Sweden's "Free Schools" Incentivize Innovation, Better Prepare Kids for Future

Published October 14, 2009 @ 02:46PM PT

When the economy recovers, graduates will breath a sign of relief, but will they have skills good enough to find work? Reihan Salam, a Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation, writes in Forbes that the offshoring of many services — including education — may leave a generation with the wrong skills for a domestic market that has offshored so much to countries with cheaper labor.

Salam suggests that this alone is reason enough to transform the education system in the U.S. to focus more on so called 'soft skills' like creativity, problem solving, and team-work, rather than more mechanical tasks that can be done on a calculator, or rote memorization, from afar.

He cites Sweden as an example of a country that's revolutionizing its schools. Anyone — parents, non profits, or for-profits — can set up schools that have more freedom and less standardization. So called "free schools" can experiment, and compete for students, with the profit motive of attracting students having the effect of incentivizing successful innovation. We don't necessarily need to go down the privatization route, and can keep them non-profit — but is working for a profit such a bad thing?

Photo Credit: Solarthermienator

Share this Post

Comments (2)

I find the following section so interesting because I am finding more and more that our students do no know how to problem solve. They want me to figure out the problems they run into. I am not totally sure how or what caused this...I have my theories, but that's all they are. One change that I have made this year that has made a difference is to take on the role as more of a facilitator than a "teacher." So far the resuts have been pretty interesting, but I have some students who continue to struggle with thinking on their own.

"Salam suggests that this alone is reason enough to transform the education system in the U.S. to focus more on so called 'soft skills' like creativity, problem solving, and team-work, rather than more mechanical tasks that can be done on a calculator, or rote memorization, from afar."

Posted by Melissa Scott on 10/15/2009 @ 05:19AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Melissa
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply
ideas are good, talents are natural gifts, efforts yield results, but education develop skills, fashions ideas, builds talents, and rewards efforts.

Posted by Egwu Uwah Chukwuka on 10/28/2009 @ 07:59AM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Egwu Uwah
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.