How to receive a Gymnasium Diploma
Trin 1 / Step 1:
Gå på gymnasium 1 tre år og bestå alle klasser.
Attend the gymnasium for three years and pass all your classes.
Trin 2 / Step 2:
Tag dine eksamener. De begynder den første uge i maj og er færdig den sidste uge i juni. Du tager skriflige og mundtlige eksamener. Mundtlige eksamener er en "synthesis" af all 3 år i emnet. Du får en tekst som er forbindet til alle temaer at du har arbejdede med og du skal lave en analyse om teksten. Du skal præsentere din analyse til din lære og en "censor" og efter din præsentation, spørger din lære dig spørgsmål om teksten og om forbindelser at du lavede til tekster som klassen har læst. Skriftlige eksamener er IKKE "a, b, c, d". De inkluderer en oversættelse, sætninger at redige og 2 essays.
Take your exams. They begin the first week in May and end the last week in June. You take written and oral exams. Oral exams are a synthesis of all 3 years in the subject. You receive a text which is connected to all the themes you have worked with and you must create an analysis of the text which you present to your teacher and to an outside censor. After the presentation, your teacher asks you additional questions about the text and about the connectinos you made to the text that the class has read. Written exams are NOT multiple choice. They include a translation, sentences to edit, and 2 essays.
Trin 3 / Step 3:
Når du består din sidste eksam, venter din familie på dig i gangen og de "lægger din hat på din hoved". Din hat har en bånd som fortæller hvilken slags gymnasium du har gået på. Vores gymnasium er STX så vores elever har et rød bånd.
When you have passed your last exam, your family is waiting for you in the hall so that they can "place your hat on your head". Your hat has a band on it which tells what type of gymnasium you have attended. Our gymnasium is STX so our students have a red band on their hat.
Trin 4 / Step 4:
Dimission! Taler og sanger og fejren!
Graduation! Speeches and songs and celebrations!
Trin 5 / Step 5:
Den bedste del af dimission var "jubilarerne" som er tidligere elever fra gymnasium som kommer og giver en tale for at inspirere elever og minde dem at altid huske "hvor de kommer fra". Vi hørte 4 taler fra 4 forskellige generationer-- 1 har gået på Herning Gymnasium under verdens anden krig (da Danmark var besæt af Tyskland) og jeg var inspireret så jeg lyttede til hans oplevelser.
The best part of graduation was the "jubilarerne" which is when alumni of the Herning Gymnasium come back and give speeches to inspire the students and remind them to always remember where they come from. We heard 4 speeches from 4 different generations--1 who went to Herning Gymnasium during WW2 (when Denmark was occupied by Germany) and I was inspired as I listed to his experiences.
Efter dimission, havde vi en glas vin med eleverne og deres forældre.
After graduation, we shared a glass of wine with the students and their parents.
Festerne begyndte! De fleste elever "kørte" fra skolen i en hestevogn som en klass (Husk- de går på gymnasium i 3 år med den samme gruppe af elev) og hestevogn bragte dem til alle af deres huse for at besøge familierne. Festerne blev ved med hele weekend!
The parties began! Most of the students "drove" from the school in a horse-drawn wagon as a class (remember that they attend gymnasium classes with the same group of students all three years) and the horse-drawn wagon brings them around to all of their houses to visit each of the families. The parties continued all weekend long!
Most students who receive a gymnasium diploma enroll at the university, but the tradition in Denmark is that they wait a year before beginning. This gives them one full year to travel and relax! I was shocked to find out that after a year of "no school" , the majority actually do go back and enroll at the university!
11 comments:
Thanks for providing all the information about graduation with the pictures! I think it's so cool how it's common for them to take a year off before starting college... Mac did a lot of traveling during that year. I wish that would become an American tradition as well.... plus the glass of wine after the grad ceremony.... especially, since they can be so long... you need a drink afterwards lol
Great post, Kelli! :-)
Thanks for the info!
Could you perhaps explain more what STX really is? Is it just a "normal" high school? I mean I know there's HF, HTX and many more and still got confused :)
A "gap year" is a fabulous idea. I think a lot of American kids would do well taking a year off to travel, or even just work and get some life experience before jetting off to college.
I like their hats!
What an awesome graduation ceremony! I love that the alumni come back and give the speeches... much better than some windbag politician or "celebrity" doing it. Loved this post.
You know, I got so much flack from some of my mom's Texas friends because I wanted to wait a year after high school before going to college. (that was the "year" I went to Denmark). They didn't believe a person would ever get up the gumption to start school again! Boy did I ever prove them wrong. Several times in fact :-)
I especially like the parts about celebrating with wine and taking a ride in the horse drawn carriages to each home. Very intesting.
Those are some really wonderful traditions -- the exams remind me of college and grad school exams/thesis.
What a great idea to have the kids travel for a year before college -- what better way to make interdisciplinary connections and enhance book smarts than travel?!?
I love this. If only we could figure out how to get parents and students so interested in a good education here in the US. Maybe if we promised a glass of wine and no windbag speeches at graduation?
One question -- how does the family know that the student will pass his final exam, thus waiting outside with the hat? Or do they take their education so seriously that everyone DOES pass?
And another question -- are there any "dropouts" over there, like we have such a large percentage of here?
We have all our graduation parties at the beginning of June here in Sweden! Those party lorries clog up the traffic throughout the whole country! ;-)
It is common for us in the UK to take a year out for travelling before starting university...
That was really educational! Thanks for posting!
What a lot of nice traditions! I really like that they have a horse drawn wagon!
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