Posted in: Election 2012

Romney and Finland schools – what he didn’t tell you

Tag answer sheet, education nation, Finland, Mitt Romney, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, Washington Post

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel recently penned a piece for the Washington Post’s “Answer Sheet” blog responding to Mitt Romney’s comments on the Finnish education system during NBC’s Education Nation. Check out the excerpt below and read the full story at the Washington Post.

The irony of Mitt Romney having the audacity to lift upFinland as an example for how we can improve education here in the United States is not lost on me and millions of other educators across the nation. I spent 23 years in the classroom teaching mathematics, and I have to tell you — Romney’s new focus on Finland just doesn’t add up. There is little in the Romney-Ryan corporate reform plan for education that would support the essential elements necessary to replicate Finland’s educational success.

In fact, I feel compelled to offer Romney a civics lesson on public education since Finland’s educational success disproves every key element of the Romney-Ryan platform on education and the corporate reform model they want to impose on our country’s schools.

Romney’s relentless attacks on the right of educators to come together and advocate for their students and their profession through their union couldn’t stand in more stark contrast with Finland’s approach. Finland tells a completely different tale: their teaching force is totally unionized and the union serves as an equal partner, working to shape the successful system that Mitt Romney lauded. Where Finland is a model for collaborative progress, Mr. Romney is all too comfortable continuing his divide and conquer strategy.

Get the full story at the Washington Post.