When it comes to education, Finland does it right

Jon Stewart's recent show features Diane Ravitch, an educational policy analyst who wrote The Death and Life of the American School System and compares European education systems and results with those in the United States. Listen to Ravitch speak out against standardized testing, which she says has no correlation with academic success. American schools, she claims, put stress and resources into the wrong channels - schools have become "testing factories" and do not devote enough time to the arts, civics, and education that motivate students to come to school.

Ravitch makes her greatest comparison between Finland and the United States. Finland's education system has strong teachers' unions, no standardized testing, and invidualized education practices - the polar opposite of the current situation in the United States. Yet Finland has a greater graduation rate than the United States, and its students perform better in school than do American kids, who are subjected to a slew of standardized tests, which the Finnish school system rejects. So, which model seems more effective in producing conscious citizens, passionate about learning and eager to contribute to the national working population? The answer is obvious, says Ravitch. Watch the episode and decide for yourself what America's schools are truly lacking today - more standardized testing or high-quality, well-rounded instruction that tailors to students' individual needs.