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Finnish Miracle! (Part 4)

In search of the Finnish school miracle – Part 4 • What ends up on the plate?

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In search of the Finnish school miracle – Part 4 • What ends up on the plate? • #gyereacomeniusba

It’s lunchtime—off to the cafeteria! A line of warming trays, all filled with fragrant food. From preschoolers to ninth graders, everyone SERVES THEMSELVES—choosing the food THEY LIKE. Eight children can fit at the serving counter at once, so the line moves quickly. The bread is a crisp rye bread, similar to abonet, and the kids top it with dots of butter from a dispenser.

So what ends up on the plate?

Pasta salad, steamed and raw crunchy vegetables, fish and meat. The soup looks just like our goulash soup—just a less spicy version. EACH CHILD PUTS TOGETHER THEIR LUNCH ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN TASTE. And if they love something, they simply go back FOR SECONDS. Dessert, ice cream, fruit—whatever their eyes and stomach desire! There’s a water dispenser, plus milk and two kinds of fruit juice.

The teacher watches over things, but doesn’t interfere unnecessarily. And above all, they don’t yell or dish out unsolicited advice.

Up to 300 children can eat at once in the dining hall—calmly and respectfully. They chat softly, laugh together. There’s a sense of calm, a sense of peace. The children are happy, and eat heartily.

A Finnish specialty: teachers who eat with the students receive their meals at half price.

When someone’s finished, they clear their plate at the designated station (even if there’s hardly any leftover). Used cutlery, cups, and plates are placed on the right rack of the dishwasher, and then the tray slides onto a conveyor belt that carries it away. Done! No cafeteria worker has to touch anything.

Naturally, everyone wears socks here, too. And if a plate happens to tip over, staff restore order in the blink of an eye.

This is another child-centered, well-designed system that teaches kids both independence and the complete avoidance of food waste.

At Comenius, we don’t have a conveyor belt or warming trays yet, but our students can already choose every day between three hot meals, all prepared in our own kitchen in traditional style. Seconds are always available—and happily offered! And very soon, following the Finnish model and as thefirst in Hungary, we’ll be introducing a self-service system in our dining halls too. Its aim is to promote greater independence and eliminate food waste.

In the next and final part of our Finnish series, I’ll share some thoughts about where the Finnish society’s unified thinking about schools comes from—and how their unshakable belief in education has taken root.

I’ll be back soon. Keep reading—it’s worth it!

DON’T FIT IN THE BOX?
COME TO COMENIUS!

#hanemférszbeleadobozba; #gyereacomeniusba

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