torsdag den 25. oktober 2007
The Danish Society by Maria Aagaard
Presentation of the Danish Society
Religion and Society
The Danish nation is a modern society based on free speech, free press and the prospect of making a lot of individual choices and decisions.
A lot of progressive inhabitants live and work in this multicultural country, using these terms as a matter of course.
In Denmark we have freedom of conscience. This means you are allowed to worship any religious belief. From the multicultural perspective, there is a direct link to multireligiosity. Significantly, while some of the ethnic and cultural differences are slowly equated, the role of religion in post-modernity has changed and functions more and more as an identity marker.
In Denmark Christians have a tradition called “Konfimation”. It means, in short, that you confirm your baptism. It is your very own decision if you want to verify, but you are required to make the decision at the age of approximately 14. A lot of people would think this is a very young age to decide which religion you belong to. It is not just something you can jump out of again.
Christianity is the biggest religion in Denmark. About 85 % of the Danish population belongs to the established Christian church. However, in line with immigrants coming to Denmark, our religious perspectives are getting wider. Today around 200.000 Muslims are living in Denmark. This corresponds to almost 3% of the Danish population.
In the past years there have been a lot of misunderstandings between the above-mentioned religions, Christianity and Islam. To be specific, the Muhammad drawings have meant a lot to the relations between the religions. This had a huge influence in Danish politics, and we have questioned ourselves: When do we cross the border when it comes to free speech and free press, and religious harassments?
It is important to remember that the religions are not made to adapt to modern societies. It is not the religions which are developing, but the people who have developed into understanding the religion in a new meaning, in line with an increased knowledge and new society relations.
Religion and Society
The Danish nation is a modern society based on free speech, free press and the prospect of making a lot of individual choices and decisions.
A lot of progressive inhabitants live and work in this multicultural country, using these terms as a matter of course.
In Denmark we have freedom of conscience. This means you are allowed to worship any religious belief. From the multicultural perspective, there is a direct link to multireligiosity. Significantly, while some of the ethnic and cultural differences are slowly equated, the role of religion in post-modernity has changed and functions more and more as an identity marker.
In Denmark Christians have a tradition called “Konfimation”. It means, in short, that you confirm your baptism. It is your very own decision if you want to verify, but you are required to make the decision at the age of approximately 14. A lot of people would think this is a very young age to decide which religion you belong to. It is not just something you can jump out of again.
Christianity is the biggest religion in Denmark. About 85 % of the Danish population belongs to the established Christian church. However, in line with immigrants coming to Denmark, our religious perspectives are getting wider. Today around 200.000 Muslims are living in Denmark. This corresponds to almost 3% of the Danish population.
In the past years there have been a lot of misunderstandings between the above-mentioned religions, Christianity and Islam. To be specific, the Muhammad drawings have meant a lot to the relations between the religions. This had a huge influence in Danish politics, and we have questioned ourselves: When do we cross the border when it comes to free speech and free press, and religious harassments?
It is important to remember that the religions are not made to adapt to modern societies. It is not the religions which are developing, but the people who have developed into understanding the religion in a new meaning, in line with an increased knowledge and new society relations.
The Danish Media by Cecilie Huss
Cecilie 2.p 10/25/2007
“Presentation of the Danish society – the media”
The Danish Media
In my presentation of the media in Denmark, I have focused on the public service concept and its importance for democracy, and also the internet as a new media. To illustrate this I have made an interview with Tøger Seidenfaden, who’s the editor-in-chief of the Danish newspaper “Politiken”.
Public service
TV and radio is relatively expensive to produce, especially in a small country like Denmark. Therefore public service, where the media receives money from the state, is an important contribution to ensure quality and versatility in the media information- stream. In this way public service makes sure, that the media is not only owned by special economic and political interest groups, who in that way could ensure only positive accounts in the media of themselves. On the importance of a free press, Tøger Seidenfaden, editor-in-chief of Politiken states: “a free and independent press is crucial for a democracy. First and foremost, because to the majority of the population, the media is their primary source of information to be informed about what is happening in society. Also, the media is a precondition for popularly elected politicians to speak and raise critical questions”. Therefore, the press must accept that one of its most important duties is to ensure an open debate about the developments of society. For that reason, the critical press plays an important part in a country like Denmark, where democracy and freedom of the press are concepts to which we attach great importance.
