Education and Entertainment of Children

Dear Bishop,

I've asked several of my friends to answer these questions. I think it's better for you to get the answer right away from them. I don't think I am that qualified to speak for Finns. But sorry for this late reply. Attached are different answers from different persons. It's interesting to see how they express things as well. Hope it is helpful!

Best regards,
Ruth
Here are questions from some Taiwanese students in the university:
1. If you had another chance to choose, do you still want to be a Northern European?

* Being born in Finland is often considered as a dream-come-true, living in Finland mainly gives good chances to start one's life. The Finnish system may seem perfect but it has it's disadvantages; the custodial welfare state smothers individuals chances to actually success economically in life, yet the social system fails to support the ones in need. Also the modernization and adaptation to American lifestyle has suffocated all the communal values, which results as differentation from other people and even mental disorders. Although I do like the northern “sisukkuus”, it is good to be 'gutsy', it helps a lot in life. Also I love the nature and the calm, silent and headstrong human type. But all in one, I think the whole world is my home, every place have their advantages and disadvantages. I love to be here now, maybe I'll love to be somewhere else at some other time. :)

2. Since the welfare of your country is so good, do you still want to study?

* Nowadays you need to have degrees to even get a simple job. Because of the free and equal education system the finns are in general over-educated, whereupon to get a job you will need to be even more educated than the others. The superiority of Finland when comparing to most of the countries in the world is indeed the (almost) free education, why wouldn't I take everything I get from it? And because the recession is at the door, it is basically time wasted to try find a job. I love to learn new things and I'll rather do this than work at this point of my life.

3. In Taiwan, if a child disobeyed his mother’s words, wandering along the street, the mother will blame on him and say“the police will come to catch you and put you into the prison!!”If the same thing happened, what will the elders do or say in your country?

* In the older days the reaction would've been quite much the same (replacing police with muggers), nowadays it's not an impossible thought that the parents would leave their kid to do what ever they were doing. Some sort of ignorance has increased - in my eyes at least - within the last 10 years. But again, in some cases parents are over-reacting when it comes to their children; basically every 8-year-old has a cell phone “just in case”, and stranger-danger has reached unbelievable dimensions! No one seems to trust on other people anymore, which is a great shame. Back in the old days everything used to be (and had to be) done together, elderly would look after kids and parents would look after each other's kids. Now the parents would probably say that “Be careful or you'll be hit by a car, someone will kidnap you or you will get lost”.

4. What do you think about Taiwanese students (from seven to twelve grade) who have to learn every subject such as Math, Science, History, Geography...., whether they like it or not?

* The system in Taiwan seems pretty much the same we have here in Finland. Probably in your country the standars are higher and discipline too..? Every kid in Finland will have to study maths, religion, Finnish, English, geography, biology, history, arts, handicrafts and sports in the primary school. Then in secondary school they will also study Swedish, chemistry, physics, social studies and some additional courses. Kids don't like it as it's not optional, but it sets up equal possibilities for everyone. The system would work otherwise too, school could be more enjoyable place to be in.

5. How do the elders describe to children about death and divorce?

* Death has been a common visitor in the traditional finnish family and it has also been a part of life; the body has been set for everyone to see and it has been taken good care of (bathing etc) before burying. But this has changed. Now the death is a taboo for some reason, a thing to be afraid of, and that's also what parents tend to teach their kids. It is not to be mentioned, it is something terrible. If a kid asks about death it's either “they are in heaven” or “hush”.
* Divorce again is such a common thing, that it's not a big deal anymore in the finnish society. 50% of the marriages end up in divorce and many, many families are so called 'blended families' and consist of members 2 or more families. “It is not your fault, mum and dad just don't love each other anymore.” All this “education” is mainly the parent's job to do, the grandparents don't usually teach kids about such anymore. Divorces happen and kids accept it quite well, no one can predict the future and people tend to think that they shouldn't be together for the sake of kids if they don't love their partner anymore.

6. What is the normal age for kids to start talking?
* Hmm... Around 3-4 maybe? Of course they will form simple words and very simple sentences before that.

7. Generally speaking, when we are teaching little kids new words, we often use reduplication, for example, “che”which means car, and we will say“che che”. How about you? Are there any special methods to teach children?

* Kids learn to speak by listening and mimicing their parents and people around them. Usually we show a picture and then them what is in the picture, it's also common to first teach the kid to imitate the sound of the object, for example car would be “prum prum” or a cat would be “miaaaau”. For many things we have children's own words, say “lehmä – a cow” can be “ammu” etc. Reduplication is a common practise too.

8. If a child makes mistakes, what would the elders do? For instance, stealing, being late, breaking something, and lying.

* If the child is still quite young he/she will be reproached and disciplined and the behaviour will be condemned. If the child is older or this kind of behaviour continues (which is obviously a result of non-working behaviour models in the environment) he/she will probably be yelled at. A clever parent would tell the kid what he/she has done wrong and teach them why it's forbidden. Yet such mistakes happen and it is considered normal for a child to make mistakes. It's not a huge shame for the family if a kid makes a mistake, it's also learning for the kid at the same. If it seems that the parents can't take care of their children and that's why they steal/heckle the kids can be taken away from them and be housed in foster family or children's home. There are also separate prisons for younger people.


Johanna Valta, 19 years old