5. The gr8 educational system m8

Finnish education system is praised far and wide. We actually do almost no work compared to others and still get the best results, my comprehensive school years in a nutshell. Many people also have theorized what could be the reasons behind our students massive intellectual and high achievement in education. There was actually a BBC news story or document, not sure which one it was, about the subject.
In the BBC story they gave about 13 reasons why the system is so great. The first one was that in Finnish schools are a laid-back environment because we take our shoes off and call our teachers by their first names and so fort. Also in Finland we don't differentiate our pupils by their skill and teach them in a same class what seems to be working fine and dandy. Our teachers are so something to be proud of since they have to have a masters-degree before they can have tenure. Then there is a quite strong trust between students and teachers which is probably with the qualified teachers a very strong suite of the Finnish education. I mentioned in the beginning already that we do the least hours of work and get the best results. Our schools also have a nice autonomy and the principal has quite a lot of freedom with how he runs the school. We also have a wholly different ideology with schools than the US or the UK because our system isn't based on competition but rather on just giving quality education to everyone. (257)

4. School vocabulary

campus = kampus
pencil = kynä
subject = kouluaine
eraser = pyyhekumi
student = opiskelija
pupil = oppilas
summer break = kesäloma
homework = läksyt
vocational school = ammattikoulu
tenure = pysyvä virka
teacher = opettaja
headteacher = rehtori
principal = rehtori
curriculum = opetussuunnitelma
comprehensive school = peruskoulu
highschool = lukio
gap year = välivuosi
master's degree = maisterin tutkinto
university = yliopisto
backpack = reppu
polytechnics = ammattikorkeakoulu
course = kurssi
dorm = opiskelija-asunto
P.E = liikunta
recess = välitunti
education = koulutus
school = koulu
class = tunti


words: 31

Now to compare the Finnish and the American school system



As we can see Finnish school system is quite simple and easy to understand but

The American gets little more complicated. For start the Finnish system is more simpler and it hasn't got as many different schools since it has only three different degrees. But in the American system at grade 7 you can be in four different kinds of schools.

3. My new school

Hey everyone! I've chosen the school where I'll spend my year in the States. Its name is Abraham Lincoln High School and it seems like an interesting school. Here's the link to the school's website. I got to admit I don't really know much about the school but the name of Lincoln sounds pretty good. They have a 78% graduation rate which sounds quite good too. It was founded in 1960 and prides on its multicultural students and on its mostly hispanic student body. These things aren't too important to me and I think those aren't really big issues right now. But I'm waiting really eagerly my first day at Abraham Lincoln high school and hope it will fulfill my excpectations. (121)

2. My personality according to internet

Since I'm going abroad my guidance counselor told me to do a personality test that was based on different colors. The test was about picking colors based on how much you like them and somehow it determines your personality on that alone. There were lots of different colors that I had to firstly rank on the merit which ones I preferred then which ones I disliked or didn't prefer. I think that's quite farfetched but the test gave me the results I was expecting.
 According to it I'm an intellectual, thinker and about 60% introvert. Intellectual and thinker are probably traits that manifest themselves simultaneously. And the result that I'm an introvert isn't really surprising to me since I have always liked my own company and don't socialize too much. Even though I'm happy and agree with the results I still don't think that picking colors is something you can reliably test someone's personality over. It might give some direction, that I'm willing to admit but not very thoroughly. But that's only my opinion and I'm not an psychologist so what do I know.
 But I did consult another test to see how consistent the results were. I did the imbti which stands for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and it was developed after WWII. From that test I got that I'm INTP which stands for introvert (I), intuition (N), thinking (T) and perceiving (P) and they represent only 3,3% of society. To get in more details, this test told me that I'm 92% introvert so in that area it differs with the color test but other than that I don't think the results are easily comparable but generally I got same kind of results for example the thinker part. Here's a link for some more information about my type. As I read more about it the more it felt correct. So if you wan to do a test that feels correct this is my recommendation.  (324)

1. Hello!

Hello people, I've just started a new blog because I'm going to study abroad for a year! I'm going to the United States to study in a high school for the year. It's pretty exciting because I have never traveled outside of Europe and I have no contacts in the U.S. This'll also be my first time traveling alone so I'm nervous about that too.
 It also feels kind of weird finally traveling there because the only contact I have gotten to the States is almost solely pop-culture and I have difficult time believing that that's too close to actually living there, therefore I'm really interested how the life actually works there and what kind of people real Americans are. The presidential elections also will have people riled up and I want to follow up close what kind of chaos, if any, they will bring.

Here's a nice picture from the Rocky Mountains national park in Colorado

I will be spending my year in Colorado where I can admire the Rocky Mountains and the mile high city of Denver. Colorado as a state has always had my interest since I'm a long term fan of South Park. Also Colorado doesn't seem to be that popular like maybe California, Florida or New York but it isn't wholly unknown like maybe Iowa. Have you ever heard anybody being fired up about traveling to Iowa? Me neither. Also Colorado is supposed to have a own really good cuisine I'm thrilled to try. (250)