The internet as a new media
A growing number of the Danes use the internet as a news service, in stead of reading the newspapers. With the internet it’s possible to post news in just a few minutes compared to the newspapers, which takes longer time to print. This puts pressure on the traditional media – like the newspapers – and forces them to concentrate more efforts on their web-editorial. According to Tøger Seidenfaden, the newspapers this time plays a central part in the development – compared to the newspapers adjustment to TV. “The internet is a positive challenge – which of course forces the newspaper to be even more quality-conscious, when it has to survive on other things than breaking news”, says Tøger Seidenfaden, when questioned about the quality of the Danish media answers: “By international standard we have a very good press in Denmark – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t become any better”.
By: Cecilie Huss – 2.p Ordrup Gymnasium
“Presentation of the Danish society – the media”
The Danish Media
In my presentation of the media in Denmark, I have focused on the public service concept and its importance for democracy, and also the internet as a new media. To illustrate this I have made an interview with Tøger Seidenfaden, who’s the editor-in-chief of the Danish newspaper “Politiken”.
Public service
TV and radio is relatively expensive to produce, especially in a small country like Denmark. Therefore public service, where the media receives money from the state, is an important contribution to ensure quality and versatility in the media information- stream. In this way public service makes sure, that the media is not only owned by special economic and political interest groups, who in that way could ensure only positive accounts in the media of themselves. On the importance of a free press, Tøger Seidenfaden, editor-in-chief of Politiken states: “a free and independent press is crucial for a democracy. First and foremost, because to the majority of the population, the media is their primary source of information to be informed about what is happening in society. Also, the media is a precondition for popularly elected politicians to speak and raise critical questions”. Therefore, the press must accept that one of its most important duties is to ensure an open debate about the developments of society. For that reason, the critical press plays an important part in a country like Denmark, where democracy and freedom of the press are concepts to which we attach great importance.
The internet as a new media
A growing number of the Danes use the internet as a news service, in stead of reading the newspapers. With the internet it’s possible to post news in just a few minutes compared to the newspapers, which takes longer time to print. This puts pressure on the traditional media – like the newspapers – and forces them to concentrate more efforts on their web-editorial. According to Tøger Seidenfaden, the newspapers this time plays a central part in the development – compared to the newspapers adjustment to TV. “The internet is a positive challenge – which of course forces the newspaper to be even more quality-conscious, when it has to survive on other things than breaking news”, says Tøger Seidenfaden, when questioned about the quality of the Danish media answers: “By international standard we have a very good press in Denmark – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it can’t become any better”.
By: Cecilie Huss – 2.p Ordrup Gymnasium
The Danish Education System by Mads Sørensen
The Danish education system.
The quality of the Danish education system is high, comparable to many other countries. Denmark doesn’t have many natural resources like oil, natural gasses, gold, silver etc. That’s why Denmark has to “live” off their knowledge, which is one of the reasons why the Danish education system has so high demands.
The Danes especially need to be aware of countries like China, which is incredibly good at producing cheap products. That’s why it’s so important for the Danish people to follow the development, so we don’t become bankrupt because of to high prices on the products we offer. The state is also focusing a lot on getting Danish people out on the labour market as fast as possible, so the state’s income is on it’s maximum level.
The state pays and regulates the education system, which means that all Danish citizens can get an education, no matter what financial class they are in. There are a lot of Danes who is taking an education because it’s free and everyone is allowed one or more. Those people who are taking an education are also getting financial support from the state. They get a curtain amount of money each month so they can pay for their food, rent etc. It was a man called Grundtvig who started to argue for all Danish citizens to get a free education on a lifelong basis, which means that they should have the opportunity to take an education any time they want.
