As a danish teacher I once took 10 kids to a scrapyard. We had collected aluminium for half a year and walked there to sell it. While there we watched a car being turned into a cube as part of an impromptu tour. Parents picking up their kids were told by the SFO to wait or come back later. 0 complaints 4 written thank you’s
I don’t remember where I heard this anecdote. It was an American parent dropping their child of in the 2th grade in Denmark. It was December and there were candles in the windowsill. The mom was really worried and asked the teacher ‘is that really safe? What if someone is sticks their hand in the candle and get’s injures?’ The teacher looked confused and said ‘ why would any of the kids stick their hand in the candle? That’s just dumb’. I think it pretty much sums up the culture clash 😂
I wouldn't say that American kids would put their hands in candles, but it is in an American mom's DNA to worry. We are bred that way from our mothers. True story.
@@MyNewDanishLife so are you saying Danish mothers don't worry about their kids? It isn't in their DNA? Maybe the American society have made parents worry over small unimportant things. Well norms somewhere are weird elsewhere.
I went to a private-free school in northern Denmark(Thy-area). I remember in grade 7(12-13 year olds) our school decided my class should go to Berlin for a week. Parents where told to pay a little extra for the trip(like 1000dkk). 3 weeks later we all got on a bus, drove to Berlin, stayed there for a 5-6 days with two teachers. Was mostly left to our own, we only had to show up at specific times for stuff like going to the Reichstag and other tourist stuff, also be back at the hostel at 21:00. So a bunch of 12-13 year olds just walking around in Berlin by themselves. We learned how big cities worked, how to navigate in them in a language we just started learning(we learned a lot of German on that trip by just asking locals). AMAZING TRIP! No complaints, all parents just thought it was a good idea. (If anything went wrong we had our teachers phone-numbers). The amount of freedom was amazing and we learned a lot about life on that trip. A big part of the danish mentality is learning by doing and it often works out fantastically!
Lol yea im from Aarhus we almost did the same thing. But we also went to Olympia stadion, Some climbing thing, an old Soviet union prison and i think it was some sor of nature musuem. We were in 8th not 7th. 7th we went to Hamburg with the church
I 1981 var jeg 13 år. Vi boede i Husum (Nordvest for København. Men stadig Storkøbenhavn) Jeg cyklede alene 3½ km til skole i Ishøj. Kl 14, når vi havde fri, cyklede jeg 6 km til en rideskole i Avedøre. Der var ingen voksne, der tog imod os piger. Eller tjekkede at vi var der. Bagefter cyklede jeg 8 km hjem. Og jeg var hjemme kl 19.30. I al den tid vidste mine forældre ikke, hvor jeg var eller hvad jeg lavede. Vi havde jo heller ikke mobiltelefoner dengang.
samme her. Cyklede 6 km til skole i 3 klasse. Dette på landet med de små veje og landbrugsmaskiner på vejene. Tjente mine lomme penge ved at arbejde i det forsamlingshus min mor forpagtede. Dette i fra 5 klasse. Man forventede bare at børn kunne eller skulle klare sig selv dengang. Der var ingen curling børn dengang. Heldigvis.
This reminds me of my opposite experience: moving from Denmark to the US with a 3-yo. I visited a lot of pre-schools, and was generally very confused. I chose the one where the principal asked me about my feelings, and I replied that I worried a lot that the kids weren't out enough. I think in that case I was a very generic Dane, that is what we'd ask at a Danish parent's meeting too. In NYC, they were out 20 minutes a day, on a roof. They had a lot of structured teaching during the rest of the day, but in my view, the essentials were missing, no outdoor experience, and no healthy food. I still love the US
I really enjoy your videos. I am an Ausrralian living in North Denmark since 2002. Love it here. I have several American friends I visit often over there. The thing that really bugs me about many Americans is how damn conservative they are, they seem so old fasioned and behind times. Trying not to be negative, love being there and playing tourist. Keep up the good vids.
I just had a Marathon watching all of your videos because I’m from Malaysia and my BF ( danish ) we’re planning on getting married soon so watching your videos really educate me a lot . You’re like my danish mom ❤️❤️ all loves to you ❤️🌻
My wife & I met in the scouts at university, when our daughter was 13 she was the patrol leader for 8-10 boys aged 10/11, with only her neighbor 12-year old as her assistant. She immediately took that rather large patrol on an overnight hike in the forest north of Oslo, with just a tarp for weather protection. She had decided that they would stay overnight on a tiny peninsula of one of the many Nordmarka lakes, and nobody was worried that there would be any trouble.
KFUM is the same as YMCA in the US. 10) In Denmark it's more like "we're taking the kids on a trip to x in a few days, and you need to prepare this and that, for your kid to join. If you don't, your kid can not join and will be left behind with an adult."
In USA, Boy Scouts began allowing girls to join AND rebranded to "SCOUTS" ... Girl Scouts still exists...but it is-STILL- a completely separate organization (and does not allow boys.)
