David, You are sounding more and more like a liberal. What does that tell you?
15
Stop, Mr. Brooks. Start writing about the America being created by your man Trump.
63
The only thing stopping us from creating this better world is a lack of imagination. #Bernie2020
31
See NYTimes op ed, The Fake Freedom of American Health Care, by a Finnish journalist who lived here after marriage and had to cope with America's complicated, high profit health care. system.
62
America has a high percentage of poorly educated and unintelligent people who simply cannot or will not think critically. Acquisition of money is the driving force in many people’s lives, not self cultivation. We live in a fairly stupid culture in which sex and violence are the primary themes in entertainment. Our thinking is done for us by corporate America. If you think I’m kidding take a good look around you.
238
So David Brooks likes Democratic Socialism after all.
Who knew?
67
Great opinion piece.
23
one of the reasons that the American middle class is doing so poorly, especially in the red states, is that the republicans have made a concerted effort to dumb down the educational system. ignorant citizens are easier to fool and manipulate.
156
If only.
9
Does anyone recall the fascist sympathizers in Scandinavia through the 30's and 40's and the racism that still exists???
19
Hear hear!
3
The Scandinavian educational approach would be even more frightening to American conservatives than their democratic socialism.
58
By what possible decent logic, or criteria, can anyone rate America higher than the Scandinavian countries? The American masses are so blind to what makes people and societies truly happy--starting, indeed, with humanistic education, which America is ditching as fast as possible in favor of STEM only. I was a professor of English in what was once an excellent small liberal arts college. Since I retired a few years ago, the college has ditched the English department, collapsing it into a much watered-down, dumbed down Literature department. Typical of the decline of America everywhere, except for tech and weapons, on the Boomers' endlessly vapid, destructive watch.
69
ZEMAN’s post about America being founded on slavery makes a good point. How can you have a society that raises a whole person when it is dependent on the labour of people who must be regulated to non personhood. The people who rely on this labour must give themselves more personhood (except independence, of course) to justify this exploitation.
14
America’s declining educational system is the single most important factor to America’s future.
Republican elite are purposely cutting funds to responsibly educate our children in an effort to dumb down our nation, so that they can keep their riches in their own families for decades to come.
Research it, it’s true, and has been going on far too long.
This directly correlates with why Trump was elected in the first place.
We must educate our people.
We must vote them all out.
66
It may be worth looking outside Scandanavia for a model. I am from Ireland, we are the third highest country in the world for standard of living according to the UN, we are the fourth wealthiest country in the world by GDP per capita and PPP, we have the highest per capita number of university graduates Europe. Our children are at the very top of global tables;
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/ireland/irish-children-havebest-reading-skillsin-eu-0mt0vxgrc
https://www.rte.ie/news/education/2017/1205/925015-literacy-reading-study/
Ireland is the most successful small Country in the World, maybe have a look at out systems...
36
So does this mean Mr. Brooks is supporting Bernie Sanders?
9
Several southern states had laws that made it illegal to teach slaves to read. Education in the US continues to be withheld from residents in poorer communities thru various tax policies. Separate but equal was only outlawed by Brown v Board Education in 1954. This was followed by some Southern states closing public schools, thereby denying education to African American students. The growth of private schools many of which were religious based, home schooling perpetuated the course of denial of education for all citizens for years.
David has since again read a book and fallen in love with what his rose colored glasses see as the answer to all the US problems. While at the same time in massive denial to the actual present situation where the Dept. of Education is systematically denying funding for public schools. Betsey DeVos, the current Secretary of Education has not visited 1 public school in her more than 3 years in office.
Please David, stop reading the books that do not represent present day America, get out of your ideal dream world.
20
It seems telling that their more complete education led these nations toward democratic-socialism.
22
Feeding the body and the soul goes back to the Greeks and the precept of "kalos kai agatos" meaning "beautiful and good" = a
beatiful soul in an beautiful body.
If everyone would try to strive for that what happy world this would be....
6
All good but will it work in the USA? When the priorities of many parents are high school sports and when a large number of young males think that academics is “not cool”, building innovative education systems is just an uphill battle.
13
Any opinion piece that has the word holistic in it has little chance of meaningfully impacting anything happening in the real world of the United States.
8
I'm surprised at the title for an article written by a conservative columnist: "Scandinavia got great." But so be it. If he can't attribute that to democratic socialism, it's still a big step.
I was also surprised when the Times told me that he is the Times columnist I most frequently read. (I would have thought Kristof or Friedman). He can be wonderful when he does his social science stuff, but then he rotates into pre-Trump era government bashing, an "only small change is possible" mindset (when the world is calling for, as Warren says, structural change), and conformity-inducing community.
