We took off to a summer cottage in the Danish countryside on Saturday morning. The cottage was actually a boy scout camping ground near a lake and was very adorable. First we did some getting-to-know-you activities, and I was struck now as I have been in the past by how much more worldly European 20-somethings are than Americans. They tend to take time off to travel after high school, so they have been around the world and often by themselves, developing not only cultural knowledge but a whole new degree of independence and courage that I don't think I could ever muster.
The group is extremely international: about half American and half Danish, with a few Swedes and Bosnians. Everyone has fascinating stories about their travel experiences or heritage. My most interesting and affecting conversation thus far, I think, was with Bosnians who remember the war and the genocide in 1994. I was stunned to hear them talk about the genocide in particular, because I consider myself interested in that subject based on my study of the Holocaust. But in my interactions with survivors who have lost family members, those survivors are always 75+ years old. To hear someone my own age discuss the same topic was something completely new and incredibly affecting.
It seems that the program is going to be about three meetings and discussion groups per day on various facets of human rights, focusing on Denmark but with the obvious potential for comparison to the U.S. and abroad. The U.S.-Denmark comparison is especially interesting, since Denmark is a welfare state--a fact that is discernible everywhere from the lack of gates into the metro to the ubiquitous friendliness that I am too bitter to possibly match. Two pieces of craziness/awesomeness: 1. Denmark provides free in vitro fertilization to infertile couples. 2. Denmark offers not only free university education, but a monthly living stipend on top of the waived tuition.
This all sounds pretty good, and in theory I am all for the welfare state. But my deep-rooted Americanness is as yet unshakeable, as demonstrated by the following exchange:
Me: So do you have honors classes and regular classes in high school?
Danes: No, those kinds of divisions don't exist.
And my internal reaction was: What do the smart kids DO!?
Softening that kind of response into a question of how the teachers can accommodate such different levels and speeds of learning within a single classroom, thereby boring the kids who are ahead and failing to adequately help those who are behind, I was told that Danish education is holistic and aims to teach about the world at large, which includes people of all different skill sets. Furthermore, everyone has something to contribute, even if it's not classroom intellect. But my immediate response was to separate or "reward" certain people more than others, which is not at all a social-welfare-state thing to think. We'll see how this develops.
It's late and I need to shower. (I am at my host family's house now; it is cute and they seem nice, but I only met them for a few hours tonight so far.) We'll be going to Parliament tomorrow.
Some observations:
1. The sun is out constantly in Denmark--it's not fully dark until around 11:30 at night! This extra daylight makes me feel oddly wholesome. (Debauchery can't happen in a city when it's light out, can it?)
2. Come to think of it...I have not seen a single Starbucks in Copenhagen. A quick Google search tells me there are none outside the airport. I don't know if I can remember ever being in a major city without a Starbucks before.
3. This symbol that looks like the JE lion is everywhere. I must find out what it is, but in the meantime it makes me Yale-sick.
4. My host family has a cat!! She is sitting on a chair in my room right now. I am thrilled.
ahh! a cat !!!! :) haha sorry i read that last and that left me the most excited. i am interested to learn what you will come to think of their welfare state. i agree that it sounds good in theory but is Denmark that international on a whole or is it pretty boring demographically? i get the sense that this kind of socialism only works in perfect little countries with low populations like Scandinavia. i think Denmark is like 90% Danish descent so their goals for a society are probably not as frayed politically as it is inevitable here. America was also founded on a protestant work ethic which kind of lends itself to capitalism in certain ways...
ReplyDeletealso question/comment- the free education stuff sounds great but i wonder how many Danish students end up applying to international and American schools. i'd be interested to see if their truly gifted students prefer to apply to top US schools instead. maybe not
Yes, Ella, I am also coming to the conclusion that the welfare state functions so well here because Denmark is small enough that its citizens consider all fellows Danes to be part of their community and therefore deserving of the social services their tax money pays for. But a big part of this program is examining what's happening to that sense and to the society when non-Christian, non-white immigrant populations enter Denmark and somewhat break that conception of a the small community. Not so simple even in Denmark.
ReplyDeleteAnd according to the Danes I've spoken to, leaving Denmark for college is a highly unusual phenomenon. Danish schools are ranked very highly in general, and I guess there isn't that sense of elitism that would drive them to apply to Ivy Leagues and the equivalent in the US/England.