Coming from Denmark, I love to hear your perspectives on our country and the differences compared to America. And I like your positive attitude towards things even though you might disagree with some of them. People could learn a lot from that approach. Nr. 7 is quite interesting. I am really surprised to hear that over there the classes change much more frequently. I couldn't image my kid changing class mates every year. You mention the strong bond, we get from having the same class mates for 10 years. I would also imagine it would be somewhat stressful having to get used to new class mates so often, because for us your little group of class mates more or less IS your identity. Okay, your soccer team or fellow scouts and so on are important too, but still... I am sure the American way works just as fine, but wow... this fact just really blew me my mind. I understand how you consider this one of the remarkable differences.
An American perspective: you'll never be in an entirely new class. We had 6 classes in a grade at my elementary school and while it was mixed differently for every year 1/6 of the kids were from your old class and six years of it you'll be mixed back together. It is easier for kids who move into the school to fit into the groups because the friend groups have to be more malleable. Once you're in middle school you'll start switching classes for each subject but it's still with the same year mates. They might combine 2 or 3 elementary schools together for larger classes. In mine we were separated into two "teams" of 4 classes and the two teams never mixed throughout the year. The classes themselves are streamlined for ability - that has pros and cons. So you'll probably be with the same kids in most of the classes. When you move up a grade the kids are mixed again into two teams, but you'll basically be with your same achievement group again and half of them were from the year before. And repeat again for the next grade. It's not until highschool (9th grade, age 14-15) that you start to see the free for all mixing of classes with different grades. Your core subjects will be grade-restricted but there won't be any sort of grouping. Electives like band or chorus or gym would have a full mix of grades. The schools will be larger, pulling kids again from more middle schools. I definitely see that the bonds from the Danish system would be much stronger. Out of all the things American schools get wrong I don't think the mixing is a problem. I quite liked it. I only ever hear people talk about lifelong friends from their Danish school days and that the emphasis is on fitting in and enjoying the experience, but surely some kids don't fit with their class. I know that they will have all this social pressure forced on everyone to include them, but getting away from people I didn't particularly enjoy was one of the benefits of mixing.
I think the reason we trust our schools with our kids is that Denmark feels so safe if you’ve grown up here. It’s like: what’s gonna happen? They go on a trip, get a great experience and learn. As a teacher I have taken 9th grade students to many other countries and it’s never been a problem and I have never been worried - it’s just a good experience. That being said I have special signed permission for my students for going on bike-trips or going outside of school without a teacher and for social media things.
Why is it interesting for me as a Dane to see your videos? Primarily because you in them give my country and way of life an outside perspective. I do not understand haters - it is so easy NOT to see a video, a lot easier than to see something you do not like, and write something negative about it. Some people have far too much time on their hands…
If you haven’t been to MOESGAARD MUSEUM you need to. Most fantastic museum I ever seen. It’s archeology but brought to life with projectors and other tech stuff. VERY good at storytelling. Your kids will love it. I actually shed a tear by seeing kids being amazed.
Don’t remember the name, but a danish filmmaker or maybe musician was living in the USA for a while, his kid got invited to a birthday party - he dropped of his kid and came back to pick his kid up when the party was over. As we do in Denmark.. but apparently not in the USA - parents are expected to stay and watch their kids, while they are at the party? 😂 what? 😂
Reminds me of a nightmare I had as a kid really. I was trapped in a house with spiders the size of an adult human torso, never been able to pick up a spider after that.
You most likely signed a form of "contract" when you signed your children up to school. Most of these asks you if they can take your kid on a trip, where you have signed yes. Social media also.
i think its more of an understod agreement. the school/daycare/afterschool program has the complet responsebility for the child in their care. they r more or less temp guardian for that time period.
Haha if you only knew how things were in Denmark in the 80’s. I remember we went to christiania when I was a kid. Honestly I think it’s becoming very strict here nowadays
Sadly, the school I currently work at is 1 small town block away from a really nice park. It's such a management nightmare to get so many permission slips to just walk ONE BLOCK to a beautiful local park, that after 7 yrs...I have YET to take a class there... Not even a small group of kids for lunch...USA is sooooo over protective. There is ZERO expectation for kids to behave when unwatched for 1 min. We have to have eyes on ALL of them AT ALL TIMES.
Love this series of videos, being a Danish teacher. We are not allowed to show movies above age category. It happens anyway, but could spell trouble. Never heard it has though.
Something about the constant permission for everything....funny story... my step-son came home from "latch key" ...he was in preschool...and they had shown the movie SHREK to the preschool kids. Soooo, a few months later we were visting my inlaws and I made SUCH A BIG deal about being the 'good aunt' and sitting all the little kids down to watch SHREK. I was *SHOCKED* within the first 10 min....LOL I was soooo uncomfortable among this group of cousins (and I was the outsider) ...then I looked at the cover of the DVD --yep...it was THAT LONG AGO-- and saw that it was PG13. I was kind of shocked that a pre-school would show a Pg13 movie to a bunch of 4 yr olds w/o a permission slip. It didn't matter...I totally got the blame for subjecting a bunch of little cousins to a pretty adult movie. UNTIL... at age 6 ...that same step-son was knocked on his keester by dad by singing blindly "I like big butts and I can not lie...." I picked him up, dusted him off....and finally...after 2 YEARS!!! PASSED THE BLAME onto DAD! Whew!! I told him...YOU TAKE THAT BACK! b/c THAT is the song in SHREK!! HA!!
