons,” Kaisu Karkkainen, principal of the Arabia Comprehensive School in Helsinki, told the Washington Post. “Teachers, teachers, and teachers.” In Finland, a teacher is regarded as the social equal of a doctor or lawyer, and is compensated accordingly. All elementary teachers have master's degrees in pedagogy; schools are run like teaching hospitals, where young teachers are analyzed and evaluated. It's competitive: some schools receive forty applications for a
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