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I live in Norway and we have similar problems with some immigrant children starting in the regular school without speaking Norwegian. It drains resources and ta

by tyfon 8y ago

I live in Norway and we have similar problems with some immigrant children starting in the regular school without speaking Norwegian. It drains resources and takes away from the children that has learned to speak the language. Denmark and Norway is quite similar and it's extremely common to have the children in daycare while both parents work. This is common across the board and low-income families get this for free (at least here). Daycare is a good place to learn the language and obligatory daycare could be a solution to this. HOWEVER, I am very disturbed by the statement that they will be forced through religious practices. In Norway, all religious activitys in daycare / school are optional. My children are not participating in these things since we are atheist, so are many others due to various reasons. I hope that the article is misrepresenting this and that is the same way in Denmark. Maybe some Danes can enlighten us.

Cthulhu_ 8y ago
I live in the Netherlands and we have ways to deal with people moving into the country whose kids don't speak Dutch. In every county and/or cities, the local elementary schools pool their non-Dutch speaking children in one or several classes, focusing on Dutch for the first 1-2 years the children live here, or however long is necessary to get them up to speed.
- tyfon 8y ago
  This is also a solution and one which works also for those not born in the country but are moving in when they are older. It does put a drain on the school system though and at least here in Norway the budgets are pretty tight already. And considering we do not pool students like you it also means that the rest of the class has to wait or that you have to leave those that do not speak the language behind the curve. I guess it still comes down to prioritisations of the politicians. A combination of training in daycare and making separate pools in the school would be good.
nkobber 8y ago
I just quickly read through the proposal (https://www.regeringen.dk/media/4937/publikation_%C3%A9t-danmark-uden-parallelsamfund.pdf https://www.regeringen.dk/media/4937/publikation_%C3%A9t-dan...) I do not see religion mentioned
- tyfon 8y ago
  The article is wrong then: "or mandatory instruction in “Danish values,” including the traditions of Christmas and Easter" Not too surprising, I think Denmark has religious freedom specified in their constitution as do Norway.
  - Rjevski 8y ago
    Wouldn't that be considered general culture though, considering most people in that country still celebrate those holidays? You can not believe in that particular religion, but still it probably wouldn't hurt anyone knowing the reasons & beliefs behind those particular days.
  - AstralStorm 8y ago
    They will not be forced to attend church or believe anything, but they will learn what a church is or the related traditions. Probably some other such as orthodox, Jewish and Islam basics. I'm pretty sure Danish religious and cultural education is quite even handed compared to others such as say Polish. Religious freedom is not a license for ignorance. Remember that Denmark is already quite secular.
audunw 8y ago
Christmas and Easter are really not religious holidays though. Half the traditions date back to paganism/pre-christian culture and those are also the ones that are most important to scandinavian culture. Christmas is even still called "Jul", which is also of pagan origin. So it depends on what they mean, they shouldn't be forced to go to church for a christmas sermon, but I don't see anything wrong with having them walk around a christmas tree and sing about santa for instance. To me, christianity has become pure culture. I really don't mind singing about jesus anymore than I mind singing about trolls or Odin. I think that's the way it should be. In a way, by going out of your way to avoid christianity, you are taking it more seriously than you're taking Norse mythology.. and if both are just superstition, why would you?

by tyfon 8y ago

Cthulhu_ 8y ago

I live in the Netherlands and we have ways to deal with people moving into the country whose kids don't speak Dutch. In every county and/or cities, the local elementary schools pool their non-Dutch speaking children in one or several classes, focusing on Dutch for the first 1-2 years the children live here, or however long is necessary to get them up to speed.

tyfon 8y ago
This is also a solution and one which works also for those not born in the country but are moving in when they are older. It does put a drain on the school system though and at least here in Norway the budgets are pretty tight already. And considering we do not pool students like you it also means that the rest of the class has to wait or that you have to leave those that do not speak the language behind the curve. I guess it still comes down to prioritisations of the politicians. A combination of training in daycare and making separate pools in the school would be good.

nkobber 8y ago

I just quickly read through the proposal (https://www.regeringen.dk/media/4937/publikation_%C3%A9t-danmark-uden-parallelsamfund.pdf https://www.regeringen.dk/media/4937/publikation_%C3%A9t-dan...) I do not see religion mentioned

tyfon 8y ago
The article is wrong then: "or mandatory instruction in “Danish values,” including the traditions of Christmas and Easter" Not too surprising, I think Denmark has religious freedom specified in their constitution as do Norway.
- Rjevski 8y ago
  Wouldn't that be considered general culture though, considering most people in that country still celebrate those holidays? You can not believe in that particular religion, but still it probably wouldn't hurt anyone knowing the reasons & beliefs behind those particular days.
- AstralStorm 8y ago
  They will not be forced to attend church or believe anything, but they will learn what a church is or the related traditions. Probably some other such as orthodox, Jewish and Islam basics. I'm pretty sure Danish religious and cultural education is quite even handed compared to others such as say Polish. Religious freedom is not a license for ignorance. Remember that Denmark is already quite secular.

audunw 8y ago

Christmas and Easter are really not religious holidays though. Half the traditions date back to paganism/pre-christian culture and those are also the ones that are most important to scandinavian culture. Christmas is even still called "Jul", which is also of pagan origin. So it depends on what they mean, they shouldn't be forced to go to church for a christmas sermon, but I don't see anything wrong with having them walk around a christmas tree and sing about santa for instance. To me, christianity has become pure culture. I really don't mind singing about jesus anymore than I mind singing about trolls or Odin. I think that's the way it should be. In a way, by going out of your way to avoid christianity, you are taking it more seriously than you're taking Norse mythology.. and if both are just superstition, why would you?