Read the text below and answer the question that
follow:
Text 1:
What makes a school good? (Part I)
Everyone is concerned about the quality of education
a school offers, but how is quality measured? We
often hear that schools in some countries are
excellent, while schools in other countries are filled
with problems. What factors should we be looking at to
judge how 'good' schools are or aren't? I decided to do
some research on the topic to see if I could come up
with some answers.
One way of deciding if a school is good is by looking at
how many students go on to university when they
leave. If you look at all the schools in the world, the
country which sends the highest numbers of its
students to university is Finland. So, I looked at
conditions in Finnish schools to see what made them
so successful.
Often you will hear people say that the best schools
are those that are strict. So, are the schools in Finland
very strict? The answer is no, they aren't. They are
usually very informal places with teachers and
students sharing ideas. In fact, Finnish schools have
a unique way of dealing with students and this could
be the reason why they are so successful. While
students in many countries spend long hours in school
studying boring subjects, lucky students in Finland
have short school days and ten weeks of summer
holidays.Added to that, lunch is free and there are lots
of lessons in sport, music and art.
Also, Finnish schools seem to have a different
philosophy. They believe in equality and making
school seem like a home away from home, so
students feel comfortable and enjoy going there. The
aim of the schools is not only to focus on 'good'
students but also to provide extra help to students that
need it. The result of this is that less able students do
much better in Finland than they would in other
countries.
Taken from: Chapman, Joanne. Laser B1 +. Teacher's book.
Macmillan, 2008.