Over the past few days I’ve gotten the chance to attend some classes here at Støvring Gymnasium and have definitely come to realize the major differences in the education systems of Canada and Denmark. It definitely does take very much explaination and comparison, something I will dedicate an entire blog post to once I am back in Canada (and cramming for upcoming exams).
In the course of our school visit, we have been completing a group project between Canadians and Danes that will see us comparing the differences in crime, education, healthcare, poverty, and the labour market. Our particular group received healthcare, and we have found that the systems are similar in many ways but also quite different. Both countries provide universal healthcare to its citizens, but what it covers is very different. Under the Canada Health Act, provinces have the right to choose what “essential” health services they will provide at their expense, which causes discrepancy between regions of Canada. In Denmark, it is all the same and much more is covered by the government here. Things like long-term care is all finaced by the government, which is definitely a stress-reducer, considering how problematic this may be for Canadians. Once again, this is a very broad topic that I would like to elaborate on later.
Canadian students followed their hosts to their classes on Tuesday, and in my case it was music. I found it interesting because rather than being a band class, they instead learned about all types of musical effects and instruments. The class even began with a few songs everyone gathered around the piano to sing. I had my doubts about who would sing since I would not have expected it in Canada, but the entire class more or less sang loudly. I was told by a friend who had lived in Germany and Switzerland in her childhood that they did that in her school too. It seems to be a very European thing to do and it brings to view their appreciation of the social value of music and the enjoyment of it and universality of it. Rather than making the students learn an instrument, they can instead learn about the effects used in songs they listen to and music in general. That definitely opens up the opportunity to study music to those who cannot play an instrument and is much more inclusive. After school, which on that particular day ended at 2:10pm, we took the train to Aalborg, the 3rd largest city in Denmark, to eat and do some shopping in it’s plentiful pedestrian-only streets.
The city greatly reminded me of Copenhagen and housed many historical buildings and copper statues. However, it also had quirks of it’s own. The town centre is very close to the sea and the city has a large and valuable port for the import of goods. It also has a famous bar and nightclub street, Jomfru Ame Gade, that we took a stroll down. Our hosts had told us that they often come down to party there, which brings me to my next point of the Danes being very open to things like drinking. Scandinavian children are “confirmed” at church at the age of 13, and from then on they are given the same judgement as adults in many ways. This allows them to make conscious decisions for themselves about when to attend school and what they want to do, even if that includes drinking. That type of trust placed on a young individual is yet another example of the trusting nature of the Danes that I have encountered so much of during my stay here. It also highlights some major differences in social behavior from Canada to Denmark.