Future high school

In an ideal future high school, we should encourage a wide variety of skills in linguistics, humanitarian subjects and sciences. The goal of the studying and teaching wouldn’t be so focused on getting good marks, instead we would evaluate the student as a whole. Everybody would get to pick optional courses to gain the knowledge they want to know and need for further studies in their field of choice. The learning environment should encourage learning and be multi-functional and the space should be open and well lit. Classrooms shouldn’t be the traditional 4 walls with 3 windows. In financing we should aim for a free high school for everyone, not leaving anyone out because of their financial background.

A future high school should, in our opinion, be equal to all and have more freedom of choice for the student.

Finland and international politics

We attended on a lecture about Finland and international politics. There were many interesting lecturers and a lot of fascinating topics. 

We learned about important points and facts why Finland is able to be independent and about Finland's position in the world. Things that can affect to Finland's independence are, for example, geographical location and neighbour countries, natural resources as well as the size and density of population. One of the most important things is the Finns' strong will to stay independent. The population is considered to be homogeneous and it wants to stay together and defend Finland side by side.

Finland has a history with the United States, of course. In 1919, USA recognized Finland's independence and they started making different kinds of agreements. Even though Finland and USA were on the opposite sides in the Continuation War, they were never at war with each other. During the years USA has supported Finland with economical things however only as long as USA did not step on Russia's toes. There are no major problems between Finland and United States because USA has never been that interested in Finland. Though, Finland has cooperated with Nato and Finland has some agreements related to defence things with USA.

It is important to learn about foreign affairs because the international political situation concerns about everyone on this globe. Also, we as young people are here in the future to decide and live with these things.

During the lecture we learned a lot about what happens and what has happened in the world of politics throughout the years. The most important way of learning was to listen carefully and use our own knowledge to understand things better. Taking notes was also big part of the learning process. 

Me & My city tutoring day

We were tutoring at a Me & My city day and here are our thoughts and things we learned during that day.

• I learned that you need to be really patient when working with kids because they have a hard time concentrating for a long time. Personally I learned by making mistakes, having to explain something multiple times taught me that you need to come up with creative ways to guide kids.

• I learned that you need to go through everything in detail, to make sure they understand. They’re really young in a new interesting environment so they don’t really want to focus on instructions so you need to be prepared to repeat yourself sometimes. I learned by observing what way of instructing works the best.

• I learned that young children want someone to trust on. They also need a lot of guiding and support since they are working in a new environment and with new people. During the day I learned many things about how to guide children while working because there was not that much background information.

• I learned that when working with kids especially as a tutor, they need to feel comfortable with what they're doing and that they can openly ask for help from anyone of they have anything to ask. Also your attitude will reflect on the children and how they think and work

• I realised that learning comes from within. The kids that didn’t want to be there didn’t learn anything. Everyone else learned a lot so nothing is impossible to learn, it’s all about the attitude.

About the EU commission

European commission is an institution of the European Union that is mainly responsible for submitting legislation and carrying out decisions. It is considered as the “guardian of the treaties”.

European commission’s role in the European Union is, for example

• managing EU’s budget
• taking care of the EU’s daily functioning
• proposing laws
• representing the European Union outside Europe

We had a guest on our lesson from the commission who works as a case handler in DG competition (directorate-general for competition). Department’s role is to supervise acquisition to prevent monopolies in Europe and to ensure that companies are competing equally. There are 33000 people working in the commission in different jobs, for example as lawyers, engineers and translators. Competition for work positions is hard since for a one job there might be hundreds or even thousands of applicants and the commission only employs a few dozens.

Working days in the European commission vary a lot. Day can include meetings, listening speeches, negotiations and working at the office or getting to know to different companies by, for example, visiting a mine.

Comparison of five different EU-countries

	Germany	Finland	Lithuania	Czech Republic	Netherlands
Official languages	German	Finnish and Swedish	Lithuanian	Czech	Dutch
Capital city	Berlin	Helsinki	Vilnius	Prague	Amsterdam
Currency	Euro	Euro	Euro	Czech Koruna	Euro
Population	82,7 million	5,5 million	2,9 million	10,56 million	17,02 million
Part of schengen area	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Joined EU in	1958	1999	2004	2004	1958
Unemployment rate	3,7 %	10,2%	15,3%	2,9%	4,7%
Number of MEPs	96	13	11	24	26
The share of MEPs	12,7%	1,7%	1,4%	3,1 %	3,4%

School in the 1920s in Finland

•   Schooling became mandatory for all children aged 7-15 in 1921, the year that the law on compulsory education was finally passed. The law was a heavy burden to poor towns. It wasn’t until the late 1930s when every town had a school or there was one at least in proximity to it and all children had access to a nearby school.
•    “Kansakoulu” was divided into two parts: first, the students had to complete two years of “alakansakoulu” and then four years of “yläkansakoulu”.
•   Starting from the 1920s, schools also had gardens.
•    Alongside with other subjects, the curriculum contained lessons on economics and frugality (taloudellisuus- ja säästäväisyyskasvatus).
• The MLL took responsibility for health care in schools in the 1920s.

Who we are

My name is Silvia. I like cats. I am very passionate about Netflix.

My name is Nea and I like coffee and cats. I’m interested in history and I like to study.

Hello, my name’s Robin and I’m from Finland. I love music and I’m passionate about writing. PS. Rappiolla on hyvä olla ei huolet paina ei rasitu polla antaudu sinäkin suosiolla tai anna meidän olla

I’m Anniina and I love tea and literature. I like rock music and am very interested in history and politics.

Hi, I’m Olivia and I’m a sports aholic.

Hey! My name is Riia and I live in Rusko which lies light next to Turku. My hobbies are ballet and scouts which I really enjoy. Food and netflix are my loves. Thanks, bye :^)