Why schools will change when people change

My first actual topic! Wow, this is kinda exciting!

I'd better lay some groundwork on this one before I actually begin. To start with, I'm studying pedagogy as a minor in the university at the moment. Or for anyone who doesn't know what that means, I'm studying to become a teacher. Or getting a teaching degree. Thingy. Whatever.

As you can guess, studying to become a teacher involves studying the school system as well. Not only that, but recently we've been studying how the school system is changing/isn't changing/should be changed/wants to be changed/doesn't want to change/will never change/what were we talking about again? In particular what's been stirring the pot recently is the newly found study that Finnish kids have suddenly dropped from their ivory tower in the international PISA tests. Gasp! What do you mean, our kids aren't as good in maths as those Chinese kids who are ridiculously overworked and are pressured by their parents into doing stuff they totally don't want to do in the first place? And yes, I have my two cents to share on the PISA rankings as well. But for now, let's focus on this.

So, "get on with it!" you're probably saying. It seems that, in Finland, throughout the decades the school system, and education itself, has been pestered about changing its ways. "You need to be new and dynamic." "You need to focus on your traditions." "You need to teach our kids valuable life lessons." "You need to stop teaching kids lessons we don't want you to teach, but we won't tell you what it is we want or the messages will be horribly mixed." In the end, I think, education reforms are mostly talk and little walk.

Why? Well firstly, although change is a fundamental part of life, it doesn't happen because someone wrote something down on a piece of paper. It doesn't change because someone said some rousing speeches, nor even necessarily because money was put into a different part of the system. All of the aforementioned may be signs of change, but when signs aren't backed up by actual intent, they will stay as that: signs, or empty symbols without meaning.

Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I am not saying that changing the school system, education or anything in general is bad. Far from it. We should always strive to be better at what we do and change is a part of that. In fact I am convinced that there are many key aspects in the school system that should be changed, like the sizes of the classrooms, the different methods in teaching, what is being taught and with what intention etc. (more on these subjects in later posts, hopefully!)
But what I'm getting at here is that people who keep screaming for change in schools are often people whose memories of the school system date back to when they were in schools themselves - which could be anything from ten years to fifty. School is a very different thing for people who actually work in it and for those who are on the outside looking in. Also, reforms that focus on just one aspect of the school probably won't work all that well, because the school is like a gigantic clockwork machine: if you want to change one thing, you first have to change a dozen other things before you're even close to making the change you wanted in the first place.

Point two is this: Change, any change, starts with human beings acting differently, which is caused by them thinking differently, which in turn is caused by a change in their beliefs. And by beliefs I don't mean that you change from being a Christian to a Buddhist (although that can happen, too), but that some fundamental belief in your life has changed gradually or in one big swoop.

This is why, I believe, systems change when human beings change. And more often than not, that change will be gradual and will happen inside the system. It will seem to be functioning just as it has been for decades, until one day, those minor changes from all the people collectively will facilitate the change and make it possible. I think this can be seen in things like the movement for sexual minorities - granted, it's still not ideal in many parts of the world, but when comparing the movement to 20 years ago, the difference is significant. And, I think, that's because people are now simply more open and ready to accept and facilitate that change than they were previously.

So it is with schools, also. I've heard countless talks about education reforms and ways in which the schools need to and absolutely have to change, and while the want for change is not bad in itself, it should be based on more than just *wheezy old man voice* "When I was your age we skied to school in the summer and rode on mooseback in winter, you young whippersnappers! Those were the good days...now where are my teeth?"

Yes, it's so sad the good ole' days are behind, isn't it?