Danes start their education in the public municipal school when they are 7 years old. It takes 9-10 years to carry through the municipal school. The municipal school is a kind of intro to the classes they can choose and focus on after the municipal school, so they can get an idea on what classes they get mixed up in. In many schools there is a so called after school centre, where the children can play computer, do sports, socialize or go on expeditions with the teachers and other students. In that way the children can learn how to act when they are together with other people. When the children reach 7’th grade they start to get marks. This is the time when the school starts to be more important for the children’s future. After the municipal school the children can decide what education they would like to take. The most normal educations youngsters decide to take are general upper secondary education which includes STX, HHX, HF and HTX. It takes between 2-3 years to finish one of these educations, depending on which of them they decide to take. There are given marks from -3 to 12 in general upper secondary educations. This is what the marks are like: -3, 00, 02 (passes the test), 04, 7, 10 and 12 where -3 is the lowest and 12 is the highest mark. After having finished the general upper secondary education, there are some other educations people can decide to take.
Written by Mads A. Sørensen
The quality of the Danish education system is high, comparable to many other countries. Denmark doesn’t have many natural resources like oil, natural gasses, gold, silver etc. That’s why Denmark has to “live” off their knowledge, which is one of the reasons why the Danish education system has so high demands.
The Danes especially need to be aware of countries like China, which is incredibly good at producing cheap products. That’s why it’s so important for the Danish people to follow the development, so we don’t become bankrupt because of to high prices on the products we offer. The state is also focusing a lot on getting Danish people out on the labour market as fast as possible, so the state’s income is on it’s maximum level.
The state pays and regulates the education system, which means that all Danish citizens can get an education, no matter what financial class they are in. There are a lot of Danes who is taking an education because it’s free and everyone is allowed one or more. Those people who are taking an education are also getting financial support from the state. They get a curtain amount of money each month so they can pay for their food, rent etc. It was a man called Grundtvig who started to argue for all Danish citizens to get a free education on a lifelong basis, which means that they should have the opportunity to take an education any time they want.
Danes start their education in the public municipal school when they are 7 years old. It takes 9-10 years to carry through the municipal school. The municipal school is a kind of intro to the classes they can choose and focus on after the municipal school, so they can get an idea on what classes they get mixed up in. In many schools there is a so called after school centre, where the children can play computer, do sports, socialize or go on expeditions with the teachers and other students. In that way the children can learn how to act when they are together with other people. When the children reach 7’th grade they start to get marks. This is the time when the school starts to be more important for the children’s future. After the municipal school the children can decide what education they would like to take. The most normal educations youngsters decide to take are general upper secondary education which includes STX, HHX, HF and HTX. It takes between 2-3 years to finish one of these educations, depending on which of them they decide to take. There are given marks from -3 to 12 in general upper secondary educations. This is what the marks are like: -3, 00, 02 (passes the test), 04, 7, 10 and 12 where -3 is the lowest and 12 is the highest mark. After having finished the general upper secondary education, there are some other educations people can decide to take.
Written by Mads A. Sørensen
The Danish Education System by Vincent Dreyer
The Danish Education System
Denmark is well known for its education system which is paid by the government. Because of the economic support, everyone gets a chance to break their social status and get to the top in society.
The education system is structured by three steps.
By Vincent Dreyer_____________________
1. Step
The first step is primary school, it can be done in different ways as the parents choose for their child. It can be a private school or a municipal school. Primary school takes 9 years of schooling to complete; it goes from 1st grade to 9th grade. 0th grade and 10th grade is voluntary. It’s also a possibility to take the primary school education at home, because Denmark doesn’t have compulsory school attendance, only compulsory education attendance. Also at continuation schools the students can take their last years from 8th to 10th grade. At the end of the 9th grade students have to take the leaving certificate examinations which contains of several written and oral examinations. Further steps in the system require the 9th grade leaving certificate.
10th grade is an extra voluntary year. At the end of 10th grade, students have to decide
if a 9th grade or 10th grade examination is wanted to get the leaving certificate.
2. Step
After primary school is completed it’s able to pick a further youth-education this can, for example, be the upper-secondary school or vocational studies studies.
There are a lot of opportunities after primary school, but most chosen is the upper-secondary-school level (STX/HF) (High-school) and technical educations (HTX) and business schools (HHX). To get to these levels, the 9th grade leaving certificate is required.
The upper-secondary school is 3 years expiration. In this education the student have to choose subjects on different levels. The subjects Danish and history are always obligatory on high level.
