Schools stresses out students with too much homework. Lots of students just ignore doing their homework because they’re too lazy or don’t just understand the lesson. This is proving that students are stressing out with school work. Homework has always been an issue with students. Lots of students don’t do their homework and fail their class. Today, in other countries, they have different methods that are successfully helping students reach success.

Now, in Finland, there’s no homework assigned to students. In Finland the rate for students graduating per year is 93% in middle school. In America, it’s only 75% in middle school. You guys are probably wondering that Finland has a better percentage of students graduating because they get no homework. Not necessarily. There are also a few other things that help manage to make Finland sound like the best place ever to send your children to school. Students in Finland manage to get plenty interactions with their teachers, with only a classroom that has 12 students each. They don’t tend to have as many standardized tests before they reach high school. Well, in Finland, they don’t take standardized tests until the age of 16. School starts from 9:00 a.m – 2:00 p.m (5 hours). The grading system is the same as  Dearborn Public Schools, which are A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, E’s…

Now in Dearborn there’s 5 days of school per week. School starts from 8:00 a.m – 2:55 p.m (about 7 hours). The standardized tests we take are NWEA and M-STEP. We have three NWEA tests per school year, which are in Fall, Winter, and Spring. NWEA shows how much you’ve improved. The grading systems are A’s, B’s, C’s, D’s, E’s… An example would be, if you earned an A in all 7 classes, you’d get a (4.0). A (4.0) is the highest grade you possibly can get in middle school. Now if you get all A’s but one B, you would get a 3.8 because a B takes away 0.2 points. Now a C would take away 0.3 points, D takes away 0.4,  and an E 0.5.

I have a couple of students and adults that I interviewed to see what their opinion is on Finland and Dearborn’s
education system. I interviewed one of the teachers at McCollough Unis that teaches 7th and 8th grade Language Arts, Mrs.Issa. She really liked how the education in Finland is. Mrs.Issa replied with,“To make the education better, Dearborn Public Schools needs to have a more accurate screening system for bilingual students because many students are given unnecessary labels. I think less homework is a better subject, is what counts”.I also interviewed an 8th grade student at Unis, Muhammad Almusawi. He stated,”I think the education in Dearborn is better because Finland does not receive as much homework or standardized tests.” The third and last 8th grade student I interviewed at Unis Middle School is Nadia Dawud. Nadia said, “I don’t have any suggestions towards Finland due to their percentage of students graduating.I personally believe that standardized tests given at the age of 16 does not seem like a well idea because I think it’s best to prepare students at a young age rather than taking the tests at the age 16″.

 In my opinion, I think standardized tests have no use. One of my most important interviewers I had was my cousin Meriam Moussa. She lives in Finland and goes to International School of Helsinki. I emailed her a couple of questions. “Yes, I think it does because I don’t stress with homework as much as I used to in Lebanon and not taking standardized tests was a relief. I think the education in Dearborn Public School is a success to teaching students, but it seems like it’s stressing students a lot with homework and especially with standardized tests until you take your SATs, which prepares you for college. Giving standardized tests to young students only let’s them believe that if they failed the test, they’re not as smart as anyone. That’s why standardized tests should be given untill high school, when the student is fully educated.” In conclusion, Finland has less stress on students and more success on helping students understand better. In my opinion, I think the education in Finland is better because I personally think homework has no use and there’s plenty of time for students to finish their work in school instead of stressing us with homework. Less homework let’s students be kids and have more family time. Another thing i like about Finland is how students don’t get standardized tests till the age of 16. Now that’s the best idea I’ve heard! Standardized tests given to students at a young age. It lets students believe that if they don’t pass the test, they’re failing. If you can have the same education system as in Finland, would you accept the offer?

Zeinab Osseili, Unis Journalism Student