After reading these articles comparing the American school systems to that of Finland I was shocked. The way they allow there kids to be creative and not have a standard test to take for everything they learn. In the US we are required to take a standardized test for almost everything we do and they never seem to end. I can remember having to take tests every since elementary school and they have just gotten harder, longer, and bigger stakes for doing well on them. They talked about how the US wants to base the amount a teacher gets paid by how well their students do on a standardized test and I think this is wrong! Yes I do believe it will make teachers teach better but if they are teachers they should want to do that no matter what. Also this will cause competition between teachers and I believe it will lead to more fights than actual teaching in the classroom. I really hope that the US will catch on to how well the Finland school system is working and realize that giving students standardized tests will not make them smarter in the long run.