The trick for him is to use the subject of a column like this as his anchor or lens for his future columns.
And the trick for the Brooks-haters on my liberal end of things is to give him that chance.
Not only is he a thought leader, but while the Never-Trumpers are apparently rare, it will be interesting to see where they go now that they have no political home. Maybe we can learn from them, if we're willing. It would help if they concede where they had been wrong, which I think he implicitly did in this column.
8
Sounds very much like the ideals of Jesuit education these days.
14
Hint: It wasn't achieved though increased diversity.
14
Before we get too carried away with Scandinavia (a mixed-reality generalization) as a role model nirvana, I suggest we consider that in reality it, like Western liberal society in general, has lost its sense of purpose, identity, and self-confidence. It is truly sad when it is only the right that understands nationalism. Parochial and universal identities do not have to be in conflict. Unfortunately, Left and Right are both pushing that conflict.
The following from a couple days ago should speak for itself but, of course, as with everything these days, will end up basically being a Rorschach blot:
Is Anything Truly Scandinavian?
The Bizarre SAS Ad Controversy Explained
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidnikel/2020/02/13/is-anything-truly-scandinavian-the-bizarre-sas-ad-controversy-explained/#69486708eb2f
1
So, in essence, Scandinavians are a bit of ego and a whole lot of superego with a lot of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs interchanged and nourished to the highest levels; Americans are mostly id.
7
Alas, America will never educate the whole person as Scandinavia does. Social media and profound ignorance dominate our broken educational system and governance.
Rome fell and so will our racist American Empire.
10
Hilarious. Thanks for the insight, Mr. Brooks.
You're voting for Sanders now, right?
6
It's not going to work here. U.S. does not need too many smart people.
4
John Dewey’s philosophy of education is as relevant and profound as it is now as it was a century ago.
The current Scandinavian model of schooling is proof in action.
8
It's called a liberal arts education :)
19
You can't have a socialist model with open borders. Even with controlled immigration, the US doesn't have the same type of population. We have a lot of wild people here, uneducated and disrespectful of others without social conscience.
12
So David, some degree of socialism, economic and social.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. The idea of Bildung is the antithesis of our current mania for credentialing. The tragedy is that we used to have exactly such a system of education. We used to have neighborhood elementary schools that kids could walk to. Then we had middle schools that you could bike to. Finally, we had high schools you could take the bus to.
The high schools were big, baggy, inefficient messes, but they were big enough, and had classes and activities that were diverse enough, that most kids could find their place in the world.
So what happened? Well Thurgood Marshall lost his bet. He bet that Americans wouldn’t be so stupid as to dismantle the world’s best education system rather than simply let the Black kids in.
Well, we were that stupid. White flight destroyed the neighborhoods that anchored the schools. Then we stopped paying for the schools that we caused to fail in the first place. Then, rather than fix the neighborhoods and the schools, we focused on a school choice strategy that is like building a lifeboat for ten kids when there are a hundred in the water. We then impoverished parents by offshoring and outsourcing their jobs. (At least the Sacklers were kind enough to give us OxyContin to deaden the pain.)
And now Donald Trump is President and the chickens have come home to roost. Who says we never get what we deserve?
36
Ethnic heterogeneity in the USA is not irrelevant to our current crisis and neither is the cultivated bitterness of defeat on the part of descendants of the losing side in a great Civil War - a sub-culture which sought to perpetuate a system of human slavery based upon race.
5
I realize this is a column and not a book, but it raises many deeper questions.
The Nordic countries mostly shared Protestant, Lutheran-type religions from 1870 to 1950 (very general statement and time frame). How does this factor in?
How well are Nordic teachers paid and trained compared to the US? How does this factor in to educational success and methodology?
What is the role of WWII occupation which greatly affected Denmark, Norway, Finland, and to a lesser extent Sweden (never occupied, but dominated for a time by Nazi Germany)?
4
IF ONLY! I have been to Norway many times. They have a saying when someone does something , That is/is not very Norwegian.
Greed, corruption, avarice, arrogance, haughtiness, and ignorance. These are very UN-NORWEGIAN but very TRUMPIAN.
9
Does evangelical Christianity of the US variety have anything to do with this great disparity? Just wondering....
5
I don't know how David Brooks can align himself with the Republicans--he sounds more like a Democrat!
Of course, we need to value education more! The uneducated as are a threat to our survival as a Democracy!
I am appalled at the number of U.S. citizens who dismissed Trumps crimes as if they meant nothing. I don't know if our citizens are really that stupid or just lying to themselves. The only thing I know is that we are going down a deep, dark hole from which we may never emerge!
