Janek Mäggi: What Should the Government Base Its Education Policy On?

Estonian education is of high quality because it delivers the desired outcome for society – an educated population. Estonians can read and write, think and draw conclusions, and make decisions. There are also those who are uninterested in acquiring knowledge and skills, but the government cannot entice indifferent people to learn – there is no point in expecting what will never happen.

Whether compulsory schooling lasts until the age of 16 or 18 makes no difference in whether young people who are uninterested in education will change their minds and start studying. Some will return to education later, but some will never engage with learning. Becoming wise is easier than staying wise.

Academic education is overrated when it comes to succeeding in life. We have had several ministers without higher education who have done their jobs well. People acquire much of the necessary knowledge and skills throughout their lives anyway. It is not worth trying to push every troublemaker into a school bench with the same enthusiasm. Nevertheless, education is the precondition for a smart and successful society – exceptions prove the rule.

Coalition negotiations following government changes give the impression that political parties have heaps of fresh and exciting ideas on how to make the population significantly smarter than it currently is – but this impression is false. There are no new ideas, nor will there be. If there is an occasional bright idea, it reaches schools and then politicians through schools, not the other way around.

A Politician Who Promises to Raise Teachers' Salaries Will Not Do It
Fine-tuning discussions, such as whether higher education should be paid for or whether instruction in Estonia should be exclusively in Estonian or also in other languages, are suitable for talk-show brainstorming but have no power to make society smarter or more successful. Whoever wants to learn will learn, regardless of whether it costs money or not. Speech without clarity of thought remains unclear even in one's native language, and in a foreign language, it becomes incomprehensible babble.

Calls from opposition politicians like "Teachers' salaries must be raised immediately!" do not help progress either because there are many teachers, and money must also be allocated elsewhere. On average, Estonian teachers do not live poorly – they live as the general Estonian society does: moderately well, with reason to complain but also the need to accept things as they are. Change happens gradually, not with a snap of the fingers.

The true transformative power lies in students' passion for learning, which depends more on societal moods than we might think. When learning is seen as directly beneficial, it is pursued eagerly; when it seems pointless, people find more exciting things to do. Sometimes learning is seen as cool, but sometimes it is not. Currently, the attitude is moderate – schools are good, but the war in Ukraine dampens future optimism.

When guiding education policy, stability and trust in teachers are essential. The school's aim is not to change a person's worldview (which might seem to be the goal given the arduous transition to Estonian-language education) but to teach children how to learn, analyze, and draw correct conclusions. Any reforms or innovations should be implemented gradually every day. Most teachers already do this – when new successful practices emerge, they are adopted quickly.

Where Have All the Children Gone?
Despite all the good, we face at least one serious crisis in the coming years – we will not have enough children to teach tomorrow or the day after.

For several years, fewer than 10,000 children have been born annually – a record low. First-grade classes are shrinking, and some schools are seeing empty classrooms. We no longer need as many teachers. Once teachers leave for other jobs, they might not return when more children are born. School buildings, designed for larger numbers of children, become inefficient, and operating costs cannot be entirely cut. Money burns, and the system withers as it shrinks.

One reason for the lack of children is the previous major economic crisis (2008), which drove many Estonians abroad – mainly to Finland. Their children have become nominal Estonians.

A few weeks ago, visiting Helsinki, I spoke to a waitress named Sofia, who knew a few words of Estonian. She had left Estonia at the age of three, has few relatives here, and rarely visits. She now speaks Finnish with her parents, one of whom is of Russian descent and the other Estonian. Thousands like her live in Finland.

We now hope to turn Estonia's Russian-speaking minority into similar nominal Estonians – fluent in Estonian, schooled in Estonian, and perhaps disconnected from their original roots. Sofia admitted that her connection to Estonia is weak or broken. She was a bright and cheerful young person, and our conversation made me both happy and sad – I had met a wonderful individual, but Estonia had, in a sense, lost her. This loss is not just a loss for the state of Estonia but also for the Estonian education system – there are many like her. Her children will not speak Estonian or attend Estonian schools. Once, she was an Estonian; now she is a former Estonian. Soon, there will be many former Russians in Estonia too.

Entering Should Be Easier Than Staying
In higher education, there is essentially one debate: Should education be paid for? (Translation: There is no money.) Yet the public perceives that universities are booming, professors are doing well, and rector positions are highly coveted. Occasionally, there are discussions about state orders: who we should educate, how many, and whether doctors should be bound to stay in Estonia after graduation – instead of seeking better opportunities abroad, such as in Finland.

Since I personally paid for my university studies (1995–1999 at the then Law Institute, now the University of Tartu School of Law), with the help of a student loan while working full-time, I envy today's students who can study without needing to earn money at the same time. On the other hand, since I was not talented enough to get into journalism at the University of Tartu, I got into a tuition-based school more easily and still received a good education – in a field I liked. Maybe we should allow everyone the chance to study at a university, even if for a fee? Many from my course dropped out – they got in but could not keep up with studies. Meanwhile, others tried multiple times to get into the Theatre Academy, eventually succeeded, and made history.

Overall, things in Estonia are fine. If the government doesn't try to do all the homework for teachers and students (even if it wants to, it couldn’t!), it must trust the people – they will find a way.