The HF education is very like the upper-secondary-school but it’s only takes 2 years to complete but it’s still the same curriculum the students have to complete. The HF programme can also be taken on a single-subject basis and is also taught in evening classes.
The HTX education is a technical education based on subjects with scientific and technique on a high level.
3. Step
After the youth-educations it’s able to choose a short, medium or long education. The short education is about 2 years long. It can be for an example creative/artistic, technical, or health-care educations.
The medium educations are about 3 to 4, 5 years long. It can be studies like: linguistic, pedagogy, social studies, economy etc.
The long educations are about 4-6 years long. A lot of these educations contain subjects as theory and science. To get in these educations it normally requires a average number of grades from the youth-education.
When the last step is completed the labour-marked is ready for the new educated Danish youngsters.
Denmark is well known for its education system which is paid by the government. Because of the economic support, everyone gets a chance to break their social status and get to the top in society.
The education system is structured by three steps.
By Vincent Dreyer_____________________
1. Step
The first step is primary school, it can be done in different ways as the parents choose for their child. It can be a private school or a municipal school. Primary school takes 9 years of schooling to complete; it goes from 1st grade to 9th grade. 0th grade and 10th grade is voluntary. It’s also a possibility to take the primary school education at home, because Denmark doesn’t have compulsory school attendance, only compulsory education attendance. Also at continuation schools the students can take their last years from 8th to 10th grade. At the end of the 9th grade students have to take the leaving certificate examinations which contains of several written and oral examinations. Further steps in the system require the 9th grade leaving certificate.
10th grade is an extra voluntary year. At the end of 10th grade, students have to decide
if a 9th grade or 10th grade examination is wanted to get the leaving certificate.
2. Step
After primary school is completed it’s able to pick a further youth-education this can, for example, be the upper-secondary school or vocational studies studies.
There are a lot of opportunities after primary school, but most chosen is the upper-secondary-school level (STX/HF) (High-school) and technical educations (HTX) and business schools (HHX). To get to these levels, the 9th grade leaving certificate is required.
The upper-secondary school is 3 years expiration. In this education the student have to choose subjects on different levels. The subjects Danish and history are always obligatory on high level.
The HF education is very like the upper-secondary-school but it’s only takes 2 years to complete but it’s still the same curriculum the students have to complete. The HF programme can also be taken on a single-subject basis and is also taught in evening classes.
The HTX education is a technical education based on subjects with scientific and technique on a high level.
3. Step
After the youth-educations it’s able to choose a short, medium or long education. The short education is about 2 years long. It can be for an example creative/artistic, technical, or health-care educations.
The medium educations are about 3 to 4, 5 years long. It can be studies like: linguistic, pedagogy, social studies, economy etc.
The long educations are about 4-6 years long. A lot of these educations contain subjects as theory and science. To get in these educations it normally requires a average number of grades from the youth-education.
When the last step is completed the labour-marked is ready for the new educated Danish youngsters.
The Danish Education System by Philip Hamm
The Danish education system
Here in Denmark most people know that we have to make money using our knowledge, instead of our hands. That is why the government spends a great amount of money too the Danish education system. Based on that account, they expect fully professional and qualified students, when they graduate, but how does the Danish education system work?
By Philip Hamm 2p – Ordrup Gymnasium
Due to the high taxes and duties that are to be found in Denmark, we have to use our knowledge to make money, instead of our hands, as it is seen in Asia.
That is why the Danish government uses about 144,8 billion kroner (19 billion euros) on the educational system, which is about 8,2 % of the Danish BNP. As a result of that, education in Denmark is free for all.
When a kid is at the age of 6-7, its parents may choose either a municipal school (duty-free) or a private school (self-governing institution, where you pay a fee.)
These schools include both primary and lower secondary education with no streaming.
After 9 years in school, you may choose a set of different youth educations (upper secondary education).
