{"id":95,"date":"2015-08-31T18:23:41","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T18:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/taughtbyfinland.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2015-08-31T18:40:54","modified_gmt":"2015-08-31T18:40:54","slug":"guest-post-why-i-left-america-to-teach-in-finland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taughtbyfinland.com\/guest-post-why-i-left-america-to-teach-in-finland\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Why I Left America to Teach in Finland"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m pleased to have my American colleague Meghan Smith share her insights on this blog. She began her teaching career in Finland about a decade ago. Currently, she teaches primary\u00a0students at Ressu Comprehensive School in Helsinki.<\/em><\/p>\n

My Search for Dignity in Teaching<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.\u201d – William Butler Yeats<\/em><\/p>\n

As a child in the United States, I \u201ctaught\u201d my little brothers their letters and numbers every afternoon in a walk-in closet at an age when they had no business holding a pencil or sitting at a desk.\u00a0 This was perfectly natural and highly rewarding, at least, for me.<\/p>\n

We all know one of these precocious children: I was one of them. I always had my nose in a book, and loved school and my teachers, though I had few friends and was very shy. I was so hungry for knowledge that I tuned everything else out.\u00a0 In short, teaching and learning kindled a fierce hunger for knowledge inside of me. But\u00a0I\u00a0<\/em>didn\u2019t choose teaching.<\/em>\u00a0Not in the beginning.<\/p>\n

American Messages about Teaching<\/strong><\/p>\n

You could argue that I always stayed close to the field of education.\u00a0 It was my deepest wish to work in a field with a sense of purpose, where curiosity and inquiry were rewarded, if never fully sated.\u00a0 But as I left the kaleidoscope of wonder and color\u2014that is elementary school\u2014and began to emerge out of my shell, I began to notice that not only in school, but also in society at large, showing an interest or pride in your education was not cool.<\/p>\n

You could have a passion for entertainment or sports, but outside of the bubble of the marching band or AP courses, a passion for academics was a\u00a0faux pas<\/em>. \u00a0It seemed that society condoned this.\u00a0 We knew that our high school football coaches\u2019 salaries, (and hence worth) were far greater than our teachers who weren\u2019t there for the salary, but for us.<\/p>\n

While my ears and eyes continued to soak up as much knowledge as possible, it seemed that everyone around me constantly had something to say, to spout off.\u00a0 The public opinion and respect of teachers, especially, seemed to be eroded. Some of my role models inadvertently joined in.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t always tune out the noise.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know if you became a teacher, you could be home in time to cook dinner for your husband and family before they get home. Plus you get three months off in the summer!\u201d [the advice I heard from a family member as I researched universities to attend]\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThose that can, do and those who can\u2019t, teach!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really just playing with children all day long, how hard could it be?\u00a0 You don\u2019t even need to go to college; you only need a high school degree!\u00a0 ANYONE can become a teacher! You don\u2019t actually have to know much, I mean, they just follow the teacher manuals and answer keys.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you believe that lazy teacher had her own students check each others\u2019 spelling tests? They just collect the paycheck for working 9 months per year and make their own students do their job!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While these may seem extreme, these, amongst other examples, were the discouraging things I heard constantly from many well-meaning adults throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.\u00a0 Many teachers in the United States are familiar with these comments. I wanted to close my ears; I didn\u2019t want to hear anymore.<\/p>\n

A Dream Deferred<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was beginning to believe that this is how we as a society regarded teachers\u2014that the people charged with the important job of molding minds and developing responsible and productive citizens are not valued.\u00a0 Had I been more self-assured and certain of myself, I could have shaken it off and ignored it, but it stung my conscience; these were red flags to take another path.\u00a0 My inner voice urging me to follow my dream to become a teacher began to drop to a silent whisper.<\/p>\n

Even my own revered teachers advised us, \u201cIt\u2019s charity work.\u00a0 Never go into teaching, you all are too clever.\u201d\u00a0 They would allude to their summer jobs to make ends meet, and sometimes joke bitterly about their abysmal salaries.\u00a0 I trusted them the most.\u00a0 I was too young to listen to my own voice and to do what I thought was purposeful and right for me, or to \u201cignore the dogma,\u201d as Steve Jobs would have said.<\/p>\n

My undergraduate advisor informed me, \u201cTeacher-training is an add-on.\u00a0 If you want the certification, it\u2019s better to get a degree first in a more rigorous discipline. Then you can just add a few other basic courses and take a test to get the qualification.\u201d\u00a0 The window was always open if I wanted to come back and become a teacher.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n

I set my sails in a different direction.\u00a0 I wanted to take pride in my work, and stand tall with my choices. I studied Spanish at The University of Texas, and thought advocacy could be rewarding.\u00a0 I became involved in different philanthropy projects in the community through volunteer organizations and non-profits.\u00a0 Maybe here, I could make a difference?<\/p>\n

Mostly, we did translation work for Spanish speakers who were living in poverty.\u00a0 I tried my best to help in practical, everyday, but ultimately humble gestures.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t as fulfilling as I had hoped, and I didn\u2019t feel like I was making a real impact on peoples\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n

A Fire Rekindled<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2001, one project took me to Mexico where a church group was building a drinking well and a small school in a village outside of Ciudad Victoria.\u00a0 This was my wake up call.\u00a0 Those kids were so hungry for knowledge of how the world works, and why was I helping them\u2014they had fire in their eyes.\u00a0 They became enlivened with the words from a book, words of possibility, of opportunity, of another world.\u00a0 Alarm bells went off. \u00a0Wake up! What was I doing?\u00a0 Why wasn\u2019t it this?\u00a0 What could be more important than kindling this spark that could change their lives?<\/p>\n

When I returned from Mexico, I graduated and began working at LeapFrog, a company that made software programs for use in schools and bilingual classrooms.\u00a0 The products were aligned with \u201cState Standards,\u201d were \u201cresearch based,\u201d (which got me into the classroom more than a few times), addressed \u201cachievement gaps,\u201d and followed \u201cbest practices.\u201d After a few years, I was offered a position at Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt, but I wanted to make a direct impact.\u00a0 I wanted to teach without all the inequity and injustice.<\/p>\n

I wanted to teach in a place where the national conversation didn\u2019t regularly shame teachers for all of societies\u2019 problems. I believed it was out there. I just didn\u2019t know what to look for or to expect. What would I find?\u00a0 Was the grass greener elsewhere?\u00a0 Were my expectations realistic?<\/p>\n

It would take a lot of courage, tsemppi\u00e4<\/em> (\u201cfighting spirit\u201d) and searching to find the answers.\u00a0 I had no idea I would find them in Finland.<\/p>\n

Meghan dedicated this first guest post to her third grade teacher\u2014Ms. Rhea Avenel from Mandeville Elementary School\u2014who could turn fantasy into reality, and with a bit of magic, grant her the first true joys of learning. This post\u00a0was originally published on June 18, 2014. Read her follow-up\u00a0guest post\u2014<\/em>about her experiences teaching in Finland\u2014<\/em>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m pleased to have my American colleague Meghan Smith share her insights on this blog. She began her teaching career in Finland about a decade ago. 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