It seems that something is compelling me to write this post.  I recently read an article by C.M. Rubin in The Huffington Post titled “The Global Search for Education:  What will Finland do Next?“.  I enjoy reading case studies where educational systems have been successfully designed, implemented, and culturally accepted.  Can the U.S. just replicate the whole educational system in Finland?  No, and it would be naive to think that is possible.  Finland is a nation of just over 5.4 million people, with a much different political, socio-economic, and financial situation than the U.S.  Can the U.S. learn something from what Finland has done?  Absolutely, and I am quite sure there are many smart people involved with education reform who are identifying translatable aspects of Finland’s system to implement over here.  

I found this piece of information from the article fascinating with regard to student preference & choice: “Today nearly 45 percent of Finnish 16-year-olds choose to study in vocational upper secondary schools and 50 percent in academic high schools. Competition to some vocational programs has become fierce. Much of the negative stigma that vocational schools had in Finland 20 years ago is gone.”  This information tells me that not only are the options available to students interested in learning a vocation, but the culture promotes vocational education in earnest.  I may be wrong, but I do not feel this is the case in the United States.  This needs to change.  I know that others feel the same way.

In the United States, it is common to hear this sort of rhetoric:  “Go to college, you’ll earn more over the course of a lifetime” or on the other side “Some people just weren’t meant to go to college”.  I love hearing these type of generalizations.  To me, its not just about providing choice, but cultivating a culture that shows there is not one way to be successful in one’s life.  As Sir Ken Robinson says frequently, it is about  aptitude, altitude, opportunity, and passion.  

I think we are going in the right direction.  Also, please note that I am a product of a four-year college degree.  It helped me immensely, and I am fortunate to have it.  As we continue to work ourselves out of the devastation of the economic collapse from 2008-2009, and with the student debt worries, there seems to be a cultural awakening on the come.  Increased interest in options, and the promotion of those options as viable solutions.  At a recent conference to provide solutions to the higher education budget and enrollment concerns in California, Jeff Selingo offered these words that included “The idea in the US is not that right from high school the only choice you really have to get ahead is to go to college.”

As I close this post, also try to think outside of the box on your perception of “vocation”.  There are what I call “modern vocations” that will continue to be in demand, and there needs to be an emphasis on building these skills as our digital native population continues to grow.  

What do you think?  I would love to hear your opinion.