I’m Luminia Huotari, an foreign exchange student from Finland. I am a senior at our school this year. Finland and the United States are vastly different, and so are high schools. In Finland, a high school is mainly just for studying, but here, a high school is much more. 

School food

School food is free in every school in Finland, just like here. Normally school food is only lunch, but in some schools in Finland it also provides breakfast. The school food has been free since 1948 for children under 18 years old. My first thought about school meals when I came here was that in Finland, school food is made before healthiness, here it’s more about what students want to eat. I’m not saying that nutritional values are not important and not followed here, I’m saying that they are different. In Finland, for example, there are no burgers or pizza in schools because it is thought to be unhealthy.

Sports

Sports are a big part of the high schools here. School offers a wide range of sporting opportunities. School teams compete against each other, and taking part in games is a big part of school life for everyone. In Finland, school and sport are separate. Sports activities are provided by companies and organizations. The difference is also that the sports and hobbies are only in the evening. So after school you go home first, to eat and do your homework, and then go to your hobbies.

School spirit

Here, school spirit is a big thing: wearing school colors, events, theme days, taking part in sporting events and schools having their own songs. In Finland, we cannot even talk about school spirit. School is really different, because school is just meant for studying. In Finland we also have theme days or special activities in schools around Halloween and Christmas, for example, but on a much smaller scale than here. And I think it’s sad that if you organise something different in a high school, like a theme day, few people want to take part.

Hall passes

If you need to go here, for example, to the restroom, library, or health office you need to first ask the teacher if it’s okay and after that turn the hall pass on in the Minga app. In Finland you need only ask the teacher if it’s okay, almost every time it is.

Schedule

Here you have almost the same timetable throughout the year. In Finland, the school year is divided into five periods. So you have five different schedules during the year. Each period lasts about six weeks, followed by a test week. During the test week, you will have a test in a different subject every day.

Subjects

In this country, high schools offer a wide range of subjects. In Finland, there are fewer subjects in high school. In Finland, apart from academic subjects, there is only music, visual arts and physical education. Some schools also offer subjects such as theater, dance, coding and skiing. Personally, I think there are a lot of interesting subjects here and I’m sure everyone will find something they like to study. I have also found that school here is easier than in Finland. I have noticed, for example, that the pace of studying is faster and I have to memorize more things for exams in Finland, for example, if I have an exam in Finland, I have to memorize about two hundred pages of things for the exam. There will also be more homework in Finland.

Teacher’s names

Here, teachers are referred to only by their surname, preceded by the abbreviation “Mr.” or “Ms.” In Finland, teachers are referred to by their first name and there is no prefix before their name. In the first few days, it felt strange to use teachers’ last names, because I am used to referring to teachers by their first names only.

How big is the school?

School sizes certainly vary enormously in both Finland and the United States. But even so, I know that in Finland, high schools are much smaller. Finland’s biggest high school has 1,400 students and 100 teachers. My high school has only about 230 students.

How long is high school?

High school here lasts four years, grades 9-12. In Finland, high school education lasts three years, grades 10-12. However, you have the option of doing it for four years, for example if you go on an exchange or have challenges with school.

One building vs many

In Finland school is one building and every class is there. High schools usually have several floors. Here are many buildings in the school, and you have to go outside to change classes. The biggest reason for this is the weather. 

The Pledge of Allegiance 

In the U.S., there are lots of flags in the high school and almost every morning you get up to say The Pledge of Allegiance. In Finland there are no Finnish flags or patriotic recited verses in schools. There is a flagpole in schoolyards where the Finnish flag is raised on official flag days throughout the country, such as Independence Day or Labour Day.

by LUMINIA HUOTARI