An educational miracle has been slowly built up in Finland, which is hardly talked about. Through civic colleges, everyone gets their own teacher, and that’s wonderful, Halme thinks.
They say that when you want to fall asleep, you have to think about something calming. I’m not counting sheep, I’m bouncing a yellow ball in my head.
I never thought about tennis before, but now it’s on my mind constantly. At the bus stop, I try to position myself in such a way that I can do small, inconspicuous passing exercises while waiting. On a bus seat, you can have a date palm slap. In the office elevator, I’m already getting on the net and hitting fly shots towards the mirror.
From my tennis background, I am a typical summer vacationer. On the field near the cottage, a match now and then. Self-directed, mostly learning by mistake. Really funny moments. But it wasn’t until entering the elementary group that I learned the joy of being taught. The development has been amazingly fast by the standards I set for myself.
No one should create a perception of himself based on inexperience and lack of training. No fundamentally healthy person is inherently bad at crocheting, calculating, driving a car or drilling cereal plates.
I especially admire those who expose themselves to the learning of the old. They calmly go to learn something they already know. I have especially heard a lot of praise about the swimming school for adults who can swim. Even if you only swim occasionally and to maintain your general condition, going will become significantly more meaningful after just a few hours of swimming.
The same echoes can also be heard from cross-country skiing and running. It feels good in different ways when you have imagined that you know something, but you realize that you are just a beginner. The adventure is just beginning!
It’s strangely liberating when someone tells you what to do. When you live such a secure life of a middle-class, average and middle-income person, it’s nice when someone shouts. Like a return to elementary school carefree.
I have no intention of competing in a sport that I now know the basics of. The most fun is being coached. That’s when the mind clears.
It feels like a major cleaning is taking place in a head full of dust and news porridge when you find yourself in a situation where you can’t swipe a new topic in front of your eyes. It’s downright luxury to be able to focus on something without distraction for even an hour a week. Keep your tongue perfectly in the middle of your mouth for a moment.
However, there is another great educational invention in our country, which is a bit hidden and of which we should be more loudly proud. It is a network of civic and working-class colleges found in every corner of Finland. An insanely great system.
Civic colleges maintain a big and wise dream of public education. It is indeed a bold word. And there’s nothing dusty or dirty nationalistic about it either.
I like to be part of civilized, curious and eager to learn people. Especially when I finally have that knuckleball.
*Jani Halme*
*The author is a creative director and freelance journalist from Parikkala-Käpylä.*
*The column can be discussed on 9.5. until 23:00.*