5
I’m sure this will be controversial but I firmly believe culture is at the heart of the success of these Nordic countries. Compare them (now and throughout history) to the whole continent of Africa and the differences are stark. When was the last genocide, corrupt autocrat, famine, or infectious disease outbreak in Scandinavia?
Western civilization has bestowed many contributions to humanity and it is no wonder the birthplaces of western civilization continue to thrive.
There is no reason to hide from or apologize for this.
9
@Zack Belcher Okay, but you seem to have a glaring blind spot as to how Western Civilization was able to thrive: off the kidnapping and oppression of African/Indigenous people's. Who did all that labor? Not magical elves.
13
Am surprised Mr. Brooks missed the real reason the Nordic countries became a socialist paradise: Capitalism.
In the 1870s they were in dire straits, a nation of dirt farmers, and the population (20%) left for America They were so concerned that they'd soon have no one left they took a big chance on capitalism - they lowered taxes way down, got rid of the guild monopolies, reformed voting, and became free traders. These changes combined with their Lutheran work ethic, new technologies returnees brought back from America, and emphasis on education and physical training sparked the highest growth rate in the industrialized world, up to 1936.
They got rich from hard work, free enterprise, and minimal government interference. As they got rich they decided it was time to reach for higher goals. The low income inequality and general trust between interest groups and the government led to a cooperative partnership that resulted in the world's most successful welfare state.
In the 1990s they went a bit too far into welfare so the government scaled back and growth again took off.
That's how it's done. You turn the dial depending on what produces the greatest good for all. You do not fuel growth for growth's sake (the ideology of a cancer cell and that of the rich).
Our dial is stuck all the way to the right on "toxic capitalism." We now must go all the way left, or we'll burn up.
Doesn't mean we won't readjust the dial later; far left does not mean far left forever.
50
this is an excellent article. i've always wanted us as americans to see each of our selves as larger than we really are, having even more interesting responsibilities and outlooks than those confined to the local schema. alas it's a hard philosophical position to defend, but done well in this article. yes, more than even civic responsibility we have, just think, in this way we could reduce common ethnic tensions amongst us, be proud of the results of our struggling history which, until recently, have always charmed the world. neither white, nor black, brown, red, yellow, green, an over-look of all that into other, brighter, horizons. ah, but a dream....
4
Indoctrination. Fine. But first one must determine the cultural baseline: Land of opportunity? Equity or Equality...for all? A scourge of privilege? Or a scourge of excuses and blame? How is this decided? Consensus? Or fiat?
2
America is a “grand station” of a country : it’s too big, too diverse and too transitory. It’s vast spaces are an invitation to move rather than to settle. Bildung is simply impossible. And now its extreme partisanship is splitting the country apart. Its complexity is beyond anyone to lead or any social scheme to succeed or any idea to prevail. Its greatest strength is also its greatest weakness : the agreement to disagree. ( Maybe It’s time to contemplate breaking the country into 10 countries : Hawaii, Puerto Rico, New England, New York - New Jersey, the mid-Atlantic states, the Louisiana purchase states, the Great Lakes states, the mid-West states, California and the Pacific-northwest states. Or various other combinations. )
3
Conservative tax cutters, religious education zealots, and wealthy private school advocates have gutted the public schools, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. It is about funding education, not the abstraction of "social trust." Brooks and fellow conservatives promote abstractions like "social trust" as solutions because they cost nothing and, in fact, shift the onus back to struggling individuals to solve their own problems.
10
Once again comparing apples and oranges. Take the classroom in the photo - it shows a few children, seated in rows, shoeless, with very little on the walls. Just a few plants and cute little curtains. Anyone who has had kids in NYC schools will see a vast difference.
10
In this country our national pride has turned toward the military. Here a hero is someone in the police force or the military, not someone who supports his or her family and society. In Wyoming we've spent billions of dollars building state of the art schools, which all look like prisons, and are being run like prisons. We even use prison terms, every time the police have someone shooting up the town , which is often, they put the schools under "lock down" a term that used to be reserved for prisons. As one who is familiar with Danes and Norwegians, I can tell you they are hard working and kind people misunderstood by all sides of the political spectrum here, including Bernie! We have a long way to go before we get to the level of those people!
8
It sounds like we need to bring back civics, classes in American government, and classes in the unvarnished history of America. We are sorely lacking those teachings, and universities have manipulated facts and are teaching "my way or the highway". One of the other qualities the Nordic countries share in education is that the teachers are much more involved in students' lives. Teachers are free to go to the homes to tutor students. The Nordic people take great pride in their history and countries. We now, unfortunately, have young people who are divisive and destructive about America. And that begins in Congress! I don't know how we change that!
