Reasons to be Cheerful
We waved DD off at an unearthly hour yesterday morning onto a flight to Copenhagen. She's going to an immersive Danish language course and will be gone for three weeks. It's a big step - to go abroad alone for that length of time, living in a communal setting with people you've never met before, and I don't think I would have had the courage to do it at her age (19). But we've heard briefly from her and she's already settling in and having a great time.
The Scandinavian Folk School system is really quite remarkable. Set up in the 1920s, it's a network of institutions across the Nordic countries where people can go for any length of time from a week to a year and immerse themselves in a whole new subject, without any assessment or formal qualification other than their ability to work and grow as part of a team. The choice is very impressive. There are sports schools, outdoor pursuits and survival schools, social sciences and culture schools, IT, drama, music, physical sciences, film, media studies...and a generous bursary scheme putting it within the reach of most people. International students are welcomed and supported as they learn the language. In fact, the course DD has gone on is free apart from the cost of getting out there. It's a fantastic opportunity.
Why is it that these small northern countries continually put us to shame with their vision and practical idealism? I know so many young people who burn out around the age of 17 when they have to go straight from the stress of major public examinations into the even more stressful and competititve scramble for a university place. Sometimes they get chronic fatigue syndrome or other health problems, others just completely go off the rails. We expect so much of them, particularly the ability to make permanent, life-changing decisions under stress when their hormones are raging and their bodies are developing. A system of folk schools along Scandinavian lines would do many of them the world of good. It's more important to grow and develop, to take risks and accept challenges and to learn how to get along with people from all nations than to stuff your pack with grades. I'm thrilled that DD has been offered this opportunity. She's always absorbed languages and new perspectives with ease and she's becoming an incisive and astute politician.
Good news, too, about our son. A few weeks ago, after a course on an immunosupressent to control his eczema and allergies, he managed to get mumps in his Finals week. He was locked out of four of his six exams and we thought he'd have to resit. However, the University have awarded him a good first on the basis of course work and the two papers he took. It's wonderful news - now he can graduate alongside his friends, and his transition to an MA next September will be so much easier. Best of all, perhaps, he can relax and enjoy the summer.
So, all things considered, I'm feeling a lot more positive. And it's sunny, which always helps. Wonderful news, too, about Andy Murray. I'm not sure how widely this is known outside the UK, but Murray comes from Dunblane in Scotland, the scene of Britain's worst-ever (possibly only?) school massacre. Not only that, but he was actually a pupil in the school where over a dozen five and six year olds were shot 17 years ago. Naturally he doesn't like to talk about it. He also suffers from a malformation of the patella, which has given him a lot of knee pain over the years. It impresses and inspires me that adversity hasn't held him back. Like many champions, he made the sacrifice of leaving everything familiar behind as a teenager and going to train abroad. It's a tough thing to do. He's worked his way up through many challenges, and now he's reached his goal. If he can do that, I can survive and thrive with a torn ligament or two. Well done, Andy.
A School for Peace - more about the Folk Schools from an alumnus of the one DD has gone to.
The Scandinavian Folk School system is really quite remarkable. Set up in the 1920s, it's a network of institutions across the Nordic countries where people can go for any length of time from a week to a year and immerse themselves in a whole new subject, without any assessment or formal qualification other than their ability to work and grow as part of a team. The choice is very impressive. There are sports schools, outdoor pursuits and survival schools, social sciences and culture schools, IT, drama, music, physical sciences, film, media studies...and a generous bursary scheme putting it within the reach of most people. International students are welcomed and supported as they learn the language. In fact, the course DD has gone on is free apart from the cost of getting out there. It's a fantastic opportunity.
Why is it that these small northern countries continually put us to shame with their vision and practical idealism? I know so many young people who burn out around the age of 17 when they have to go straight from the stress of major public examinations into the even more stressful and competititve scramble for a university place. Sometimes they get chronic fatigue syndrome or other health problems, others just completely go off the rails. We expect so much of them, particularly the ability to make permanent, life-changing decisions under stress when their hormones are raging and their bodies are developing. A system of folk schools along Scandinavian lines would do many of them the world of good. It's more important to grow and develop, to take risks and accept challenges and to learn how to get along with people from all nations than to stuff your pack with grades. I'm thrilled that DD has been offered this opportunity. She's always absorbed languages and new perspectives with ease and she's becoming an incisive and astute politician.
Good news, too, about our son. A few weeks ago, after a course on an immunosupressent to control his eczema and allergies, he managed to get mumps in his Finals week. He was locked out of four of his six exams and we thought he'd have to resit. However, the University have awarded him a good first on the basis of course work and the two papers he took. It's wonderful news - now he can graduate alongside his friends, and his transition to an MA next September will be so much easier. Best of all, perhaps, he can relax and enjoy the summer.
So, all things considered, I'm feeling a lot more positive. And it's sunny, which always helps. Wonderful news, too, about Andy Murray. I'm not sure how widely this is known outside the UK, but Murray comes from Dunblane in Scotland, the scene of Britain's worst-ever (possibly only?) school massacre. Not only that, but he was actually a pupil in the school where over a dozen five and six year olds were shot 17 years ago. Naturally he doesn't like to talk about it. He also suffers from a malformation of the patella, which has given him a lot of knee pain over the years. It impresses and inspires me that adversity hasn't held him back. Like many champions, he made the sacrifice of leaving everything familiar behind as a teenager and going to train abroad. It's a tough thing to do. He's worked his way up through many challenges, and now he's reached his goal. If he can do that, I can survive and thrive with a torn ligament or two. Well done, Andy.
A School for Peace - more about the Folk Schools from an alumnus of the one DD has gone to.