Entrepreneurship is key. We use that all through the education system. Very much part of "the danish dream", in the end it helps the economy in a small open-economy as the danish where ingenuity and entrepreneurship goes hand in hand.
We showered with the boys the first years in my school. There was nothing strange about that. 😂 It’s very sad that we are so frightened by our bodies and nudity today.
Hi Kelly! I don't know if you've talked about it in one of your previous videos, but I was wondering - how is life in Denmark for you when it comes to the language barrier? Are you trying to speak Danish, are you fluent, or do you mostly speak English with others? What about in your household, is it like a mix between languages?
Watched another video of yours too (the Covid-19 shut down). I like them 👍. Interesting to "learn about" my country (Denmark) from a US expat. The last 4 years, I've learned a lot about the differences between Denmark and the US - primarily because of the present US political situation. Things like the US culture, healthcare system, how fragile the livelihood is for most Americans, the strong (and in my opinion mind-boggling) perception of "freedom", the (non-nuanced) 2-party political system, Electoral College, elections, voting systems etc. To be honest, I wouldn't be able to live as an expat in the US. I appreciate and value my (danish) freedom, the political system/environment, not being at risk of going bankrupt because of medical or educational dept. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and hope you'll stay here for years and years to come 😊
I think you might like it there. You can't experience what the USA is truly like until you have lived there. I'm sure the experiences you have will outweigh any of the bad that the media shows. Thanks for watching.
@@MyNewDanishLife I've visited America a couple of times (years ago) - and I liked it. I just can't imagine myself living there - in particular in this Trump era. My values and standpoints on climate, sustainable energy, healthcare etc. are non-negotiable at this point in my life. So as a tourist, yes. As an expat, no 😊 With that said, keep up the good work on your videos. I love to watch 👍
@@j.d.445 Lad være med at lytte til pressen, find ud af det selv. det giver et helt andet billede af USA på godt og ondt, det er ikke så sort og hvidt som pressen vil have det skal se ud som. Der er 52 stater i et land der har deres egne regler og love.
We’ve not been able to make a child of our own, I’ve raised a dozen children, and wouldn’t mind raising a couple more, any clue what I can search to find out how I can help children that may need parents?
When your boys starts in 8. grade, they are most likely going to mix up the classes. Now it has been a good while since I was in school, but in my school when we started 8. grade kids from smaller schools in the municipality which only went to 7. grade all those kids my age would come to my school which was the biggest around, today a lot of those smaller schools around Denmark has closed so I am not sure if this still happens, but we got mixed up very good, so I would go to class with only like 4 or 5 of the kids I had in my class from 0. - 7. grade. And I really hope they still do this to some extent because that really expanded our network of friends, so hopefully you will get just a little of that American feeling when your boys reach that age, and gets mixed up the last couple of years of their school time 🙂
the last thing about no parent permission comes out of people in Denmark basicly trust each other, trust that nobody wants to harm a child, and the teachers in school and pre school, knows what they are doing, and what they wanna achieve for the children.
A Brit/Dane couple now in Jylland. Two kids, both did full 12 years in Danish stream of a large mixed-nationality school mid-Europe. In that setting they rubbed along with and got to appreciate different stream kid/adult hierarchies. During their years, hardly any Dane dumped class (or so we swallowed if that was false). The Danish method actually worked, to this Brit's amazement.
Hi Kelly! You must have head of the "skolereform" in 2013 - what thoughts do you have? Do you feel as many Danish parents that the school day is too long?
TheChrmsi my school only go up to 7 hours, and that starts in 7th grade. And we don’t have 7 hours everyday. As of right now, I only have one day with 7 hours
In Denmark gender are not always together. We have the girl guides with about 4000 members. Not because we don't like boys/men, but because we like the girls to be able to take care and support themselves 🙂
Yes, but sometimes after 8th grade, a lot of teens go to “efterskole”, so there will be fewer kids left for 9th grade. At my school they mix to new classes called A and B, and the cuttet the C class. We were all asked for 2 min. Individuel conversations with the teacher about who we would like to be in classes with from after summer, and they listen to all of us. I Think the classes Got too big, but otherwise it was fine :)
Hi Kelly, I am in Maryland USA and, as european citizens, we are thinking about move into Denmark by the end of this year, We have looking into Odense, as you always say that you are in a small town, can you help us a little bit with your opinion about that town? we know that is the 3rd big city en DK and we have clear the process about the residence requirements, we are just in a doubt about copenhage since we live in the country, here in US, and we love this country style. Please, I would really appreciate any help, TIA!
To us Danes Odense I a large town/city. In smaller villages if there is a school and a grocery then there likely will also be sports activities for kids. In Kerteminde it's not a village, there is all you need also in other small towns. In the smaller towns you will find more community feeling and more cooperation about sports and other activities. Some towns own their own grocery store and some places they have their own school and daycare.
