Mom Behind the Curtain

every mom wants to be an all-powerful wizard

U.S. education vs. Finland – basic differences, Finland Phenomenon Part 1/3

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Finland is the highest ranked country in education. U.S. education vs. Finland - The Finland Phenomenon:Inside the World’s Most Surprising School SystemFinland is the highest ranked country in education by many measures. To further understand and compare U.S. education vs. Finland, I watched The Finland Phenomenon:Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System, from the Robert Compton Documentary series on Global Education, directed by Sean T. Faust. At first, I was thinking that I wasn’t really learning anything new or surprising. I’m not sure where I’d already heard most of the information. It may have been The Smartest Kids in the World or World Class Learners.

In any case, if you don’t have time to read two complete books, the documentary is a quick way to get a good overview of the Finland school system if you can get your hands on a copy. It isn’t readily available.

U.S. schools vs. Finland schools

So why is the Finland school system so important? Several quick facts at the start of the film summarize it well….

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Why my son won’t attend a liberal arts college, engineering – how to choose a college Part 5/5

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Liberal arts college engineering degree options: 3-2 engineering programs, how they work, and computer science degrees at liberal arts colleges.If you’ve read my previous posts about a liberal arts education at a small liberal arts college, starting with Consider a Liberal Arts College, you probably didn’t expect the title of this post. But sometimes you consider an idea and then find it to not be the best fit. In my last post I covered some reservations I had about a liberal arts degree. But our biggest issue was that we were looking for a college with a computer science degree, a liberal arts college engineering degree. And yes, that turns out to be a contradiction.

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Emma – SAT movies

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Watching movies to improve your SAT score? This past summer I’ve been watching movies with my daughters to work on their reading comprehension for the SAT.

Emma is a great movie to watch to improve your SAT reading vocabulary score. It is by far our favorite of the Jane Austen movies. As luck would have it, or maybe because we started with this one, it was the first of many literary movies we’ve watched with SAT prep in mind. My girls loved it!

Emma is a great movie to watch to improve your SAT reading vocabulary score.
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SAT study hack – A movie list to improve your SAT score – SAT movies

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SAT study hack - You learn more when you're engaged when you read. Watching these great movies based on great literary novels can help raise your SAT score.…

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A liberal arts education, is it really the best? – how to choose a college part 4/5

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The benefits and the limitations of a liberal arts education at a small liberal arts college. Can you get a job with a liberal arts degree?I started down the path of considering a liberal arts education at a liberal arts college for our son, because I was questioning the value of chasing the grades of top 10%, and was worried about my kids’ chances of getting into a “competitive” (read “good” or “well-ranked”) college if they didn’t join that race. (This turned out not to be true. You can get into a good college without a high class ranking.) One alternative is to attend a small liberal arts college instead of a large research university….

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Queen of Katwe – chess and success

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What can be learned from the roll chess can play in teaching success in Disney's movie the Queen of Katwe? An inspirational movie for teen girls.The trailer during the Olympics for Disney’s Queen of Katwe caught the attention of my teen girls!…

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College Rankings, the truth about what they really mean – how to choose a college part 3/5

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The truth about college rankings -  Looking at college rankings? College rankings aren't based on what you might think. They're based more on incoming freshmen than outgoing graduates.It might seem like the easiest way to figure out which colleges and universities are good, or the best, is to just look at the college rankings.

The short answer is that is not a good idea.

In fact, it’s a TERRIBLE idea.

If you want to know why, read on….

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How to watch movies to improve your College Board SAT score – SAT movies

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Forget boring vocabulary lists and flashcards! SAT study hack - 3 tips for watching movies to raise your College Board SAT score. (You might even enjoy it!)You’ve probably heard that the best thing you can do to improve your score on the College Board SAT is to read, read, read.

You know how as a reward your English teacher would show you the movie Romeo and Juliet – fast forwarding through all the racy bits – after you read the book?

She had it backwards!

When it comes to great stories, it doesn’t matter if you know the ending, because you’re enjoying getting there so much. That’s why great novels – and great movies – can be enjoyed again and again. The enjoyment comes not just in the ending, but in the path that gets you there….

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Difference between college and university – how to choose a college part 2/5

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what is the difference between college and university degrees? Between liberal arts colleges and research universities? What does it mean for students?Because I was worried about the chances of getting into college if you don’t chase the top 10% (a misconception that turned out not to be true) and I liked the idea of getting your undergraduate degree at a school that emphasized teaching undergraduates over graduate research, I found the idea of a liberal arts college appealing. So, what is the difference between college and university degrees? What are the differences between liberal arts colleges and research universities?…

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Consider a Liberal Arts College – how to choose a college part 1/5

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How to choose a college - reasons to consider a liberal arts college over larger, highly ranked, research universities. And reasons not to.It’s that time of year again. College application deadlines are approaching and seniors are trying to figure out how to choose a college or university to apply to. Where do they want to go to college? And why should they choose one college or university over another. What are the different types of colleges and universities? There are lots of choices!

At freshman orientation for our second child, I greatly appreciated that the principal started trying to address how competitive our high school had become.

He pointed out that 90% of the class will not be in the top 10%.

Obvious math, I know. But he was pointing this out because the idea was becoming prevalent that if you weren’t in the top 10% of the class, you were doomed to attend a second rate college or university and wouldn’t be successful. Therefore, “everyone” was chasing the top 10% so they wouldn’t be left behind. But when you embrace that reasoning, 90% of the kids sitting in orientation would be “left behind” and doomed to be unsuccessful.

A depressing idea.

90% of our children are living with constantly being told that they are failures.

No wonder everyone is scared and chasing the top 10%!

As an alternative to having the goal of attending only elite universities, he suggested considering the colleges proposed in Colleges that Change Lives, by Loren Pope.…

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