Only in Japan the number of dropouts is lower.
When a Danish student start on a study there is 81 procent chance that they graduate it. While Japan is a full 10 procent better, Denmark comes in second among 27 countries.
There are many factors but a student environment where bullying is minimized because the students socialize in the Friday bars is a huge part of the explaination.
Each student should be entitled to a student environment where he or she is not judged but rather welcomed to sit down over a beer or a glass of wine. Once people start to communicate, cultural differences is easy settled even in an international student environment.
References:
Danske studerende er flittige med bøgerne, by Gitte Bank Jensen, 24.dk, July 8, 2010
This morning we learned that Danish students have stopped taking a gap year. Once they have taken their high school degree, they continue straight on to the universities not even sober after a summer of celebration.
It is rather good. Our parliament has learned the population that you can make it to even the highest positions in our country without any pratical learning from the real world outside the school. Many of our politicians and even ministers have never worked a single day in a firm, but the lesson is that it is not important to know how people are living their general boring life in order to rule them.
The society as whole benefits when the students take their education faster. Once they are finished they take high paid jobs and start to pay taxes. Also we dont risk that they use the gap year to travel around outside Denmark.
Our foreign minister Lene Espersen doesn’t participate in international meetings. She takes holidays with her family instead. The lesson she gives us is important. The fact is that Denmark has outgrown the need to meet other nations. As the most developed country in the world despite the European Unions demands to dismantle our welfare society, we cannot not learn anything from anyone.
It was a very positive news which hit us this morning.
Reference:
Students quicker to graduate, DR News, June 16, 2010
An article on Npr.org present so-called new research where they attack the European drinking model.
With Drinking, Parent Rules Do Affect Teens’ Choices, npr.org, May 21, 2010
I is correct that the parents approach means everything when it comes to a teenager, who drinks alcohol. In Denmark the streets are filled with Night Owls – parents who patrol the street in Yellow jackets – so the teenagers can drink alcohol safely.
But it is not right that a firm standard where the teenager is not allowed to drink will benefit in the long run. A ban will result in secrecy. A teenager needs to learn about tradition and dangers of alcohol. The first rolemodel is the parent. As a parent you must make to sacrifice not to drink too much as teenagers uses their eyes rather than their ears when it comes to the conducts surrounding the consumption of alcohol.
In Denmark the parliament used real research when they changed the law so every teenagers aged 16 or more can buy alcohol on their own as long as the percentage is below 16.5. By doing they send a signal to both parents and teenagers to take responsibility for their actions. They also send a strong signal that violence is considered against the law. People who have visited Denmark know all to well that abstinence is equal riots and violence. Neighborhoods where large number of youth engaging in abstinence are more violent than the general neightboorhoods where teenagers group to talk and drink quietly.
Dear Extremists
Please do not abuse science to fulfill your political goal.
We did some research into use of zero tolorance policies in school environment after a school in the Danish town of Farum a couple of years ago stated that they wanted to return to the so-called “black school” from the 1950’s.
We learned about the case of then 14 year old Lisa Smith who had her life destroyed because she brought very little alcohol down to her middle school. She was robbed of every oppotunity of having a life just because the school board headed by Lakusta wanted to create a prisonlike environment for the students.
In an article from 2006 she braggs about her actions and also how she with her action increased teenage pregnancies by focusing on the one method which doesn’t work to prevent teenagers from getting pregnant. Today Denmark has fewer than 1,000 teenage pregnancies per year because the children are taught how to protect themselves and what sex is when they are 10. Most teenagers have their first intercourse when they are 17.5 years old.
Lakusta is a joke. In Denmark our parliament analyzed the latest research and the conclusion is that alcohol with a percentage lower than 16.5 is safe for teenagers. At age 16 they can even by it on their own without parental supervision.
We also know how violent teenagers become if they don’t interact with their peers in a relaxed environment over some beers. A large group of teenagers known as abstainers did in fact start a gang war here in Denmark, which have did cost several persons their lives.
Lakusta would fit better into the school administration in Teheran than Dalles.
We find that it is good that all the aid Denmark provide to countries in need abroad is about to be evaluate. The students in the United States do really suffer much worse than the catastrophees we are presented to during news broadcasts.
As Danes we are happy that we are better informed.
References:
Zero-tolerance policies lack flexibility, By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY, April 13, 1999
Drinking expulsion upheld, LMT online
In race, conservative is king, The morning Dalles News
Zero Tolerance, by ShannonsBubbles, June 7, 2009
A group of parents in the town of Odder did for year arrange the so-called bagparties where minors aged from 15 to 17 could party in a supervised environment.
The concept of these parties is that the parents talk with their child and discuss how many bottles of alcohol the child can drink during the entire party. All bottles are then tagged with the child’s name and put in a bag which is also tagged.
When the family arrive a the party they hand the bag over to the parents in charge of the party before the parents leave their child to party for this evening.
When the child needs a drink during the party the parents in charge see to that the child can get a drink from the personal bag only. If the child consume the contents of the bag too soon, then the party is over.
The parent group in Odder named young2party did arrange such parties for year. The police was happy, the local schools were happy and the parents were happy.
They all knew that if a supervised party environment doesn’t exist the minors will commit crimes to get alcohol and drink the alcohol secretly without parental supervision which could lead to damage of property or even fights.
But recently our country has been strucked by attacks from religious groups creating myths of possible dangers of letting minors start drinking alcohol too soon. They are with their tool called the prevention commision attacking the core of our identity and a 200 year old tradition where parents serve alcohol for their child for the very first time in relationship with the confirmation.
The parent group in Odder was suddenly also targeted despite their voluntary work for the good of the children. The authorities wanted to raise the agegroup to teenagers between 16 and 17. One year doesn’t sound of a lot but it makes a huge difference.
The teenagers will have an entire year or more from their confirmation to the time where they can enter these parties. What are they going to do in the meantime?
It is an easy question to answer. A lot of youth gangs are hosting illegal parties where they offer the teenagers drugs and alcohol. So the result of this new attitude by the authorities is that you take a normal group of teenagers and expose them to the risk of ending up a criminal environment where they will be involved in criminal activities. The gangs are not hosting these parties for free. They do it to recruit soldiers.
It is hard to understand why our government want to expose our youth to such a risk.
