My future

What are you doing after high school? Where are you going to study? What do you want to become? These are the most common questions a high school student has to answer besides the exams and homework questions. Usually when I get asked these questions, I really don’t know how to answer. My future is something distant in my head, even though I know it’s going to come ahead, and even though I know I’ll have to face it sometime soon.

When you start high school you think that you will have so much time before it ends. But in reality, you don’t. Two and a half years go by so fast and you will have to decide what you’re going to do in the future at the end of your first year and I think it’s way too early! When I had to choose my courses for the next year, I panicked because you have to know what subjects you are going to take your final exams from. You will have to pick the right courses and at that point you will basically need to know where you want to go or study after school.

My future plans are not my favorite thing to think about, but of course when I think about it, I get a certain picture in my head. I know I want a social job in the future and for example Ihave thought of studying history or English at the university to become a teacher. That would be a very interesting job that I like to think I’d never get bored with. I also want my job to be international, so that I could teach someplace else. I have also been thinking about maybe studying abroad. or at least studying as an exchange student for a while.

There has been lot of talk about youth unemployment lately, but I’m not really worried about it yet. You never know how things will be in five years. I would also like to believe that the situation is getting better rather than worse, so I’m looking at the unemployment positively.

All in all, I have some kind of image of what I want to do but I’m not sure of anything yet. However I’m sure it will all sort out in time. So for now, my secure summer plans are to have an awesome and unforgettable summer with my family and friends, and maybe I’ll figure it all out somewhere in the middle of it.

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The Finland Phenomenon - The Finnish school system

We had an assignment to watch and read different kinds of articles and videos about Finnish school system and I chose a video named The Finland Phenomenon. The hour long video is in four parts and it covers the Finnish school system and things that other countries could learn from it.

      The video tells us that Finland is the highest ranked country in the world and that we also have the highest Pisa test results. The Finnish school system is based on trust and the students here are successful and equal even though the school is relaxed and casual. The schools and the class sizes in Finland are both small and it’s free to everyone.  Here the teachers are also really highly educated, for example. all the teachers need to have a master’s degree. Also, after ninth grade, at the age of sixteen, we can decide either go to an academic based high school or a non-academic vocational school.

        As a high school student from Finland I agree and disagree with some of the facts that came up in the video. For example, they said that Finnish school system and teaching does not rely on testing and that students rarely have any homework  and as a student here in Finland I can assure you that this is not the case. We do have homework every day and exam weeks five times per year. Even at the lower grades I remember that we had lots of homework almost every day and even though we did not have exam weeks, exams were held on regular basis several times a year.

      Apart of these couple of things I disagreed with the video,  there were some good facts too. For examples they said that technology in Finnish schools is high and advanced and it’s available to to students and teachers. This is true. We also use computers and other kind of technology at classes all the time. And as they told us in the video our schools give the students the responsibility to learn and do their homework, and I think it’s a good thing because this way we learn to do things by ourselves and take responsibility of our actions.

All in all I think that even though the video had some wrong information, it was interesting to hear about our school system from a different angle. Also, it managed to give us a basic view of the Finnish school system in a interesting way.