These educations are founded to prepare the youngsters for higher education, and include a variety of different programs. At this point the students are about 16-19-years-old (please look at “FIGUR1” while reading the following);
STX (3-year upper secondary school leaving examination)
HHX (3-year higher commercial examination)
HTX (3-year higher technical examination)
HF (2-year higher preparatory examination course)
These 4 educations, depending on your grade, give access to almost every education. (80,4% of the Danish youth chose one of the 4 educations and graduated (2003))
A minor group of youngsters chooses either a vocational education/training (VET) or individual programs. These educations leads directly to professional bachelor degrees, and are mainly focused on technical, mechanical or commercial fields.
The ones who complete an upper secondary education can, as referred to above, choose among almost any education they like. They can get Diploma programs, Bachelor degrees, or long cycle higher educations, which can be “upgraded” to candidatus or PhD. (again look at “FIGUR1”)
Some of these educations have no demands of a certain grade point average, while others have either small, or moderate demands. Only a few educations (10-15) have very high demands regarding to grade point average, but these limits gets adjusted every year, depending on the number of appliers.
Beside the grade point average, some educations also demands that you have accomplished, for example, math at an advanced level. If that’s not the case, you can upgrade the subject, also after you have ended the upper secondary education.
The Danish government has over the past few years, tried to ensure competitiveness of the Danish education system, in today’s global society. The government has, for example, introduced the new 7-point scale. It’s been introduced to make sure that Danish grades can be compared with the International scale.
Also they have introduced the new upper secondary education system, which helps students by offering options that help the youngsters specialise themselves.
Here in Denmark most people know that we have to make money using our knowledge, instead of our hands. That is why the government spends a great amount of money too the Danish education system. Based on that account, they expect fully professional and qualified students, when they graduate, but how does the Danish education system work?
By Philip Hamm 2p – Ordrup Gymnasium
Due to the high taxes and duties that are to be found in Denmark, we have to use our knowledge to make money, instead of our hands, as it is seen in Asia.
That is why the Danish government uses about 144,8 billion kroner (19 billion euros) on the educational system, which is about 8,2 % of the Danish BNP. As a result of that, education in Denmark is free for all.
When a kid is at the age of 6-7, its parents may choose either a municipal school (duty-free) or a private school (self-governing institution, where you pay a fee.)
These schools include both primary and lower secondary education with no streaming.
After 9 years in school, you may choose a set of different youth educations (upper secondary education).
These educations are founded to prepare the youngsters for higher education, and include a variety of different programs. At this point the students are about 16-19-years-old (please look at “FIGUR1” while reading the following);
STX (3-year upper secondary school leaving examination)
HHX (3-year higher commercial examination)
HTX (3-year higher technical examination)
HF (2-year higher preparatory examination course)
These 4 educations, depending on your grade, give access to almost every education. (80,4% of the Danish youth chose one of the 4 educations and graduated (2003))
A minor group of youngsters chooses either a vocational education/training (VET) or individual programs. These educations leads directly to professional bachelor degrees, and are mainly focused on technical, mechanical or commercial fields.
The ones who complete an upper secondary education can, as referred to above, choose among almost any education they like. They can get Diploma programs, Bachelor degrees, or long cycle higher educations, which can be “upgraded” to candidatus or PhD. (again look at “FIGUR1”)
Some of these educations have no demands of a certain grade point average, while others have either small, or moderate demands. Only a few educations (10-15) have very high demands regarding to grade point average, but these limits gets adjusted every year, depending on the number of appliers.
Beside the grade point average, some educations also demands that you have accomplished, for example, math at an advanced level. If that’s not the case, you can upgrade the subject, also after you have ended the upper secondary education.
The Danish government has over the past few years, tried to ensure competitiveness of the Danish education system, in today’s global society. The government has, for example, introduced the new 7-point scale. It’s been introduced to make sure that Danish grades can be compared with the International scale.
Also they have introduced the new upper secondary education system, which helps students by offering options that help the youngsters specialise themselves.
The Crime Rate in Denmark by Alexander Nuyles
The crime rate in Denmark
By Alexander Nuyles Nielsen
Ordrup Gymnasium, 2.P
Hello there in Italy!
In my presentation of Denmark I will discuss the crime rate in our country. To be more specific, I will only discuss crimes that only violence, since criminality in an overall perspective is a very comprehensive and extensive subject.
In Denmark, we have an age of criminal responsibility at the age of 15, which means that any individual below 15 years of age is immune to our penalty law.