Odense is a nice town and a pretty town, but you shouldn't expect country style, it's more of a city vibe. I live about 9 miles north of Odense in a smaller town called Otterup. It has only a little more than 5000 citizens in the town and around the same amount in the areas surrounding the town. I live outside the town and that is really country style. Just to tell you that you could chose to live in Odense and still be very close to more rural areas or you could live not to fare away from Odense in a rural area and still be very close to a city and better work opportunities. You can have both, you just have to chose what you prefer.
your number 7 is why American schools are so clique'y. Having gone to school in both Denmark and the US, it is easy to see why Danish people seems more altruistic - you are kinda forced to be around people you dont necessarily have a lot in common with, so you learn that people are different and that is just fine. In the US, you pick and choose waaaaaay too much as a child, effectively making people snobby about who they are around - and in turn less overbearing and tolerant.
I don't see that at all. We never got to choose our teachers. It was done for us. We never chose who was in our classes. We would choose in 7th-12th grade which classes we wanted for our electives which would be maybe 2 of the 7 classes that we had each day. I hardly think that is making them less tolerant. It is nice to be exposed to different things when you are younger. It is sad sometimes to think of the kids who don't get these choices in Denmark. There are good and bad things about both systems but I think you become who you are mainly by your upbringing. Two kids in the same classes can have two different outcomes depending on other external factors. I'd love to know of your experience in American schools though. It is great to get comments from people who have experienced both...like I have.
First and only sign is; You live in Denmark and you're raising a child there. If you dont know it at that point.. Well, perhaps its too early for you to have children.
Anything we do we do for our children. Even if we don't have children our self. I have known my best friend sense first grade. That's 50 years. PS. This month starts the World Trade Center grand jury. 60 evidences of eksplosives.
When in Denmark you switch class at 6 or 7 grade so not the whole way thru. Edit: (Sorry thought it was all over Denmark but only in some places sorry.)
Do you feel your kids are safer in a danish school, thinking of bullying, schoolshootings meralscanners, and gangs? I do not have other informations, but the horrible things you see on TV, but it is proberly not like that in the average school!
I have done all of my education in the USA and worked there as a teacher for 13 years. I never thought it was in a dangerous place. I think that my kids might be safer in Denmark form other adults, but I think bullies exist everywhere. Denmark has some, and I have seen teachers allow bullying to take place right in front of them. Luckily, it was NOT in my kids' school. You see all the bad things on TV. I wish more of the good would show. There is so much good in American schools.
@@MyNewDanishLife Thx for your answer, and happy that you have a lot of positive experiences in USA :-) As I stated in my comment, you see mostly the bad things on the TV, so I'm glad to know you have good informations for me, not that I'm so naive to think everything is bad, but as a dane it is hard to relate to i.e. schoolshootings! Bullying is certanly appearing in all countries I think, but my perception of peer pressure is higher in the USA? Maybe because, as stated by you, they have many different people in many different clases, so they do not bond the same way as in Denmark?
As someone who've gone to school in both places, I loved your insight. I think having different classes is the better way. And I think you'd love Jonathan Haidt and his talk about free play. ruclips.net/video/Xi499A4VsN8/видео.html
Having my kids with a Danish woman and bringing them up in Denmark was the best life choice I ever made...
As a danish teacher I once took 10 kids to a scrapyard. We had collected aluminium for half a year and walked there to sell it. While there we watched a car being turned into a cube as part of an impromptu tour. Parents picking up their kids were told by the SFO to wait or come back later. 0 complaints 4 written thank you’s
I don’t remember where I heard this anecdote. It was an American parent dropping their child of in the 2th grade in Denmark. It was December and there were candles in the windowsill. The mom was really worried and asked the teacher ‘is that really safe? What if someone is sticks their hand in the candle and get’s injures?’ The teacher looked confused and said ‘ why would any of the kids stick their hand in the candle? That’s just dumb’. I think it pretty much sums up the culture clash 😂
I wouldn't say that American kids would put their hands in candles, but it is in an American mom's DNA to worry. We are bred that way from our mothers. True story.
@@MyNewDanishLife so are you saying Danish mothers don't worry about their kids? It isn't in their DNA? Maybe the American society have made parents worry over small unimportant things. Well norms somewhere are weird elsewhere.
Hilarious and spot on🤣
I went to a private-free school in northern Denmark(Thy-area). I remember in grade 7(12-13 year olds) our school decided my class should go to Berlin for a week. Parents where told to pay a little extra for the trip(like 1000dkk). 3 weeks later we all got on a bus, drove to Berlin, stayed there for a 5-6 days with two teachers. Was mostly left to our own, we only had to show up at specific times for stuff like going to the Reichstag and other tourist stuff, also be back at the hostel at 21:00. So a bunch of 12-13 year olds just walking around in Berlin by themselves. We learned how big cities worked, how to navigate in them in a language we just started learning(we learned a lot of German on that trip by just asking locals). AMAZING TRIP! No complaints, all parents just thought it was a good idea. (If anything went wrong we had our teachers phone-numbers). The amount of freedom was amazing and we learned a lot about life on that trip. A big part of the danish mentality is learning by doing and it often works out fantastically!
Lol yea im from Aarhus we almost did the same thing. But we also went to Olympia stadion, Some climbing thing, an old Soviet union prison and i think it was some sor of nature musuem. We were in 8th not 7th. 7th we went to Hamburg with the church
Bless you for living and raising your kids in small town Denmark.
It is a gift they will treassure.
