Hey, sorry if that came off the wrong way, I certainly didn't mean to imply that you were the source of the propaganda. The propaganda part comes from people spreading this information without any analysis or thought because they have an agenda. A lot of people in the states want to "reform" education for their own political and corporate goals. So, no I don't think you personally are lying nor do I think Finland has poor education. However, there are plenty of people who DO use Finland for political causes. My contention is that the United States is not as bad as it is portrayed in the media.

It is true that Finland does outscore the United States as a whole but the United States is a very large country with a very heterogenous population. I made the point about Massachusetts because it has a similar population size and childhood poverty rate. Again go to the TIMMS results and you can see for yourself.

My point is that we don't need to go overseas to see education that works. We have states and schools that are doing quite well right here. The problem is socioeconomic and cultural. The reason Finland does well has nothing to do with how their schools are arranged or how their teachers are paid or how much homework their students do. It has everything to do with the fact that childhood poverty in Finland is around 5% whereas it is >20% in the states.

I do take issue, however, with your statement that "Finland makes better, well rounded worldly students". Again, your generalizing a very large country when you dismiss american students like that. The United States has a population of 320 million whereas Finland has 5 million. There are plenty of well rounded worldly students in the United States who are just as competent and well educated as Finland's students. It's a misconception that all education in America is awful.