In this edition of the EdCast, Pillemer, professor of human development at Cornell University, discusses his book, where you can find the wisest Americans, and what just makes them so wise.

About the Harvard EdCast

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly series of podcasts, available on the Harvard University iTunes U page, that features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber, the Harvard EdCast is a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.

Watch this space a video of the event to post in the coming days.

Professor Fernando Reimers, who moderated the forum, opened with the question of whether the popular saying “Education is a Civil Right” is actually true. This gave way to a discussion about the factors that limit educational opportunities of African American, Latino, and immigrant students, as well as the great need to find ways to address barriers to access.

“We should make it a civil right,” said Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. “How can we call ourselves an advanced nation without health and education rights?”

With a rising immigrant population, a well-documented achievement gap between white students and students of color, and broadening gaps in wealth of Americans, Deb Delisle, the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education for the U.S. Department of Education, said that the odds that are against these children were are really related to a gap in “educational opportunity.” From birth, many of students of color are faced with the reality that they have fewer opportunities to excel and also with people believing they can’t achieve, she said.

“We talk a good game about education for all, but all doesn’t mean all,” Delisle added.

That educational opportunity gap follows many immigrants and students of color who graduate high school as they head into college. Miami Dade College President Eduardo J. Padrón and Morgan State University President David Wilson expressed concerns about college access and escalating costs in higher education keeping students of color and immigrants from furthering their educations.

“I have to send home 600 to 1,500 students every semester because they don’t have the $2,000 to finish,” Wilson said.

Richard Freeland, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education commissioner of higher education, painted an equally grim picture, even in states like Massachusetts which have become models.

“The victory is that we are not losing but we are certainly not gaining,” he said, expressing frustration that education continues to be “shelved” as an important issue, often in the face of other issues deemed more urgent.

In the next decade, America will see drastic shifts in its immigrant and minority population. Reimers, expressing concerns for these minority groups, pointed out how in 15 years, one-third of the American population will be Latino.

“Education opportunity will make or break America. It’s as simple as that,” Padrón said, noting that part of the problem is how we think too much in 20th-century terms rather than 21st-century terms.

Kanter called for advanced leaders to become more innovative. “It is not enough to think outside of the box, we have to think outside of the building,” she said, adding that it isn’t solely the responsibility of educators to deal with the problem but rather a “cross sector, multi-stakeholder coalition.”

Freeland contended that it isn’t simply a matter of doing what we know works or developing new innovations but really creating a world where everyone wants to invest in education. He cited a lack of willingness among the public and politicians to raise taxes to support educational improvements.

“If we only keep talking about moral imperative or political will … I get depressed because what do our advanced leaders do?” Kanter said.

But Delisle remained hopeful, sharing how often she visits schools across the country and sees amazing things. However, she noted, the media rarely reports about the good things happening in education. “There are not as many bridge builders as arrow slingers,” she said.

A video of the event will post in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, May 1, Gardner will be among the panelists discussing the impact of Paulo Freire’s work and its relevance to education today at an Askwith Forum.

In this edition of the EdCast, Gardner reflects on his academic “greatest hits” and shares insight on where he does his best thinking.

About the Harvard EdCast

The Harvard EdCast is a weekly series of podcasts, available on the Harvard University iTunes U page, that features a 15-20 minute conversation with thought leaders in the field of education from across the country and around the world. Hosted by Matt Weber, the Harvard EdCast is a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.

“It [the education system] is run like a marketplace rather than a professional place,” Sahlberg, the author of Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? told an audience of educators.

While showing a slide of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) performance rankings since 2000, Sahlberg pointed out how most countries, including the United States, have continued to decline in performance following an education reform while Finland continues to improve.

To date, Finland remains one of the top performers around the world in education. Since PISA ranked Finland number one in 2010, educators, policymakers, and politicians have admired the country’s successful education system and pondered how to emulate such transformations at home. But as Professor Bob Schwartz pointed out during his introduction of Sahlberg, the real challenge is determining what parts of Finland’s education system are products of culture and what parts are actual policy decisions that can be applied in the United States.

Sahlberg said he didn’t come to Harvard to convince everyone that his country had the “best education in the world.” “We should not think like this,” he said, noting that the media is ultimately responsible for such a declaration. “I can’t say that one education system is better than another one.” He called the American education system a big inspiration for Finland. Ultimately, he believes that we can learn from each other.

Finland’s education system has been transforming over the past 40 years. Along the way, there have been key policy changes to improve equity including an emphasis on early childhood development and child health, a focus on early interventions for special education and strict teacher professionalism. As a result of these changes, the country has risen from the lowest performing school systems in the world to one of the highest.

