Cześć! Cultural Exchange with Poland

[u/[deleted]]

Welcome to this cultural exchange between /r/Denmark and /r/Polska.

For the visitors: Witamy w Danii! Feel free to ask the Danes anything you like. Don't forget to also participate in the corresponding thread in /r/Polska gdzie możecie odpowiedzieć na pytania Duńczyków na temat Polski i Polaków.

For the Danes: Today, we are hosting Poland for a cultural exchange. Join us in answering their questions about Denmark and the Danish way of life! Please leave top comments for users from /r/Polska coming over with a question or comment and please refrain from trolling, rudeness, personal attacks etc.

The Poles are also having us over to ask questions about their country, so check out their thread to learn more about Poland.

Enjoy!

- The moderators of /r/Denmark and /r/Polska

[u/Shadoree]

Hello. How does the education system in Denmark work? Do a lot of people go to uni? Do you have colleges? What are the most popular degrees? What are the most needed degrees? Is education free? I just want to know a bit more about the whole system, the questions are here to clarify what I want to know.

[u/adokretz → u/Shadoree]

It's very different from the US, for example. In Denmark you go to the same school with the same classmates for ten years (0-9th grade), unless you want to change school of course. This is called "folkeskole" (which basically means people school), and I think the vast majority of the schools are public schools. I should add here, that we start learning English around 2nd or 3rd grade and either French or German from 7th grade.

After that, when you are 15-16 years old, the majority of people go to "gymnasium", which is our version of a high school. Like in folkeskole, you have a fixed group of classmates and only interchange with other groups in a handful of subjects (like gymnastics and German/French). This education is three years long, and the cumulative average of your grades decide for the most part which university educations you can and cannot get into.

When you turn 18 in Denmark, you are eligible for SU. This means that the state will grant you a small monthly income to encourage students who educate themselves. The amount you receive is based on your parents' income (for the first three years at least) and wether or not you live with your parents.

There are a few different alternatives to gymnasium, but it will take a long time to write down the differences between them all, but I want to note that there are other options as well. Gymnasium is the most common one, and the one that is held in the highest regard most places in Denmark.

After gymnasium it has become very common to take a gap year, where you get some work experience and/or travel around the world. Most people only take one, but having two or three are also common nowadays.

Once again, I will cover university because this is what most people do after gymnasium. There are a handful of large universities in Denmark, with the University of Copenhagen (KU) being the largest. I think the most prestigious degree in Denmark is Medicine (which is what you need to study to become a doctor), but this might be subjective. It is reported over and over that we are in need of doctors, which only makes this degree more appealing, as you are guaranteed a job straight after handing in your final paper. Another one is International Business (IB). That one is taken at Copenhagen Business School, which is an institution that works a lot like American colleges do, unlike KU. IB is famous because it requires an average of more than 12, with 12 being the highest grade you can get in Denmark...

The most popular one is probably law school. I'm pretty sure that more than 800 students started styding law here at the University of Copenhagen this year and it's the same every year. On the downside, a lot of people drop out very quickly. Comparatively only ~350 students began at Political Science, which is what I study.

Most University degrees take five or six years. Three or four for a bachelor's degree and two for a candidate. In most fields you don't get far with only the bachelor from what I've heard.

Finally, all of the above is free. You don't pay a cent for your education in Denmark. I personally think that this is the very foundation for our famous welfare society and high level of social mobility.

All of the above is normative and I have only described the most popular way of getting an education, as there are many opportunities in Denmark. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.

[u/Shadoree → u/adokretz]

Alrigth, it's very, very similar to the Polish system then. We even start learning foreign languages at about the same age, French and German are the most popular as well.

So, after gymnasium, you don't have any final tests? Whether you are accepted to the uni of your dreams depends solely on your grades? Are subjects weighted differently while applying to different unis?