I was scout in the US. We were not allow to sleep with male scout in the area much. Sometime we were allow too.
Everything was normal to me. Greetings from Finland :)
Well Finland do have inspiring school systems ☺️ which I as a Danish teacher, and a lot of other teachers do take notice to 😉
@@RemakeTheStoff no problem with stressed children in Finland :)
I love to hear your reflections on Denmark. Good for you that you like it here. Du er meget velkommen her. ;-)
I 1981 var jeg 13 år. Vi boede i Husum (Nordvest for København. Men stadig Storkøbenhavn) Jeg cyklede alene 3½ km til skole i Ishøj.
Kl 14, når vi havde fri, cyklede jeg 6 km til en rideskole i Avedøre. Der var ingen voksne, der tog imod os piger. Eller tjekkede at vi var der.
Bagefter cyklede jeg 8 km hjem. Og jeg var hjemme kl 19.30.
I al den tid vidste mine forældre ikke, hvor jeg var eller hvad jeg lavede. Vi havde jo heller ikke mobiltelefoner dengang.
samme her. Cyklede 6 km til skole i 3 klasse. Dette på landet med de små veje og landbrugsmaskiner på vejene. Tjente mine lomme penge ved at arbejde i det forsamlingshus min mor forpagtede. Dette i fra 5 klasse. Man forventede bare at børn kunne eller skulle klare sig selv dengang. Der var ingen curling børn dengang. Heldigvis.
I subscribed , for I´m interested in other Nordic countrie ways. Greetings from Finland :)
Lucky family living in such a happy country. The happiest in the world. 💗🥳
MARTA LOEWENSTEIN Marta, you seem like such a nice person :)
I love how you smiled when you said spejder.. I just know you were thinking about an edderkop. 😝
This reminds me of my opposite experience: moving from Denmark to the US with a 3-yo. I visited a lot of pre-schools, and was generally very confused. I chose the one where the principal asked me about my feelings, and I replied that I worried a lot that the kids weren't out enough. I think in that case I was a very generic Dane, that is what we'd ask at a Danish parent's meeting too. In NYC, they were out 20 minutes a day, on a roof.
They had a lot of structured teaching during the rest of the day, but in my view, the essentials were missing, no outdoor experience, and no healthy food.
I still love the US
I really enjoy your videos. I am an Ausrralian living in North Denmark since 2002. Love it here. I have several American friends I visit often over there. The thing that really bugs me about many Americans is how damn conservative they are, they seem so old fasioned and behind times. Trying not to be negative, love being there and playing tourist. Keep up the good vids.
@C J why? Ben is living in Denmark.
I just had a Marathon watching all of your videos because I’m from Malaysia and my BF ( danish ) we’re planning on getting married soon so watching your videos really educate me a lot . You’re like my danish mom ❤️❤️ all loves to you ❤️🌻
My wife & I met in the scouts at university, when our daughter was 13 she was the patrol leader for 8-10 boys aged 10/11, with only her neighbor 12-year old as her assistant. She immediately took that rather large patrol on an overnight hike in the forest north of Oslo, with just a tarp for weather protection. She had decided that they would stay overnight on a tiny peninsula of one of the many Nordmarka lakes, and nobody was worried that there would be any trouble.
KFUM is the same as YMCA in the US.
10) In Denmark it's more like "we're taking the kids on a trip to x in a few days, and you need to prepare this and that, for your kid to join. If you don't, your kid can not join and will be left behind with an adult."
We do actually have Girl Scouts in Denmark, but it’s a very small group. The mixed groups are much more popular
In USA, Boy Scouts began allowing girls to join AND rebranded to "SCOUTS" ... Girl Scouts still exists...but it is-STILL- a completely separate organization (and does not allow boys.)
Coming from Denmark, I love to hear your perspectives on our country and the differences compared to America. And I like your positive attitude towards things even though you might disagree with some of them. People could learn a lot from that approach.
Nr. 7 is quite interesting. I am really surprised to hear that over there the classes change much more frequently. I couldn't image my kid changing class mates every year. You mention the strong bond, we get from having the same class mates for 10 years. I would also imagine it would be somewhat stressful having to get used to new class mates so often, because for us your little group of class mates more or less IS your identity. Okay, your soccer team or fellow scouts and so on are important too, but still...
I am sure the American way works just as fine, but wow... this fact just really blew me my mind. I understand how you consider this one of the remarkable differences.
An American perspective: you'll never be in an entirely new class. We had 6 classes in a grade at my elementary school and while it was mixed differently for every year 1/6 of the kids were from your old class and six years of it you'll be mixed back together. It is easier for kids who move into the school to fit into the groups because the friend groups have to be more malleable.
Once you're in middle school you'll start switching classes for each subject but it's still with the same year mates. They might combine 2 or 3 elementary schools together for larger classes. In mine we were separated into two "teams" of 4 classes and the two teams never mixed throughout the year. The classes themselves are streamlined for ability - that has pros and cons. So you'll probably be with the same kids in most of the classes. When you move up a grade the kids are mixed again into two teams, but you'll basically be with your same achievement group again and half of them were from the year before. And repeat again for the next grade.
