[nhaehnle]

The reason Finnish pupils are not enjoying school is because they lack motivation

In fairness though, I'm sure the same applies to pupils in other European countries, yet the point you were replying to said that Finnish pupils are enjoying school less than pupils in other European countries. That is not explained away by your response.

That said, it's kind of obvious that a competitive environment, especially one that is stressfully though, is going to be problematic for intellectual achievement, and a focus on equity can help. There are plenty of studies that demonstrate that stress impairs lateral thinking etc.

[tuukkah]

Please don't confuse discipline with not enjoying school. The point I was replying to said:

the fact that Finland's schools are more disciplinarian than schools in the rest of Western Europe

This is not a fact. Instead, the opposite is the fact: I looked up an OECD study and Japan and Finland are on the opposite ends of the scale with Japan having the most school discipline.