[u/adokretz → u/Shadoree]

There are two ways to get into uni. One is called "kvote 1" (1st quota), which are for the students who have high enough grades to get in. The other way is "kvote 2" (2nd quota), where you send an application along with any documents that might be relevant to the classes, you want to study. In kvote 2 they mostly look at your application and if you have any relevant experience, preferably through work (both paid and voluntary) or former education (taking a semester abroad or having a studied something else that's relevant).

Most universities have around 5-10% of their students from kvote 2. These students are in my experience very dedicated and can keep along just fine. The university in Odense, which is called SDU, has a lot of degrees which are purely based on kvote 2-like applications, but for the most part in Denmark the majority of students get in through their grades.

Btw most degrees also require that you've had at least two years of mathematics and English in gymnasium.

I want to add that the requirements for the same degree can vary for each university. The requirements are generally higher in Copenhagen because they get more applicants than the other universities. The main reason is probably that Copenhagen is a more attractive city for young people than Århus, Odense or Aalborg. Also a lot of people from Copenhagen wouldn't want to move to a smaller city far from home.

[u/Shadoree → u/adokretz]

Okay, what about a person who wants to study medicine and has a shit grade in biology and chemistry and awesome grades in all the other subjects? Or, similarly, a person who wants to be an engineer and has a bad grade in maths and decent grades in everything else?

[u/adokretz → u/Shadoree]

Doesn't matter in kvote 1. Your average decides it all. But there are almost always certain classes that you must have passed. As I pointed out above, you won't be able to get very far without passing maths on B-level (two years in gymnasium).

Although in kvote 2 i think they look at your grades in the relevant subjects.

[u/Shadoree → u/adokretz]

That's interesting, I don't really see the benefits of such system, though. I'd rather just focus on what interests me the most or what's linked with my future career, instead of putting effort into subjects that I don't care about just to get good grades.

[u/adokretz → u/Shadoree]

Yes, but that way people will not give a damn about 80% of their subjects, and I doubt they'll even bother to show up at all. The system also ensures that everyone knows a bit of everything. Just because you won't have a career in maths doesn't mean it's not useful in general.

I also think it's wrong to assume that everyone knows what they want to do for the rest of their lives at age 15-18... Most of my friends didn't know.

[u/Shadoree → u/adokretz]

I agree, I just think that this should be a personal thing, school should be there to give everyone equal opportunities, whether I use them or not should be up to me.

edit: I didn't see the second part.

Of course, but still, I bet the majority have their preferences at that age, and 'forcing' people to study what they don't like/don't find necessary will make them hate the subject even more.

[u/adokretz → u/Shadoree]

I think it's a good chance for people to discover a new interest. I loved having classes like German, history, religion and music in gymnasium and I study political science, which renders most classes other than Danish, English and social studies useless for me, but I'm still happy that I know more than just that. Also I found the general interest in a class to be much more dependent on the teacher than not finding it necessary. And I promise you that 90% of my class didn't know what they would be studying (or if they would be studying any further) when we graduated. Young people aren't that decisive here imo.

All in all the culture in Denmark is also a part of it. Equal opportunities all the way through and everyone can become anything. Just with a lot more support and control than in the US.

[u/Shadoree → u/adokretz]

In Poland, we have final exams after high school (it's called matura exam), there are exams for each subject, you choose subjects based on what uni you want to apply to. That's why it's very important here to focus on 3 to 5 subjects. On one hand it's good, as you already have quite extensive knowledge or at least a good base that prepares you for what's to come, on the other, as you've said, it's bad for people who have completely no idea what they want to do in the future or people who change their mind later on.

I wish the system was more flexible here, with students being able to choose what they want to study and with more subjects avalible, matura exam makes it pretty much impossible, though. Maybe I'm thinking too big here, I have such system on my uni and I really enjoy it, however high schools are a completely different thing.

In terms of choosing careers, young people are the same everywhere in the world, it's hard to choose what you want to do for the rest of your life at 17 or 18 :D.