Which countries have the best education system and why?

It depends on how you count. By standardized test scores, the two best countries are South Korea and Finland. What's interesting, according to those who've studied it is that they take kind of opposite approaches. South Korea's primary education is highly structured, emphasizing memorization, long hours and lots of homework. Finland, on the other hand, apparently has a much less structured system, which emphasizes critical thinking, curiosity and real world applications. I think the constant in countries with the best education is that they attract the best and most skilled teachers, usually pay them well, and give them a great deal of support.

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Geoffrey Widdison on Quora:

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