Education in Finland is based on 'Less is more'. It may or may not work in other societies. Have a look at this link.
I find this part very interesting, although the recent PISA (2015) shows that Asian countries are at the top. I was also brought up doing homework for most hours of the day. "According to the OECD, Finnish students have the least amount of homework in the world. They average under half an hour of homework a night. Finnish students typically do not have outside tutors or lessons either. This is especially shocking when you realize Finnish students are outscoring the high performing Asian nations whose students receive hours of additional/outside instruction."