Finnish kids are taught by the parents to read long before they get to school. Sure, it helps that the Finnish language is phonetic... But really, it's a home environment that teaches that reading is fun and enjoyable and can get you what you want.
Same goes for counting and basic arithmetic.
It's a cultural thing.
Teachers in Finland are not geniuses. The caliber of the teachers is, in fact, higher than the USA, but this stems more from seats in schools as opposed to "smart people wanting to become teachers".
The desirability ranking of what the average student would like to do goes like this:
Medical
Engineer
Law
French
Pyschology
...
Education
...
Waiter
...
So somewhere along this spectrum, you get a bunch of qualified people who become teachers. There's only a limited number of seats for each profession (driven by free education... you can NOT become anything you want to become, you have to do better than the others on the entrance test). So you don't get a disproportionate group of people getting a degree in History or Biology or Pyschology. The number seats are arranged according to the needs of the society.
And kids would rather be teachers than waiters (yes, there's a school for that).
In Finland, teachers do NOT make more than engineers or doctors. They make about one third (pre tax) of what doctors or engineers make.
Also, Finland is incredibly homogenous. Take that for what you will...
I worked at Nokia in Finland from 2006 to 2014. I have nothing but good things to say about the company.
I have since moved back to the United States, but my management philosophy has definitely been shaped by the culture there and the way they treated their employees.
They had a simple common name... I remember that I was criticizing the name in my head, because a Google search would make it hard for them to be the top search result.
You know, across the country, homes are undervalued for tax purposes.
I've seen several of these articles pop up over the last few days, but they are, on the face, oriented towards "ohhh look at the 1%ers and how little they pay!"
Just sayin, be careful what you wish for. If the government decided on some new system for assessing property values... well, you better believe it's coming to the masses as well. End result: If you own a home, your tax bill WILL go up and your property value WILL drop.
Probably best to just let this one slide, unless you just love paying taxes.
I'm confused... You say you own "a Surface Pro 3" but MSFT is only just announcing "the Surface Pro 3". Some other people are saying they own a Surface Pro 3.
How can this be? It's too early in the morning for this...