Washington Post blogger Valerie Strauss wrote a rather amusing post titled “What Tom Friedman got wrong about schools and why it matters.” It is the “why it matters” part that cracked me up.
Anyway, Strauss lauds the Finnish public school system for their “investments” in teachers and schools. Here are the OECD per-pupil expenditures (2007, all services; equivalent USD converted using PPPs for GDP):
Finland – Primary: $6,234
Finland – Secondary: $7,829United States – Primary: $10,229
United States – Secondary: $11,301OECD average – Primary: $6,752
OECD average – Secondary: $8,346
As a percentage of GDP, Finland spends less (5.6 percent) than the United States (7.6 percent). According to the OECD, teacher salaries are slightly lower in Finland than in the US.