2
I lived in Norway for many years and continue to visit family/friends in Sweden and Norway as often as possible. Btw, the folk schools (folkehogskole) are not solely for the "least educated." Many young Norwegians enjoy a gap year at Folk school where they may engage in social programs (among other specialties) and travel to Africa for hands-on foreign aid experience. I'll also add that it is compulsory for young men and women to serve in the military for a year(ish).
However. I feel Brooks is attempting to take Nordic culture and apply it as an ancillary function of a capitalistic society (which is the antithesis of "bildung") without truly understanding WHY the Nordic model is successful. We can't restore America based on the Nordic model without first regulating the unchecked malignant practices of capitalism, especially with regard to "Citizen's United", a concept which Norwegians find repugnant.
It's ironic that Brooks writes "our problem is not only that we don’t train people with the right job skills. It’s that we don’t have the right lifelong development model." He fails to understand that his fellow conservatives are the reason Americans are unable to attain the "individual maturity, personal responsibility toward family, friends, fellow citizens, society, humanity" and other Nordic freedoms he so admires. If he wants to achieve "bildung" the fist step is to use tax dollars to help citizens NOT billionaires.
54
Reading David Brooks always reminds me of the story of several blind men who are asked to describe an elephant, when each is touching a different part of the beast. Brooks identifies the benefits he likes in Scandinavia, and ignores the parts that don't correspond to his political biases. Not actually very helpful if one is trying to gain genuine insight into what makes life in Scandinavia so much happier and satisfying than life in the USA.
18
The ancient Indian system used to skill set, social consciousness and connection between these two. Mindful yoga played a great part. That system is now long gone and it is a rat race. Education has become a business and this means how much can I milk each student-- who in turn is focussed on what is my ROI for the money I sunk in. No empathy factor at all.
4
Republicans would never allow this approach to education as their party, which is held together by lies, convenient economic myths and science denial would collapse under newfound intellectual scrutiny.
18
True , just look at Mitch the senator ....it tell all
3
Education isn’t just reading and math... every day that one is engaged with quality education, one learns and builds essential basic life habits and skills: responsibility, completing tasks, meeting expectations and deadlines, teamwork, even just being present and on time (sounds silly, but understanding the importance of that and how it affects others is fundamental). Education participation affords the individual these basic habits and skills so that they can take care of themselves and contribute to society around them.
The retention of knowledge isn’t the lasting benefit of education (who remembers how to perform a geometric proof, or how to conjugate a Latin verb anymore?). It is the molding of the individual through participation that is the lasting lesson. Education is the proverbial “village” needed to build the functional individual.
5
hard too see how to make this complex systems view of multilevel interconnectedness compatible with the individualistic, "greed is good", "I want my guns", anti-welfare stance of the GOP.
22
Hmmm. It sounds like he is saying we need schools to teach people to think more progressively. Which turned out to create a society where they take care of each other rather than prey off each other. So he doesn't seem to realize he is supporting progressive ideals (Of course is his mind making sure our economic productions takes care of everyone's essential needs first is a welfare state rather than people making sure our society works for all).
11
The photo of a classroom sums up the Scandinavian approach to education for all. Only a small fraction of children in America get study in such a clean, spacious and healthy environment.
15
It might seem more spacious but really I think the difference is that they use light and bright materials, plants,and the room is uncluttered. This could be achievable in American classrooms regardless of size.
5
These are all astute observations. I hope we may someday adopt this pedagogic philosophy. But the foundation of American society has been rocked. Fascism is here. "National Conservatism" is here. Though it's cathartic to contemplate a world when Trumpism is defeated when we may resume our lives and get back to bettering ourselves, now may not be the best time. We need to defeat Republican fascism. It may take extreme measures. Our lives will be disrupted. I can foresee 2020 ending in bloodshed. I really cannot think of much else.
8
Mr Brooks Or, who are the adults in the room??? What is missing from his observations about the decay of social cohesion in the US is glaring: in order for us to trust one another - to build communities, and more, requires that we, each of us, be trustworthy. Income inequality, at the grotesque levels it exists across society today, is simply the material manifestation of a more fundamental inequality - an inequality of respect for one another. If we had widespread bildung in American society, we would not tolerate billionares - Mr Brooks fails to mention that the great leveler of wealth in Scandinavian countries is a highly regressive income tax system - much like the American system in the 1950s. In regards to the educational component of what Mr Brooks is writing about, we used to call that a liberal arts education. Princeton's defines it thusly: "A liberal arts education challenges you to consider not only how to solve problems, but also trains you to ask which problems to solve and why, preparing you for positions of leadership and a life of service to the nation and all of humanity". STEM training alone creates dangerous beasts: clever, bright, masters of writing code, and, simultaneously, moral midgets.
