Where to Invade Next

The documentary Where to Invade Next with, Michael Moore addresses some interesting policies throughout European country. Michael Moore sets out to Europe to learn more about different countries and the way they deal with their own societies. These countries has certain laws and expectations put it place, that are successful, yet seem so foreign to the American society. The United States is viewed as the greatest country in the world, however we have many problems in our society that Europe has seen to solve.

One policy that was discussed was regarding Finland's school system, which is ranked at the top of education systems in the world. In years past, Finland's school system was broken and needed change, one of the changes they made was getting rid of homework. Educators believe that students need to spend time outside of school being children, spending time with friends, and or simply being outside school.

I chose to look deeper into this policy in the U.S because I am an education minor and this is a topic that has been discussed in my previous classes. Doing research, I have found that many school systems in the U.S have chose to get rid of homework because studies have shown that homework is not beneficial. Michael Moore interviewed high school aged kids, where they explained that the most homework they will ever get will likely take them 10 to 20 minutes, at most. One of the students interviewed spent a year in an American school system, where he addressed the major differences. One point he made was to get rid of multiple choice questions, the student thought it was absurd that this is a form of testing we have and they explained, "Either you know it or you don't". Testing in Finland is more straight forward, a question is asked and the student has to answer it to the best of their ability.

There are many policies that were confronted in the European countries, that America could use to change our country. However, I think many Americans are stubborn and do things for themselves rather than looking at the big picture.