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A comment on The secret of Finland's stellar schools. Parent comment

Re:The secret of Finland's stellar schools by tincholio on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @02:37PM (#6401007)
They don't pay as much as in the US, but the overall quality of life is arguably better (less debt, shorter working hours, long holidays, free healthcare, etc.)

Teachers are particularly well payed and very respected. In order to become a teacher you need a Master's degree, and only about 1 out of 10 applicants succeeds in getting a position. So, all in all, I think your argument is not very strong.

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Re:The secret of Finland's stellar schools by jlgreco on Tuesday September 17, 2013 @02:51PM (#6401103)
> In order to become a teacher you need a Master's degree

This is not true in at least some (I suspect 'many') US states. Pennsylvania for instance requires a minimum of a Bachelor's degree: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/pa_...

A Masters degree provides a much-needed salary bump though; a new teacher in Philadelphia with only a Bachelor's can expect to earn a whooping $45k/yr. If you are living in Philadelphia (or worse, paying for a car and insurance to commute into Philadelphia...) and just got done paying for four/five years of school, 45k/yr is not exactly pleasant. That isn't how we treat members of society that we respect.

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Re:The secret of Finland's stellar schools by tincholio on Thursday September 19, 2013 @05:29AM (#6410664)
I guess my post was not clear enough. I as referring to Finland, not the US.
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