16
Thank you Brooks for this one. In our first world country, education is not equitable in the least. In the poor parts of the same city, there are less resources than the rich parts. It's shameful. Quality education for everyone should be a given.
8
The development of the whole person begins, as Brooks writes, when a "young child may blindly obey authority — Mom, Dad, teacher." This crucial stage of life cannot happen in a country that has zero paid family leave. I believe Nordic countries have some of the most generous paid leave programs in the world. When most families have no choice but to put their kids in daycare after as little as six weeks, the child loses out on the ability to form attachment bonds with parents, and then later with teachers. The beginning of life is often touted as the most crucial for any child. Without this bond, the rest of the child's life is unmoored, the child essentially adrift with no sense of authority, community, and beyond. It's no wonder we have problems in education.
9
There are democratic schools in this country where children are trusted members of a democratic society. They also create their own curriculums and follow their own interests. They are not coerced into learning, so each child's path is unique, and each child directs his own education. This environment balances individual ffreedom and community responsibility. The oldest of these is the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, MA.
3
We have a version of bildung in the U.S.: We call it a liberal arts education. That's why most colleges and universities make students take a breadth of courses in various subjects unrelated to their major. The idea is that the student will become a well-informed person with a broad range of knowledge that will allow them to think independently. This allows the student to both create their own individual self and become aware of their role and responsibilities as a family member, community member, and citizen. Unfortunately, the liberal arts curriculum is under attack for not having a direct and obvious connection with getting a job, as Americans increasingly see education in economic terms (such thinking only about return on investment) rather than in human development terms. This is understandable given the outrageous cost of education, but it is regrettable. (This is another argument for free higher education, such as they have in Sweden, and a reason to vote for Bernie.)
We used to have a concern with bildung at the secondary level as well, back when schools had robust arts programs and teachers weren't forced to teach to standardized tests. These days, if a subject does not have a direct connection either to scoring well on a state test or to landing a job, it ends up on the chopping block. Education should be about exploration, finding oneself, and finding one's ideal place in community, in addition to learning essential skills and preparing for employment.
15
Our superintendent shut down our (the teachers) being able to use Go Fund Me for classroom supplies. My generous cousin gave me $100 toward books for my classroom. I was told that was unethical. Yet I can buy things out of my own pocket and that is okay. This country has some serious introspection to attend to about education. Classrooms aren’t even properly supplied-we are nowhere near any model like a Scandinavian education system. As long as our students are continually treated as “equals” and forced to swallow the same education and tests ,not much will change. Add in that companies such as Pearson publish both text books and much of the standardized testing-well there you go...
8
@LCalllahan and despite it all we have teachers like you holding the line. Working to do your best for the students. No it is not the same. The structural support from the classrooms to the status of the teacher are completely different. THE respect for the teacher, something generally accepted and adhered to is central to the learning environment. It has been a great challenge for several teachers I spoke to in different regions of Sweden that the integration of people that do not view women as equal has been enormously disruptive. The system works because weak links are attended to. IF a child is not successful, home visits are made, discussions are had etc. From everything relating to forbidding girls to participate in PE because they don't approve of swimsuits, to not accepting parent teacher conferences with a female teacher, to male students speaking rudely and refusing to listen to a "woman"... These changes to the system have resulted in teachers joining far right political organisations. Something not addressed in this article are the dramatic changes politically that have occurred in the last two years. Instead people talk about Finland when it comes to politics creating a more simplistic story.
3
Thank you so much for sharing your observations and insights! They are *really* interesting, and add balance to the content of the article.
International baccalaureate schools , with their models of questioning, learning critical thinking in an interdisciplinary curriculum, help towards this end. Interesting to me though, they don’t focus on American culture - always international.
2
I think this is the best column you've written in a while. I've been thinking about cohesion and compassion. These are skills that are taught. They don't materialized out of thin air. Americans used to be good at this a long time ago but we've neglected this in favor of competition.
4
One glaring point that the author leaves out is that Scandinavians are socially homogeneous. Their shared history is the same for most people. In the US melting pot you have a myriad of colors, ethnicities, religions, cultures.... what history would you teach that may not offend someone? Human beings instinctively distrust people that don’t look like them or have a different religion/culture, it’s part of our evolution to be protective. And Mr. Brooks also mentions Nordic education instilling a sense of pride in the children. Isn’t that what’s happening all over the world now? The nations that have started a slide to the right are trying to imbue a sense of pride in their citizens. That’s nationalism!