Some of the politicians in our government believe that the age of criminal responsibility should be lowered to the age of around 12 or 13 instead because of the fact that we at the moment are experiencing an increasing rate of violence being committed by individuals in this age group. While this is an on-going debate among some politicians, the violence in our country has increased over the last 5 years and is increasing year after year. This is manifested in our official Danish statistics at www.dst.dk website, as illustrated in the graph on page 2.
The majority of violence takes place in major cities such as our capital Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense. It typically occurs at night time during weekends where people are out to enjoy the city and usually end up intoxicated because of drugs and alcohol. People in this condition are more disposed to be violent and aggressive, thereby committing devastating actions.
Our media has also begun to frequently focus more on this issue by writing about it. As the media informs the public it on the other hand also has a scaring effect because people now begin to worry about their own safety when they walk the streets at night. As a consequence, people start to question the efforts from the police and therefore find it justifiable to legalize the right to protect them selves at any cost.
This means nowadays that some people in Denmark are armed with a knife or something equivalent as a protection because it makes them feel safer. Not only is it against the law here in Denmark to be armed, but it certainly also increases the danger of people getting hurt.
A lot of Danes believe that the violence in Denmark is generally caused by the foreigners from the Muslim countries.
This due to the fact that statistics show at the official Danish statistics at www.dst.dk website, that a lot of Muslims commit violence as compared to the number of Muslim immigrants in Denmark. It does not necessarily mean that all Muslims in general commit violence, but on the other hand statistics show that a minor group of Muslims commits violence over and over again.
It has not been my intention to scare you and make it sound Denmark is not a safe country to visit. I do not hope that my description of the violence rate in our country may have made you uncomfortable. The chances of getting assaulted at night in Copenhagen or other major cities are small, but if it happens to you, then you are very unfortunate. Unfortunately, statistics still show that violence has increased compared to previous years.
By Alexander Nuyles Nielsen
Ordrup Gymnasium, 2.P
Hello there in Italy!
In my presentation of Denmark I will discuss the crime rate in our country. To be more specific, I will only discuss crimes that only violence, since criminality in an overall perspective is a very comprehensive and extensive subject.
In Denmark, we have an age of criminal responsibility at the age of 15, which means that any individual below 15 years of age is immune to our penalty law.
Some of the politicians in our government believe that the age of criminal responsibility should be lowered to the age of around 12 or 13 instead because of the fact that we at the moment are experiencing an increasing rate of violence being committed by individuals in this age group. While this is an on-going debate among some politicians, the violence in our country has increased over the last 5 years and is increasing year after year. This is manifested in our official Danish statistics at www.dst.dk website, as illustrated in the graph on page 2.
The majority of violence takes place in major cities such as our capital Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Odense. It typically occurs at night time during weekends where people are out to enjoy the city and usually end up intoxicated because of drugs and alcohol. People in this condition are more disposed to be violent and aggressive, thereby committing devastating actions.
Our media has also begun to frequently focus more on this issue by writing about it. As the media informs the public it on the other hand also has a scaring effect because people now begin to worry about their own safety when they walk the streets at night. As a consequence, people start to question the efforts from the police and therefore find it justifiable to legalize the right to protect them selves at any cost.
This means nowadays that some people in Denmark are armed with a knife or something equivalent as a protection because it makes them feel safer. Not only is it against the law here in Denmark to be armed, but it certainly also increases the danger of people getting hurt.
A lot of Danes believe that the violence in Denmark is generally caused by the foreigners from the Muslim countries.
This due to the fact that statistics show at the official Danish statistics at www.dst.dk website, that a lot of Muslims commit violence as compared to the number of Muslim immigrants in Denmark. It does not necessarily mean that all Muslims in general commit violence, but on the other hand statistics show that a minor group of Muslims commits violence over and over again.
It has not been my intention to scare you and make it sound Denmark is not a safe country to visit. I do not hope that my description of the violence rate in our country may have made you uncomfortable. The chances of getting assaulted at night in Copenhagen or other major cities are small, but if it happens to you, then you are very unfortunate. Unfortunately, statistics still show that violence has increased compared to previous years.
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