r/sweden • u/lynxlynxlynx- rawr • May 29 '15
Fråga/Diskussion Welcome /r/greece! Today we are hosting Greece for a little cultural and question exchange session!
Welcome Greek friends! Please select the "Greek Friend" flair and ask away!
Today we our hosting our friends from /r/greece! Please come and join us and answer their questions about Sweden and the Swedish way of life! Please leave top comments for /r/greece users coming over with a question or comment and please refrain from trolling, rudeness and personal attacks etc. Moderation out side of the rules may take place as to not spoil this friendly exchange. The reddiquette applies and will be moderated after in this thread.
At the same time /r/greece is having us over as guests! Stop by in this thread and ask a question, drop a comment or just say hello!
Enjoy!
/The moderators of /r/sweden & /r/greece
For previous exchanges please see the wiki.
Nu drar vi på charter semester till Grekland! Känt för sina skäggia filosofer, rederimiljonärer, oliver, tzatziki och politiskt trubbel! Vi är nog många som besökt Grekland för sol och bad och följt deras resa genom den ekonomiska krisen. Som ett land vars historia varit med att forma hur världen ser ut idag så finns det mycket ver vi har att lära av detta folk så passa på att fråga ut dom lite! Som alltid ber vi er att raportera opassande kommentarer och lämna top kommentarer i denna tråd till användare från /r/greece! Ha så kul!
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u/gschizas May 29 '15
Ok, I just went to the bottom of the page and I saw Pippi Longstockings.
I just want to say that Pippi is one of the first memories I have of watching TV. She was probably the first superhero I've ever known.
Thank you for making her :)
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u/Drazla May 31 '15
She is widely regarded as a national treasure in Sweden - almost everyone you ask will have read or seen some of her works.
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u/ntebis May 29 '15
Just came to say hello! I am currently studying in Australia and I have a couple of friends that are from Sweden!
Please send me some baconost!
Thanks
Also my favourite word in Swedish is Svenska. I don't know why, I just like to say it !
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May 29 '15
Hi!
Around 2003 or 2004, I visited a small school in Kiruna and I actually stayed there for some time, as part of an exchange program.
Now, it has been some time but my impression back then was that the teaching style and the whole setting was much less formal that the one I've seen in Greece (and also other EU countries). I am not referring to clothing, but mainly on the way topics were taught, how grades work, how one can progress to higher education etc (although admittedly I have a very narrow view).
In related discussions in Greece, the Scandinavian education model comes up often and many people tend to idealize it.
I would be very interested in the pros and cons that you have found, while attending school there and also what do you think of the more "traditional" teaching model that is used in other EU countries.
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May 29 '15
Sweden has the last few years had terrible results in international tests of students. So I think it's fair to say that our model doesn't necessarily work very well from an education perspective.
But I don't actually know what the difference is between our school and a more "traditional" teaching model.
There's also plenty of other problems in the Swedish school such as a big shortage on teachers, and even more so on good ones. I actually worked as a teacher for a while with only my high school education, they just didn't have anyone else.
But yeah, what's so different about our education model?
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May 29 '15 edited May 29 '15
I am not sure if I know the difference, because I lack knowledge of your system. Anyway I will try...
In Greece the whole thing is very exam- and grade-focused. Higher education is free but it is very competitive. To be accepted at a good university you need to do well in our nation-wide exams. The extracurricular stuff do not matter. So if you are a memorization machine, with no other skills or interests, you are considered successful by the "system".
Apart from teaching science and literature school does not much else. Math, Physics etc are king.
Due to the competition, the great majority of the students attend private lessons in the afternoon. Because you know, everyone is doing so, and hence the questions in the high school graduation exams are getting harder and the level of the students raises. If you rely on school to get prepared for the exams you are pretty much doomed (ok not doomed but surely underperform), unless you are exceptionally smart.
Sports, arts etc are a joke. Noone takes them seriously, in some cases not even the teachers. You actually cannot do much at school apart from the standard modules and some optionals which are usually languages. Even though I did well as a student, I felt pretty much trapped in the narrow limits our school and I actually had to relearn stuff in a proper way at the university, because I found out I had no deep understanding of some (e.g. math, physics) concepts but I had rather memorized them.
All in all, our schools do not create well rounded persons, rather good scientists who perform well under pressure, I would say. There are of course teachers who try to teach "life" too, but a teacher is pretty much limited.
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May 29 '15
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May 30 '15
Well no, but I think it was next to a large sports hall, probably for hockey etc... does it make any sense?
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u/paul232 May 30 '15
I personally love Mythology. I grew up with Greek Mythology and around 20, when I discovered Norse Mythology I started reading and really liking it..
Do you learn about Norse Mythology in school? Is it generally promoted as a culture? Also do you know anything about Greek Mythology?
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May 30 '15
Yes, we learnd about both greek and norse mythology,
Greek somewhere between 13-16 agespam and norse in the age between 7-13, i dont know if they still do it im 30 years old.
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May 30 '15
I had a book with old norse stories when I was younger, so I might not be correctly remembering what I was taught in school and what I read myself. But we do learn about it, but it is early in school, like year 4-6, so my memory is a bit fussy. I think we did some greek mythology in high school religious studies, but not that much. We do learn about it, but not all that much from my experience, it's more the kind of thing you stumble upon in for example a Swedish text-book just to have something to read about.
Norse mythology is seen more as a part of our history here, nothing that is really relevant any more, it's just interesting old stories. Most of it completely died out due to our state being fanatically protestant for a long while. Some folk-lore lived on, but most of what we learn about it now is from the Icelandic sources. I would personally have loved if more of it was left in Sweden, the stories are so much cooler than anything Christianity has, it's also a lot more unique. At least we still have most of our weekdays named after the old gods :)
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u/gschizas May 29 '15
I'm seeing a new trend of Swedish literature getting translated and published outside Sweden. I think the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (Män som hatar kvinnor, "Men Who Hate Women") is probably what started this. What are your thoughts about this? Are authors well known in Sweden? Are there more authors worth knowing about?
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May 29 '15
I know a few foreigners who were quite captivated by Röde Orm (Eng title: The Longships) by Frans G. Bengtsson. A fascinating tale of a viking who travelled the world. Miss Julie is probably my favorite Swedish play, I'd also recommend that.
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u/kafros May 30 '15
Why are your women so hot? Please give detailed instructions on how to upgrade ours :-)
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u/DickinsonsRocket May 30 '15
Invade other countries
Steal the hottest women
Mix
Wait a couple of hundred years
Hot women
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u/Gentlemoth May 30 '15
Seriousttime here because I've never considered this before, but I do wonder if the viking kidnapping of fair women from all over Europe did effect the general genepool in the long run?
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u/ntebis May 30 '15
Στελνεις τους ελληνες εκει πανω να ζευγαρωσουν με τις σουηδεζες, και φερνεις πισω τις κορες.
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u/matteproblem May 30 '15
Why do people in Sweden despise Greece and why are they so prejudice when it comes to Greece and Greek people?
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u/TheEruditeSycamore May 29 '15
Swedes who have visited Greece in summer, could you stand the heat and the sun or burnt like vampires?
Also, I'm told you also claim Helena Paparizzu. I'm not particularly fond of her, I allow you to keep her.