There are indeed many lessons to be learned from the nordics and other cultures, but trying to apply it to America is not so easy. America has it’s unique challenges and needs people (hopefully from both sides) to actually care about the people and rise above petty politics.
I’m tired of hearing the right is to blame for all the ill in America. The Dems did diddly squat when they had opportunities. And before anyone starts railing, let me clarify that I have voted Democrat in all elections, down to local/city elections. I plan to do so in future, but to be honest, I’m tired of all politicians, no one actually does anything for the people.
5
@S R You are correct. Their whole approach didn't stop some of them from saddling up with the Nazis in WW 2 either.
3
As a foreigner educated in a country with National educational policies and standards I would guess that 'bildung' is impossible in this wonderful country that runs its educational policies by local policies and standards where petty politics and unionism makes it almost impossible to create 'bildung' educated students. It is no surprise to me that the US consistently underperforms in this area
1
Here in the US we would prefer to apply sainthood to Ronald Reagan who taught us that tax breaks are more important than investing in our country, our children and our future. Our selfishness is our downfall as our infrastructure crumbles and we lose access to healthcare and wages stagnate so we can live in right to work states where no one has to pay any taxes.
20
It's not just Scandinavia or bildung, David. These ideas have been around for millennia. Citing one example, they're in the texts that have come down from early China where self-cultivation is the foundation of a healthy society and a strong nation. But even if we didn't cite examples from the past or from other countries, we could find them all around us if we just bothered to look and listen. The customer service person who helped me check out at the local market this afternoon told me essentially what you wrote in your column. From pre-K through university and beyond, education is more that merely learning a specific skill set. It's integrated and continuous learning that benefits the individual, family, community, society, the nation and the world as a whole.
3
This is one of the most important columns you’ve ever written - for at the end of the day, it ALL comes down to education.
Unless I have missed something, not one of our presidential hopefuls is talking about this! All other issues hinge upon it.
There was a time that our public education system was the envy of the free world.
It’s long past time to revive that vision.
If it’s true that “education is the oxygen of democracy”, then -as a country - it appears that we are in trouble.
7
The U.S. Federal Government doesn’t even believe in public education right now. A high percentage of U.S. Children live in poverty. How could we possibly pursue Bildung. Wish we had instituted it years ago when we could have. Perhaps if a few school districts followed it now, it would spread.
3
In schools in the US, we 'teach to the test." This means that the teacher presents information the student will need to do well on the standards test. It's a bad idea. The learning is not holistic. It can't be tailored to the individual student's needs or interests.
3
My Finnish cousin is married to a man who became a phys ed teacher 25 years ago. When I heard 15 years ago that he would become the headmaster of his middle school I was skeptical. But this is exactly what Is described in the article regarding the education of the soul, inside and out. The skills for success are inherent in the entire system.
4
But why are US schools for rich children the best? It's their better funding from higher local property taxes in wealthier districts.
Equality in education needs consistent, national funding. Instead of that being too much big govt, it can free up all schools to reach higher standards.
We need publicity here on other countries' positive examples and role models for our democracy to operate properly.
In many other democracies, education and health care are seen as a civil right. Their conservative parties don’t try to destroy dismantle this system.
But Americans have been told that our precious, unique American Freedom depends on keeping our public services as a high profit commodity. So Americans haven’t been asserting their basic rights that in other countries are centrist.
We have private investments in schools, health care and prisons. And workers who saw job pensions canceled must go to for-fee investment experts to save for retirement. Huge college debt burdens US grads.
Above all, we have what amounts to private investment in our election campaigns--- legal donations to politicians by the wealthy, blessed by our highest court as 1st Amendment Free speech.
Why would mega donors give money to candidates and not expect return on investment?But their interests are not our interests. We the People can hardly compete. Rights that are protected in other countries are here subject to profit.
9
Is it true that no private schools exist in Finland -- home of the highest test scores in the world?
3
One plus in our mixed educational system is that it affords the most flexibility for learning while Sweden seems to channel students into lanes difficult to switch once they are shuttled in one learning direction. Another consequence of our diverse learning opportunities is that it seems to generate entire schools of knowledge and cultural creativity. And the last seems a reflection of the very absence of “Nordiic” social safey nets. Our artists and innovators are not saddled with such high income tax levels as the “Nordics.” High taxes and Byzantine government regulations in Scandinavian welfare societies discourage breakthrough or state of the art creative talents. Alas, our freedom comes with a social cost in high poverty s wealth inequality.
4
@Bayou Houma
Scandinavian countries are no utopia. Having said that, your comments are factually incorrect. Germany (which is not a Scandinavian country) channels students in different lanes. But in Sweden (a Scandinavian country) all students aged 6-15 study the same curriculum. The only thing that differs is whether they choose to study Spanish, French or German for example.