It's not until highschool (9th grade, age 14-15) that you start to see the free for all mixing of classes with different grades. Your core subjects will be grade-restricted but there won't be any sort of grouping. Electives like band or chorus or gym would have a full mix of grades. The schools will be larger, pulling kids again from more middle schools.
I definitely see that the bonds from the Danish system would be much stronger. Out of all the things American schools get wrong I don't think the mixing is a problem. I quite liked it.
I only ever hear people talk about lifelong friends from their Danish school days and that the emphasis is on fitting in and enjoying the experience, but surely some kids don't fit with their class. I know that they will have all this social pressure forced on everyone to include them, but getting away from people I didn't particularly enjoy was one of the benefits of mixing.
I think the reason we trust our schools with our kids is that Denmark feels so safe if you’ve grown up here. It’s like: what’s gonna happen? They go on a trip, get a great experience and learn.
As a teacher I have taken 9th grade students to many other countries and it’s never been a problem and I have never been worried - it’s just a good experience.
That being said I have special signed permission for my students for going on bike-trips or going outside of school without a teacher and for social media things.
Why is it interesting for me as a Dane to see your videos? Primarily because you in them give my country and way of life an outside perspective.
I do not understand haters - it is so easy NOT to see a video, a lot easier than to see something you do not like, and write something negative about it. Some people have far too much time on their hands…
"trust" is the keyword here, trust is the default behaviour from childcare to eldercare.
If you haven’t been to MOESGAARD MUSEUM you need to. Most fantastic museum I ever seen. It’s archeology but brought to life with projectors and other tech stuff. VERY good at storytelling. Your kids will love it. I actually shed a tear by seeing kids being amazed.
I'd love to visit there one day.
I feel sorry for American kids after this video. I was raised in Europe, not Denmark. However I had the same kind of childhood like kids in Denmark.
Ok good joke im danish lol
Don’t remember the name, but a danish filmmaker or maybe musician was living in the USA for a while, his kid got invited to a birthday party - he dropped of his kid and came back to pick his kid up when the party was over. As we do in Denmark.. but apparently not in the USA - parents are expected to stay and watch their kids, while they are at the party? 😂 what? 😂
That sounds kind off boring as a child to have your mother or father with you to a birthday that's not family. 🙈😅
I was a Danish exchange student and for 6 months a would be constantly late for class because I wasn't used to changing classrooms,
“Spider house” haha 😂 Your danglish is so cute
Reminds me of a nightmare I had as a kid really. I was trapped in a house with spiders the size of an adult human torso, never been able to pick up a spider after that.
You most likely signed a form of "contract" when you signed your children up to school. Most of these asks you if they can take your kid on a trip, where you have signed yes. Social media also.
i think its more of an understod agreement. the school/daycare/afterschool program has the complet responsebility for the child in their care. they r more or less temp guardian for that time period.
@@lainightwalker5495 At my work its a written contract when you signed up your child, but cant say its like that everywhere :)
As a danish teen. When i was a kid we went to djurs sommerland so many good memories. Maybe you should try djursommerland
Marius yess. Djurs Sommerland is highly recommended
Haha if you only knew how things were in Denmark in the 80’s. I remember we went to christiania when I was a kid. Honestly I think it’s becoming very strict here nowadays
Agree and we had good times back then. Although the Christiana visit took place in 9. grade in my case.
Christiania is still open, you just have to be more careful. Of course it is closed as of right now due to covid-19
When it comes to free play for the youngest, it's also important to note that they are allowed to get hurt.
Sadly, the school I currently work at is 1 small town block away from a really nice park. It's such a management nightmare to get so many permission slips to just walk ONE BLOCK to a beautiful local park, that after 7 yrs...I have YET to take a class there... Not even a small group of kids for lunch...USA is sooooo over protective. There is ZERO expectation for kids to behave when unwatched for 1 min. We have to have eyes on ALL of them AT ALL TIMES.
Love this series of videos, being a Danish teacher.
We are not allowed to show movies above age category. It happens anyway, but could spell trouble. Never heard it has though.
11: You dont have to worry about your kids being shot while in school
Haha
That's how you know you are anywhere except the USA.
Something about the constant permission for everything....funny story... my step-son came home from "latch key" ...he was in preschool...and they had shown the movie SHREK to the preschool kids. Soooo, a few months later we were visting my inlaws and I made SUCH A BIG deal about being the 'good aunt' and sitting all the little kids down to watch SHREK. I was *SHOCKED* within the first 10 min....LOL I was soooo uncomfortable among this group of cousins (and I was the outsider) ...then I looked at the cover of the DVD --yep...it was THAT LONG AGO-- and saw that it was PG13. I was kind of shocked that a pre-school would show a Pg13 movie to a bunch of 4 yr olds w/o a permission slip. It didn't matter...I totally got the blame for subjecting a bunch of little cousins to a pretty adult movie. UNTIL... at age 6 ...that same step-son was knocked on his keester by dad by singing blindly "I like big butts and I can not lie...." I picked him up, dusted him off....and finally...after 2 YEARS!!! PASSED THE BLAME onto DAD! Whew!! I told him...YOU TAKE THAT BACK! b/c THAT is the song in SHREK!! HA!!
