Culture, Naj. Lii

A good foundation makes the difference.

How can life be so different in each region of the world? Why do some countries have high quality education, are safe and clean; while in others mere survival becomes a challenge?

The Oxford dictionary states that culture is the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group; the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.[1]

Therefore, I underline education as the foundation of Finnish culture; then outline some points that make up the culture and finally, point out the result of this: an excellent standard of living that inspires my innermost interest for Finnish culture.

Education is the most important thing to build a nation and because the government of Finland knows this, their constitution reflects it. Chapter 2 Basic rights and liberties Section 16: Educational rights, 1) Everyone has the right to basic education free of charge[2], the schools of Finland are not entities separated from the rest of the community, they are rather quite democratic, they belong to the community and the community is part of them, they are like extensions of households.[3]

Hereby, there exist a few values that remain unchanged in an ever-changing world. These are the values that best prepare us to face a changing world and are: The value of being human, self-esteem, communalistic spirit, a realistic view of the world, the wealth in cultures and nature, the acquisition of knowledge throughout life, individuality, education and understanding.[4]

Chapter2 Section 6: Equality: No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person.[5] They take this literally because they believe that “equity raises quality”.[6]

This information gives an account of how focused they are on their education sector and its commitment with the government as well as with the general population, therefore it is in school where the values of equality, quality, hygiene, order, professionalism, punctuality, attention and respect begin. Out of these major characteristics, Finnish culture is built.

Government in here is a very important piece to get all this along, since politicians are interested in their country and do their best to keep everything in order; they absolutely do the job striving for perfection. I dare to say they don’t even know the word corruption.

Every year so many countries are qualified by the Corruption index, this time I will share the 2010 result. The list contains the most corrupt countries in the world, depicts worldwide corruption levels as ranked by Transparency International, where high scores denote clean countries; low scores denote corrupt countries. And the land of a thousand lakes got 9.2.[7]

When I saw for the first time a documental about Finland, one of the first impressions that left me a good taste was the everywhere neatness as mentioned in Hombrelobo.com. [8]

Planeta finito, describes a country that tops the world ranking of mobile phones and Internet connections, the second safest in the world and third in educational quality. Finland has succeeded in making use of their disadvantages as their best allies: facing their isolation, they have the development of a global telephony, facing their dispersed geography, an inspiration for artistic design, and facing harsh weather, appropriate and sustainable architecture.[9]

After knowing all the key points to have a good country, I have come to the conclusion that Finland comes to set a standard for what most countries persevere in becoming with its high quality of life and education for each of its citizens. In Finland all of this is a reality, “because they always look on the common good, they are very honest (and therefore very confident) and everybody does in general what they have to do.” [10]

Simple and easy, like culture.

[1]Oxford dictionaries. 2011. 26 march 2011.<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_us1237613#m_en_us1237613>

[2] Servat unibe.2000. 26 march 2011. <http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/fi00000_.html>

[3] Andere, Eduardo. ¿Cómo es la mejor educación en el mundo?. México: Editorial Santillana 2008

[4] Ibidem

[5] Op. Cit.

[6] Ibid, p46

[7] Global development. 2010. 26 march 2011. < http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/interactive/2010/oct/26/corruption-index-2010-countries-world>

[8] Viajes con Hombrelobo.2007. 26 march 2011. <http://hombrelobo.com/category/finlandia/page/8/>

[9] “Helsinki y Talín.” Planeta finito. Pres.Rosario Pardo, Narr. José Padilla. La sexta. 2006

[10] El sentido de la vida. 2010. 26 march 2011.< http://www.elsentidodelavida.com/2010/11/asi-lucha-finlandia-contra-la.html>

Agradezco a Brian Durán la corrección de estilo