As for Byzantine government regulations. The average time spent declaring taxes is maybe 15 minutes. I do it via text or online. Yes, I am employed. My husband is an immigrant from another European country, so he had to learn Swedish as an adult. He had NO problem setting up and running his own business.
As for stifling creativity and innovation.. Ever heard of IKEA, Spotify, Minecraft, Skype, H&M, Ericsson etc? The list could go on and on.. And mind you, this from a country with about 10 million people.
Like I said, it’s far from perfect. Some of the things described by Brooks - high level of social trust, high quality of education for instance, are sadly being eroderad. But still, being born here is probably the greatest gift I can give my children. Despite the climate. We have three months of summer, and about six months of slask. Google it:)
17
I was just telling my husband and sons last night that I wish I could move to Sweden, the country my ancestors emigrated from in the 1870s. Their values are my values. Alas, I don’t think the Swedes will let me.
6
My tax rate in US: 55.3%
Oregon income tax 9.9%
Federal income tax 24.0%
SS / Medicare 15.3%
Health Insurance 6.1%
My tax rate if in Sweden 57.2%
28
So are you for or against?
1
@James B
That adds up to 110.6% How ya payin that?
I think you left out something.
1
Valuing education is surely good for a society. But I don't think that alone is the basis of the high satisfaction and widespread evaluation of success for the 'Scandinavian' model.
David, it almost seems like you're reaching for ways to avoid admitting that "lower taxes" and "smaller government" are not the optimal selection for a government policy framework.
The Republican party's decades-long efforts to 'starve the beast' and defund everything government does except for defense, and to engineer wealth transfer - from poor to rich -- through government policy decisions sure seems antithetical to the admiration you display in this article.
Perhaps it is time to admit that, along with a return to spirituality, charity, and respect as foundations for society, a bit more funding for education, healthcare, infrastructure, the arts, and non-military spending leads to a better society and quality of life for the citizenry. And that a government policy model that insures more equality of opportunity, while also countering an aristocracy of wealth, rather than a government policy model owned by the wealthy, which is directed to entrenching the wealthy ever further, might be a solid foundation for the United State's future. You're not a Republican anymore, David, by Trump Republican standards.
12
These countries also fund their schools fairly and thoroughly, and treat teachers as professionals.
17
Yes, Scandinavian countries are very nice and prosperous. It is important and interesting to know about their history. But those are tiny Northern countries with pretty homogeneous population. I don't think that there is much there that will directly apply to the US. Also, I have never heard the claim that these countries are so successful because of their education system. I respect Mr. Brooks but he is not an economist. Perhaps he should've talked to Dr. Krugman about his idea?
I think US can learn a lot from bigger, re diverse European countries. Like Germany, France, UK, etc. Germany in particular, with 82 million people is 1/4 that of the US, not 1/50 as a typical Scandinavian country. So we can actually learn a lot from Germany Health care system, etc...
3
Uh, have you ever heard of Canada?
There are pockets of Scandinavian culture and education in the US. Grand View University in Des Moines was founded by Danish immigrants on the philosophies of NFS Grundtvig, a Dane who espoused educating the whole person, among other things. That spirit and philosophy endures at the university, which today serves a diverse population of students from around the world. Each year, Danes travel to the university to share their thinking and learn how Americans are still putting Danish educational theories into practice here. Other Lutheran colleges that were founded by Scandinavians have similar philosophies. We can learn from them if we can give up our sense of exceptionalism.
6
Wonderful expose on the quality of life and education in the Nordic countries. Now, I have to ask, in this election year, which of all the presidential candidates delivers the message that Americans too can aspire to have this quality of life?
4
In the 60's and 70's, the families I knew had those Scandinavian values. My parents were staunch Democrats and my best friend's family next door were "cloth-coat Republicans". Both families were hard-working, respectful of others, and raised their children to be socially-conscious, productive, civil adults. Then President Reagan ushered in the "Me Generation" and things have never been the same since. Reagan spread the gospel of self-interest and greed. Americans were told it was okay - even right - to think of themselves first and only, grab for everything they could get, and not worry about anyone else or the greater good. And now, thirty years later, a new Gilded Age is upon us, with a gilded (orange) and soulless man in the White House constantly telling us why we should feel sorry for ourselves and whom to blame for it.
19
NewsJunkie,
Also, the drug culture didn’t help either and the “let it all hang loose” culture was about dismantling the norms and espoused a counterculture that has been engrained some what as the new norm.
2
Here in the US, I think the best thing we can do is make all of our children feel valued and give them an educational system with plenty of well-paid teachers to give them a highly exploratory and interactive education.