I Can recommend Fårup Sommerland. When it is safe again.
Entrepreneurship is key. We use that all through the education system. Very much part of "the danish dream", in the end it helps the economy in a small open-economy as the danish where ingenuity and entrepreneurship goes hand in hand.
Hvis man ikke er iværksætter hvorfor så overhovedet leve?...
@In Actis Esto Volucris min største drøm er at være deltager i Løvens hule
We showered with the boys the first years in my school. There was nothing strange about that. 😂 It’s very sad that we are so frightened by our bodies and nudity today.
You should keep your camara/mic handy 06th of may at 12.00 for the yearly test. Your American followers may get quite a surprise
Hi Kelly! I don't know if you've talked about it in one of your previous videos, but I was wondering - how is life in Denmark for you when it comes to the language barrier? Are you trying to speak Danish, are you fluent, or do you mostly speak English with others? What about in your household, is it like a mix between languages?
Watched another video of yours too (the Covid-19 shut down). I like them 👍. Interesting to "learn about" my country (Denmark) from a US expat.
The last 4 years, I've learned a lot about the differences between Denmark and the US - primarily because of the present US political situation. Things like the US culture, healthcare system, how fragile the livelihood is for most Americans, the strong (and in my opinion mind-boggling) perception of "freedom", the (non-nuanced) 2-party political system, Electoral College, elections, voting systems etc.
To be honest, I wouldn't be able to live as an expat in the US. I appreciate and value my (danish) freedom, the political system/environment, not being at risk of going bankrupt because of medical or educational dept.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and hope you'll stay here for years and years to come 😊
I think you might like it there. You can't experience what the USA is truly like until you have lived there. I'm sure the experiences you have will outweigh any of the bad that the media shows. Thanks for watching.
@@MyNewDanishLife I've visited America a couple of times (years ago) - and I liked it. I just can't imagine myself living there - in particular in this Trump era. My values and standpoints on climate, sustainable energy, healthcare etc. are non-negotiable at this point in my life. So as a tourist, yes. As an expat, no 😊
With that said, keep up the good work on your videos. I love to watch 👍
@@j.d.445 Lad være med at lytte til pressen, find ud af det selv. det giver et helt andet billede af USA på godt og ondt, det er ikke så sort og hvidt som pressen vil have det skal se ud som. Der er 52 stater i et land der har deres egne regler og love.
Nice video!
Just giving you lovely attention!
We’ve not been able to make a child of our own, I’ve raised a dozen children, and wouldn’t mind raising a couple more, any clue what I can search to find out how I can help children that may need parents?
About the law suit thing, you gave the permission for the teachers and pedagoges to do all kinds of stuff when you signed them in.
When your boys starts in 8. grade, they are most likely going to mix up the classes. Now it has been a good while since I was in school, but in my school when we started 8. grade kids from smaller schools in the municipality which only went to 7. grade all those kids my age would come to my school which was the biggest around, today a lot of those smaller schools around Denmark has closed so I am not sure if this still happens, but we got mixed up very good, so I would go to class with only like 4 or 5 of the kids I had in my class from 0. - 7. grade. And I really hope they still do this to some extent because that really expanded our network of friends, so hopefully you will get just a little of that American feeling when your boys reach that age, and gets mixed up the last couple of years of their school time 🙂
Jesper Jørgensen yup, they still mix the classes in 8th grade :)
the last thing about no parent permission comes out of people in Denmark basicly trust each other, trust that nobody wants to harm a child, and the teachers in school and pre school, knows what they are doing, and what they wanna achieve for the children.
A Brit/Dane couple now in Jylland. Two kids, both did full 12 years in Danish stream of a large mixed-nationality school mid-Europe. In that setting they rubbed along with and got to appreciate
different stream kid/adult hierarchies. During their years, hardly any Dane dumped class (or so we swallowed if that was false). The Danish method actually worked, to this Brit's amazement.
Hi Kelly! You must have head of the "skolereform" in 2013 - what thoughts do you have? Do you feel as many Danish parents that the school day is too long?
TheChrmsi my school only go up to 7 hours, and that starts in 7th grade. And we don’t have 7 hours everyday. As of right now, I only have one day with 7 hours
In Denmark gender are not always together. We have the girl guides with about 4000 members. Not because we don't like boys/men, but because we like the girls to be able to take care and support themselves 🙂
Yes, but sometimes after 8th grade, a lot of teens go to “efterskole”, so there will be fewer kids left for 9th grade. At my school they mix to new classes called A and B, and the cuttet the C class. We were all asked for 2 min. Individuel conversations with the teacher about who we would like to be in classes with from after summer, and they listen to all of us. I Think the classes Got too big, but otherwise it was fine :)
Im going to efterskole next year. (10th)
Hi Kelly, I am in Maryland USA and, as european citizens, we are thinking about move into Denmark by the end of this year, We have looking into Odense, as you always say that you are in a small town, can you help us a little bit with your opinion about that town? we know that is the 3rd big city en DK and we have clear the process about the residence requirements, we are just in a doubt about copenhage since we live in the country, here in US, and we love this country style. Please, I would really appreciate any help, TIA!
To us Danes Odense I a large town/city.
