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One useful way to assess educational trends over time is to look at individual school portraits. This is especially helpful in Finland as most children did not wear school uniforms. This not only illustrates chrnological trends, but also insights on demographic trends and differences at different levels of education. This helps to hone in on a range of school trends and compare different kinds of schools. We are attempting to acquire images to expand this section, but so far have found few Finnish shool photographs.
This class portrait was taken in 1921. It is a 4th grade class in the municipality of Lappeenranta, in the region of South Karelia. This was only a few years after Finland achieved its independence from Russia as a result of the Russian Revolution. I am not sure about schools in Finland before the Revolution. The Russians required instruction using the Russian language in many areas of the Empire. I am not sure about Finland. After independence of course all instruction was in Finnish. South Karelia where this school was located was seized by the Soviets in the Winter war (1939-40). The Finns evacuated almost the entire population before the Soviets gained control.
This Finnish school photo was taken during the 1920s in the village of Karkku, Pirkanmaa region, Finland. These look like the younger childten at the school. The children seem very nicely dressed. We suspect that they had advance notice about the school photo being taken and mother dressed them up for the occasion. Many of the boys wear suit javkets. We see both collar-buttoning and lapel jackets. We don't see sailor suits. Most of the boys wear knee pants. The girls wear dresses, many with pinafores. About half of the children are barefoot.
This photo was taken during 1932 in the primary school of Himalanpohja, a place in the Finnish municipality of Ristiina, in the province of Eastern Finland. We suspect this was representative of rural schools in Finland, although we do not know if the area was an average rural area. The children are very plainly dressed, although note that the clothes are not ragged. The boys weae long sleeve shirts and long short pants. The girls wear dresses with short sleeves. Some of the girls wear pinafores. All of the children are barefoot. While plainly dressed, they seem much beter off than the children we note in the rural Soviet Union.
This photo shows the pupils at Kinahmo primary school in 1953. Kinahmo is a Finnish village about 15 km east of Polvijärvi, in the province of Eastern Finland, North Karelia region (figure 1). Most of Karelia was seized by the Soviets in the Winter War (1939-40). The school looks to be a small rural primary. Notice that many of the children are barefoot. This was presumably fairly common in rural areas. What we are not sure about is if this is a reflectioin of poverty or the children were more comfortable going barefoot.
This photo shows the pupils and teachers of the Finnish school of Bangkok (Thailand) on December 12, 2006. There seems to be a lot of teachers for such a small group of parents. The school started in January 1971 in the town of Phitsanulokin (central Thailand). Ten years later it moved to the capital, Bangkok. Since 1989 it have the status of official foreign school by the Finnish Government. The children are taught in Finnish. Presumably the Thai-looking boy is the child of a mixed Finnish-Thai family. Notice the children are barefoot. We suspect that Thai children from affluent families would not go to school barefoot, but the small size of the school may be a factor.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main Chronology Page]
[The 1880s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
