My student experience in Finland and Tampere can be expressed through a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore titled Where the Mind Is Without Fear. The poet is the winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for English translations of his collection of poems Gītāñjali (Song Offerings) (Wikipedia.org).
The poem aspires for an ideal country. It was written during the independence movement in India. The poem sums up my experiences of my student life so far. I will be explaining the poem with my experiences as follows:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free–
Freedom of speech and expression is an important human right. However, many countries keep it on paper. I come from a country where it exists only in paper. My experiences in Finland has been that the above right exists both in paper and in life. A person can express themselves anywhere, in class, in friend circles and media. Your ideas, opinions will not be shunned rather your opinions will be heard. You can research any topic you want. Knowledge is accessible to all. Education is free for Finnish and European Union nationals. Nevertheless, scholarships exist for other international students. The doctoral and post-doctoral studies are free.
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls–
As mentioned earlier, education is free in Finland. This extends to public school education. Private schools do exist in Finland, although they are very rare. Most children receive a public-school education. Children from various backgrounds attend the same school, eat together and study together. I saw it first-hand while visiting schools as a part of a course during my exchange studies in Tampere. In the long term, it results in a sense of equality which extends to every walk of life. People also get universal healthcare. This further solidifies the sense of equality acquired in school.
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit–
Social media, my topic of research, has ushered the so called post-truth era. In many countries of the world, trust in media is at an all-time low. Although, Finland seems to be an exception. The percentage of people believing in disinformation through Facebook is low when compared to other countries (Ketonen et al., 2018). People here believe traditional media, especially public broadcasters, more than social media. Moreover, the toolset to identify disinformation is taught in Finnish schools. This shows that people believe in reason rather than sensationalisation.
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
As previously written in the beginning, education is free. Education is considered as an investment. This investment has resulted in research on various topics. The field of research topics is very diversified as it ranges from neighbourhood topics, society to science and technology. My topic of social media infrastructure and bias of fact-checking in India is one of them. Finland as a country is geographically located far from India. Nonetheless, Tampere University has allowed me to research the topic. In encouraging such diversified subjects to be researched, the country is motivating mind into the ever-widening thought and action the poet talks about.
In conclusion, I can say this Finland according to me is the ideal country which Tagore dreamed about. A country where people are aware, know their rights, hold their government accountable, invest in education, equality prevails, and every citizen has a share in the prosperity of the country. I leave you with the full poem to enjoy.
Where The Mind Is Without Fear
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
-Rabindranath Tagore
References
Ketonen, V., Garimella, K., & Gionis, A. (2018). Disinformation on Facebook-A case study from Finland *. https://huhumylly.info/
Where the Mind is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore- https://allpoetry.com/Where-The-Mind-Is-Without-Fear
Rabindranath Tagore- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore
– Anu
