Re:Fix it at home (Score 1)

And the usually unstated observation is that Finnish and most other European school systems have a much stronger tracking mechanism than U.S. schools--not in the sense of "knowing where the kids are," but in the sense of putting them into classes oriented towards universities or not, trade school or not, and such. As a result, kids at the lowest rungs aren't necessarily taking the tests if they've already left or enter vocational education, and the ones at the bottom aren't holding back the ones at the top.

Hmm, depending on the level of education we're talking here, that's pretty much untrue for Finland. The first nine years of school (about ages 7-16) are the same for everyone. That's our much-lauded elementary school that provides the basic education for everyone.

Actually, these days you'll often see criticism that's exactly opposite to your description: people are worried that the elementary school is toned down to make sure everyone has reasonable success, and so there are few drop-outs, but no highlights either. There's been talk about bringing back different levels of education for elementary school too, but so far there are no "university-oriented" classes or routes.

There's a division after elementary school, where your options are trade school or high school. High school offers sort of a short cut into universities, since after high school you'll be able to apply immediately. These days it doesn't mean the doors are shut for trade schoolers, though; after trade school you can apply for higher vocational school (or universities of applied sciences, as some are called), which would also open up the possibility of going to university.

There are also some schools that combine trade schools and high schools (or at least has been, I don't know if there are currently such schools), and of course it's possible to study for your high school diploma after you've finished trade school as well.