To the Editor:
Patrick F. Bassett’s Commentary “What the Finns Know Shouldn’t Surprise Us (But Does)” (Feb. 20, 2008) was a wonderful piece about education in Finland. I would like to point out a few additional facts.
1. Finland is pretty much homogeneous, with 92 percent of the population speaking Finnish. Only about 5 percent of its people speak Swedish (the second official language) natively.
2. Not all Finnish students concentrate solely on going to a university; there also are numerous trade schools providing vocational education at the upper-secondary level.
Michael Carlsson
Philadelphia, Pa.