Sahlberg shared five aspects of the Finnish system that he says sets it apart. At the forefront, the Finnish system was built without trying to be number one. He emphasized that competition was never part of the system. Instead the focus has aimed at creating good schools for all children.

Beyond the lack of emphasis on competition, Finland also has a culture that truly values education. When the Finnish are asked about major accomplishments in its past 100 years, 75 percent acknowledge the free, public education system, and rank it as one of the country’s top five accomplishments. In addition, Finnish also lists public education as the second most trusted institutions in the country, next to police, earning 89 percent. This is in stark contrast to the United States, he said, where only 29 percent trust the public education system.

A fairly equal wealth distribution within Finland also impacts the education system. As a result, Finland continues to do well in many areas beyond education, like women’s empowerment, technological advances, child well-being, and prosperity.

“Maybe its education will do well if the country is doing well in other things,” Sahlberg said. “There’s no miracle.”

Perhaps the starkest contrast between Finland and the United States is how things are done. Sahlberg outlined differences between what he called the “Finnish Way” and the “Global Education Reform Movement,” which he referred to as “GERM.”

He reiterated how “GERM” focuses on competition instead of Finland’s emphasis on collaboration. The impact of competition has resulted in standardization and created immense expectations including that “everyone learn the same and in the same way.” Instead, Finland has stressed personalization of education – where every school sets its own standards based on a national framework. He said this approach created a system where a student’s only competitor is him or herself.

A direct result of standards in tests in countries like America is increased focus on accountability, particularly teachers. “Accountability is what’s left when responsibility is taken away,” he said.

In Finland, the teaching profession operates as a trust-based responsibility. In fact, teaching is a highly-selective and thus highly-regarded profession where only 120 students are chosen out of 2000 applicants to enter the only teacher education program in the country.

Last, Sahlberg debunked the idea that choice in America’s system was a means for equity. In Finland, there is little choice and it is largely controlled. “If you are going to run education like a marketplace then you are not going to have equity,” he said.

A Brandeis University student asked Sahlberg whether a capitalist society like America, could truly apply Finland’s changes, especially in terms of equity.

Sahlberg said that it wasn’t necessarily about moving the Finnish education system like a box and bringing it to America, but perhaps taking pieces of it and applying it.

“People are trying to do the wrong things a little bit right and that’s the wrong thing to do,” he said. “You have everything it takes to get things right.”

A video of this event will be posted in this space in the coming weeks.

At the Askwith Forum, “Politics and Preschool: President Obama’s Plan for Early Education,” on Wednesday, April 10, moderator Professor Hirokazu Yoshikawa and panelists Ajay Chaudry, deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Jacqueline Jones, former deputy assistant secretary of Policy and Early Learning  at the U.S. Department of Education; Assistant Professor Stephanie Jones; and Professor Jack Shonkoff shared their expectations, hopes, and fears surrounding the future of this policy.

“Not a lot has changed until this moment,” said Stephanie Jones.

The forum came the same day Obama released his national budget which proposes spending billions on the early childcare initiative, including $75 billion over the next 10 years for a major expansion of preschool programs for low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds .

“There’s a lot of detail that needs to be figured out,” said Jacqueline Jones, noting that the budget was “aspirational.”

Even with the president’s focus, and potential funds directed toward universal preschool, the panelists stressed the need to create high-quality programs. Noting that one of the existing challenges is defining and creating those high-quality programs, Stephanie Jones expressed fear that the creation of “mediocre” programs nationwide could potentially do more harm than good. Yoshikawa and Shonkoff agreed.

“We need to change the way we talk about quality,” Shonkoff said. He suggested a business approach where we constantly strive to do better, as well as build capacity and skills for teachers.

Beyond these issues of quality are concerns about aligning the curriculum with kindergarten and beyond, how to scale a program, conduct evaluation of programs, and prepare teachers adequately.

Panelists stressed that ultimately it was the early childhood educators and parents in the audience that would determine the future of this initiative.

“This is a litmus test for the early childhood field,” Jacqueline Jones said. She encouraged audience members to set the bar extremely high and not rest until ever y dollar was spent to meet best practices. At the same time, she said it would take a long time to get there and not to expect changes overnight.

With the addition of universal preschool initiatives around the country, Yoshikawa said that ongoing education issues would continue to exist. “Not all programs are effective,” he said. “This is not a magic bullet that will solve all our problems.”