In smaller villages if there is a school and a grocery then there likely will also be sports activities for kids. In Kerteminde it's not a village, there is all you need also in other small towns. In the smaller towns you will find more community feeling and more cooperation about sports and other activities. Some towns own their own grocery store and some places they have their own school and daycare.
@@dozesof thank you so much!!
Odense is a nice town and a pretty town, but you shouldn't expect country style, it's more of a city vibe. I live about 9 miles north of Odense in a smaller town called Otterup. It has only a little more than 5000 citizens in the town and around the same amount in the areas surrounding the town. I live outside the town and that is really country style. Just to tell you that you could chose to live in Odense and still be very close to more rural areas or you could live not to fare away from Odense in a rural area and still be very close to a city and better work opportunities. You can have both, you just have to chose what you prefer.
Kids grow with responsibilities....
Having areas available to entertain kids just seems like good business sense?
It sure does.
Are your kids speaking Danish now?
Yes. They started learning Danish a month after we moved here. They speak fluently now.
What About you?
Uhmmm yes. What
is your reflection on "curling kids"?
A danish curling kid is living a hard knock life if you ask a suburban American mom. I guess
In America all kids are curling kids. Its is iilegal in most states for kids to be in the backyard alone with no adult supervision. Just one ecample.
your number 7 is why American schools are so clique'y. Having gone to school in both Denmark and the US, it is easy to see why Danish people seems more altruistic - you are kinda forced to be around people you dont necessarily have a lot in common with, so you learn that people are different and that is just fine. In the US, you pick and choose waaaaaay too much as a child, effectively making people snobby about who they are around - and in turn less overbearing and tolerant.
I don't see that at all. We never got to choose our teachers. It was done for us. We never chose who was in our classes. We would choose in 7th-12th grade which classes we wanted for our electives which would be maybe 2 of the 7 classes that we had each day. I hardly think that is making them less tolerant. It is nice to be exposed to different things when you are younger. It is sad sometimes to think of the kids who don't get these choices in Denmark. There are good and bad things about both systems but I think you become who you are mainly by your upbringing. Two kids in the same classes can have two different outcomes depending on other external factors. I'd love to know of your experience in American schools though. It is great to get comments from people who have experienced both...like I have.
Love 🤟
Fri leg...its a tradition here..go out and enjoy yourselves
More in the Danish pædagoges and philosophers, Kierkegaard and Løgstrup..Andersen..
First and only sign is; You live in Denmark and you're raising a child there. If you dont know it at that point.. Well, perhaps its too early for you to have children.
hehe, if you think it's a culture shock bringing up children in DK, just wait till you have teenagers :D
:-)
Point ten, you learn to trust people in charge.
Anything we do we do for our children. Even if we don't have children our self.
I have known my best friend sense first grade. That's 50 years.
PS. This month starts the
World Trade Center grand jury.
60 evidences of eksplosives.
When in Denmark you switch class at 6 or 7 grade so not the whole way thru.
Edit: (Sorry thought it was all over Denmark but only in some places sorry.)
August Heltborg. In Viborg where Kelly lives you stay in the same class all the way through School.
not always :)
I didn't, my kids didn't either.
I've never heard of that
August Heltborg i graduated folk-School in 2015, besides changing school a few times, classes never got reshuffled.
In Denmark, we have 3 classes A, B and C
And no one of them like each other plus all knows that class C is full of weird kids.
Btw I was in class A.
And class A was for all of the popular kids and B was just a mix
Interesting tell me more , really?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
U Can kinda talk danish
Do you feel your kids are safer in a danish school, thinking of bullying, schoolshootings meralscanners, and gangs? I do not have other informations, but the horrible things you see on TV, but it is proberly not like that in the average school!
I have done all of my education in the USA and worked there as a teacher for 13 years. I never thought it was in a dangerous place. I think that my kids might be safer in Denmark form other adults, but I think bullies exist everywhere. Denmark has some, and I have seen teachers allow bullying to take place right in front of them. Luckily, it was NOT in my kids' school. You see all the bad things on TV. I wish more of the good would show. There is so much good in American schools.
@@MyNewDanishLife Thx for your answer, and happy that you have a lot of positive experiences in USA :-) As I stated in my comment, you see mostly the bad things on the TV, so I'm glad to know you have good informations for me, not that I'm so naive to think everything is bad, but as a dane it is hard to relate to i.e. schoolshootings! Bullying is certanly appearing in all countries I think, but my perception of peer pressure is higher in the USA? Maybe because, as stated by you, they have many different people in many different clases, so they do not bond the same way as in Denmark?
@@guydanish That could be.
Its not called Spider. Scout is the real translation for the danish "Spejder".
Mike: It's pronounced like "spider" though 😏
As someone who've gone to school in both places, I loved your insight. I think having different classes is the better way. And I think you'd love Jonathan Haidt and his talk about free play.
ruclips.net/video/Xi499A4VsN8/видео.html
Speak Danish sometime you are good
Sounds like Denmark isn't very diverse!
Luckily so!
you would be incorrect, obviously not gonna be that diverse in the rural area which she lives, but the cities are a completly different story.
@@Kemachris - Obviously, all bets are off then.
The Us is sooo hipocrit.....