In America, if a teacher sees you using your phone in a classroom you are dead meat. This one is also very strange to me. I truly love hearing from you guys and answering all of your questions – so ask away! I live in Jönköping, and we have about 2 tests a week + hand ins + projects to finish. My son is going into 10th grade over here after the summer and is scheduled to take AP Calculus BC. The third question is that did the students mostly speak English between them or english? That being said, I was a “police” major, so the classes were not as academically challenging as say a science or math major. Right in this moment I’m at an english lesson, trying to write my speech about the United States being a developing country, and I can not agree with you at all. When a teacher is gone in America, we have “substitute teachers” to take their place. In just 4 weeks you can be teaching English abroad. oh wow, just noticed that i wrote allot, thanks for your article it was entertaining to see there are schools that are that relaxed :O, it seems like u Went to a so called “lall” skola/ a fellow swede. Compared to the US, Sweden is just a speck, roughly just the size of California, and California is not even the US’s biggest state. I thought they were dumb, pointless, and beyond stressful. 3. If you chose, let’s say the Nature program I think it would’ve been more strict. The US is above Sweden by sheer number of crimes committed annually. Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design/Flickr. As I have stated before, the news here in Sweden, is well to be honest, quite the snooze fest. I think that this is very beneficial and can save a lot of time and money for when they go to university because they will have already taken some classes needed and will not waste time/money learning things they do not need. I would say about half the class arrives on time. In America, if a teacher sees you using your phone in a classroom you are dead meat. The main difference between the USA and Sweden in terms of physical difference is the size. In my class (11th graders) they were still learning basic algebra. Swedish High schools are somewhat like American colleges because you pick a certain track or field that you specialize in and then you are placed in a class of 30 or so kids who you will spend all 4 years (or 3 in some cases) with. I prefer this much more compared to the overwhelming seven class, five day a week, schedule we use in America. In Sweden, at least where I live, the “working programs” are known to be a bit easier. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Also I hear you can’t go into secondary school without a knowledge in Sweden. Change ), School in USA, Britain and Sweden – English with A-K, Wednesday 19th of October | Engelska och idrottsundervisning- Maries Klassrum, https://dagilivet.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/swedish-schools-vs-american-schools/. That being said, they also tend to be very, very, expensive. As a whole kids just do not seem to care here. Basically whenever they want, as there is no punishment. There are pros and cons to this approach, but it is something to be aware of. However, after experiencing what school without tests is like, I know realize that they are imperative to learning and really help solidify knowledge. I feel like I have been able to find myself again, and my mind and body feel amazing and free of stress. The teachers here do not say I thing. The way most classes here work is you talk about a subject, then rather than taking a test, you do a at home “project” which you will then turn into the teacher. I find this to be more entertaining and really enjoy hearing everyone’s point of views; however, from a strict learning standpoint I feel as though the lecture way works better. If you or your sons have any more questions about Sweden, or the schooling, please do not hesitate to ask. The public schools in some areas may be better too, this was just my experience. Most classes in America are taught using lecture form. I have even seen a kid answer a call and walk out of class right smack in the middle of the lesson. Textbooks were provided, but notebooks, pencils, and other normal school supply was not. ( Log Out /  Then again, apart from China, Russia, and Canada, there are a few countries that come close to the land area of US. Another thing I feel like Sweden does better is the classes the students take. They are more just like giant discussions. As for tardiness there is a reason why the teacher doesn’t yell at them or anything. ( Log Out /  Does anyone know what math level 15 year olds are learning? The numbers of hours difference between the time zones. Note that United Kingdom is not on GMT during summer. In fact, I think there are a few things that Sweden does a lot better than America with regards to the education program. America is too stressful, but I feel that some tests and homework is needed to retain/learn material. In America we take tardiness pretty seriously. © Time and Date AS 1995–2020. This is very interesting to hear from an American point of view. I hope this helped! About the electronic part i am completly with you, the electronics draw most of the students focus from whats happening in class, In my school we had to sign a contract saying that we would only use school related things on the school laptops and we would not use the phone under the lesson unless it’s for the subject you’re working on, there are people that need translators in english class because they don’t want to bother everyone else asking what does “forward” mean? The phone issue, I believe, don’t have to be an issue. as well as were text books provided? 20 differences between the U.S. and Europe. I am not saying that I think the schools here are bad, not by any means. Sir, i don’t know which school you go but i do agree it’s abit to relaxed here. I would say that most of the students spoke very good english, but they were very hesitant/shy to speak it to me a lot of the times. Currently, local time in New York is 6 hours behind Stockholm. Right on the table, most even text, go on Facebook, listen to music, all while the class goes on. I would spend hours studying, trying to get the coveted A. 6 Differences When Doing Business in the US vs Sweden. At first they were really confusing, but now I have no problem navigating my way to wherever I wish to go. Each school is different, I am sure there are some schools in Sweden that are the complete opposite of what I am going to describe. Go big or go home, there’s simply too much competition, too many people and too much opportunity to build something small-scale in the US compared to Sweden where competition is … ( Log Out /  Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Being a much more diverse and much bigger country, physical -- and sometimes fatal -- confrontations between opposing parties from different racial groups are not uncommon. Due to this, I feel as though it is safe to say that in general this is what the schooling in Sweden looks is like. Even though this post was around a year ago, I really hope you can answer these few questions that I have as i’m also going to be an English student that will soon study in a Swedish high school. Times shown below in a format that should be easy to copy & paste to other programs. Country comparison. The kids are so busy are their phones they have no idea what is going on in class. In Sweden, they just cancel class. I would say on average I have 2 classes canceled a week because a teacher is gone, at an appointment, etc. Also, the average 10th grader probably is not doing AP Calc. When speaking to each other they spoke exclusively in Swedish and all of my classes were taught in Swedish as well. I would say that there are big differences between the schools. I went to a small school in Varberg called Drottning Blankas Gymnasieskola. During the Spanish test kids had their phones out, were comparing answers, and even then most turned the test in half blank. They mostly have “projects” which I will talk about in the next section. TEFL Worldwide was awarded as the Top TEFL Certification Course of … Those students who doesn’t care about school gets distracted, while we, ambitious ones, only use it as an aid, in form om calculator, music player etc. FUTURE EXCHANGE STUDENTS: Please feel free to ask questions in the comments below! For example, because I am in the firefighter/police program now I take a lot of gym, psychology, and law classes, but no history or science because it is not needed for the profession. In just 4 weeks you can be teaching English abroad. All my classes are like lectures, and all our homework (Which are rather many) are to do at home, which I find a very inefficient. In America, I hated tests. Go further, discover our cultural survey tool, the Culture Compass™ or join our open programme Introduction to Cross-Cultural Management. when i attended middle school (4-9) i had homework almost every day and the class passes was really fast for most kids to handle in my class, teachers did not have it stressfull because their entire school semester was planned ahead. Swedish Word of the Day: Tåg (Tah-Geh) – Train. My first question is what school did you go to? Here in Sweden, we had three weeks to do it. I jist wanted to say that because you chose to study to go directly to work afterwards, that might be a reason that it is so relaxed. The teacher has a PowerPoint, and talks for most of the hour while kids take notes. 20 differences between the U.S. and Europe. Time zone difference or offset between the local current time in Sweden – Stockholm and USA – New York – New York. Two months, not a single sheet of homework. However, almost everyone in Scandinavia speaks fluent English, so my teachers were able to give me tests in english and help, translate everything.