While the Finnish success is remarkable in so many ways, one element that is often left out of the discussion is the FACT that Finnish is one of those rare languages that is highly phonetic (English is on the opposite scale in that regard). While some English-speaking countries do well on international assessments (PISA for one), Finnish students do remarkably well time after time. What is not well known though, is that Finland has 2 different linguistic population and the Swedish-speaking Finns (SSF) don’t do nearly as well, even though they receive the same kind of education as their Finnish-speaking counterparts FSF). Swedish is not as easy to learn as Finnish (phonetically and morphologically). What is even more troubling for the Swedish-speaking kids is that they are largely regarded from belonging to a more affluent and educated group in Finland. In other words, they should do better, if anything. (It is well-known that higher socio-economics groups have advantages from better nutrition, educated parents,… to better tutoring, if any). These SSF do as well on tests as Canadians or New Zealanders (who do get the benefit of starting school 1.5 earlier or 1 year earlier than their Finnish counterparts and who the former get a lot more time and effort spent on learning English intricacies). BUT, some might point out that Finnish kids do well in Math as well! But, again, what is conveniently left out of the discussion is that most Math questions on those assessments require excellent reading skills as they are mostly word problems. Conclusion: the way a language is structured makes a difference. English is one of the less logical languages to learn and it does affect a lot of kids. English hasn’t been modernized in close to 400 years. Many other languages have been improved to fit the pronunciation of their time or to be refined or simplified. Why is it that everything gets improved, but English? Why is ti that we must ask kids to fit that square peg into the round hole (while others don’t have)? Why is it that virtually everybody and everything must be improved, but English doesn’t, even though linguist like Chomsky and many other professors know that English spelling is a mess? Teachers and methods must always be improved. Cars must be more efficient. Everything must get better. Right? Well, apparently not our language! Mmm! There is something rotten in the state of English spelling! For a much more complete and balanced discussion, please follow the link: http://reforming-english.blogspot.com/.