Schooling in other countries (Finland)

Today in class we had three different students from the UK, Korea, and India talk about the education systems in their respective countries and how teachers are viewed in society. I came into class thinking that I was going to hear inspirational stories about how teachers are held at a higher standard in society and how much more they are respected, but it seemed to me that the are viewed very similarly in the UK, Korea, and India as they are here in the United States. Their salaries seem to be similar and there is a stigma as to why people go into teaching whether it be as a "back-up" occupation or a way to raise a family and have a career at the same time. One of the only differences that I saw was in the private schools in the UK. They seem to employ very successful teachers who are respected, paid better, and have more freedom within their curriculum to teach students what they want. But, these schools have more funds because they are privately funded and the students who attend these schools come from wealthy families. I also gathered that testing process to become a teacher in these countries, especially Korea, is much harder. Many students have to take an examination three or four times before becoming a licensed teacher. I wish we could have heard from a student whose country view teaching in a different way than our own to see the contrast between them.

http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3749880
This link is to an article about Finland and their education system. It explains why their schools are so successful. Part of this comes from the fact that Finland schools avoid testing their students. They also have more educational funding and their is no poverty.  An administrator explains,
"First of all, “there is a near absence of poverty,” says Julie Walker, a board member of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Walker visited Finland, along with Sweden and Denmark, with a delegation from the Consortium of School Networking (CoSN) in late 2007. “They have socialized medicine and much more educational funding,” she adds. For residents, school lunches are free, preschool is free, college is free. “Children come to school ready to learn. They come to school healthy. That’s not a problem the United States has solved yet.”
Students who come from low income families that are constantly hungry, attend school wondering when and where their next meal is going to come from. Students in Finland school are expected to know how to speak Finnish, Swedish and English. There is also a great respect and trust for teacher. The article explains that only 1/8 applicants are accepted into teacher education programs and they are all expected to earn a master's degree. Teachers in Finland are held at such a higher standard, therefore students are taught by the best individuals qualified to become teachers.
The article also makes the point that schools in Finland do not have the technology and resources available to them unlike many of the schools in the U.S. So my question is, if we have the technology and resources to make our education system better, why aren't we using it to our advantage.