So we must triple our investment in public education. I'm not optimistic this will happen, though, because the forces of the radical right wing need lots of poor, desperate, and poorly-educated people, in order to keep on winning elections.
8
Our family was in Norway this last summer for a month. Our next door neighbors in a town outside of Oslo were a young couple, he was an elementary school teacher and she a doctor in training. They said they were very happy with the taxation they paid, as they were without the fear of getting the young son educated and without the fear of getting sick and not affording good medical care. They were happy and healthy, and optimistic about life. It could be America's future, if we had the courage to forge it.
23
The article reminded me that the term "bildungsroman" is a novel about the artistic, emotional and moral development of a young artist.
Interesting educational concept.
5
While on retreat in France, I spent time with a Swedish banker discussing costs of housing, income, education, health care , and of course, taxes. Turns out we had similar income levels, and after adding up my state, federal and SS/medicare taxes, we had the same tax rate. While musing all of the benefits Swedes had for the same taxes, he smiled and I should be proud about what the US has but not Sweden; "The most expensive military and health care systems in the world"
12
This model is already been established and has been evolving successfully for over 25 years in Shreveport, Louisiana under the vision and leadership of Mack McCarter at Community Renewal International. The "Whole Person" is exactly what they strive for at CRI as a basis for 'mutually beneficial relationships' in order to create a 'caring world.'
I highly encourage all readers to visit their site and learn about them - they will be highlighted on CBS's Sunday Morning this spring. This model has been replicated in other locations in the US (a DC location is about to be launched) it is a healing balm that we need in the United States, and it is here amongst us. I have visited Shreveport six times. I have never seen anything like it. The results are inarguable for a healthy society. We don't need to go to Sweden.
3
Many Americans, taught in school that we're the most free country in the world, are conditioned to fear and mistrust our federal govt. This delivers political influence into the hands of corporate donors and exploitive politicians. We see the results daily on our news.
The Supreme Court put out the supreme lie, that any limits on corporate/wealthy donations to our politicians contradicts 1st amendment Free Speech.
That's how our highest court used our own revered Constitution against us, to increase power for corporate donors. It's a complete denial of the American ideal, as it effectively muffled the voice of the citizen majority in our lawmaking.
For what did the colonies overthrow King George and his aristos who exploited our resources for their benefit? We demanded Representation for Our Taxation.
We have to fight for it in 21st Century. But it's distorted by calling it big govt socialism interfering in our 'freedoms'.
9
What a great column about such an important topic. As a retired teacher, I wonder how much these countries spend on defense, which may allow for increased resources for education and other social priorities? They live in a rough neighborhood with Russia as a neighbor, but don't seem to live in fear as many Americans do.
5
I'd suggest a great education system developing powerful minds is a more effective defense against totalitarianism than submarines and aircraft carriers
15
It is easy to praise an education system when they cater to only a fraction of the population that the US does. Quality of education can be maintained when the in school population is small and homogeneous, without the melting pot effect that the US has. The facade is supported by the so called "free healthcare" mainly propped up by the exorbitant tax rates.
5
@Joe Baloney
Just because the US possess a large population, does not mean that it is excused from providing a shoddy education. Despite having more people in school, the US has the money to make the school system more streamlined and relevant.
8
their system and society was NOT built on slavery, abusive/exploitive labor treatment of immigrants, genocide of native populations....with a constant mix and flow of immigrants who were resented and relegated to ghettoes, and governments that favored tax breaks for the rich...
The US economy and society continues to be built and expanded by unfair labor laws ( low minimum wages, poor child care for workers,regressive taxes on workers ) ..unlike other nations were people come first.
The US continues to turn a blind eye to the common person and their most basic needs....and its educational system reflects that same lack of concern.
12
Thanks for this work! I greatly enjoyed reading it. Really brings to mind tenets of liberal arts education.
8
I recently heard the results of a study (on National Public Radio) that revealed that kindergarten teachers could be highly important to one's success in life. How so?
The study reported that the most successful (read: happy) individuals were those whose kindergarten teachers emphasized virtues like sharing and empathy, rather than dispensing knowledge, per se, like, how to add and subtract numbers.
This sounds to me like the Nordic model. Yes, Scandinavians pay higher taxes than Americans, but what most people in the U.S. miss is that THEY WILLINGLY, if not enthusiastically, pay those taxes in return for the considerable social benefits, for themselves and every citizen. E.g., extended maternity leave for BOTH parents. No one can dispute the fact that Scandinavians are among the most happy people in the world. When are WE going to switch to this bildung model?
9
“Society is the form in which the fact of mutual dependence for the sake of life and nothing else assumes public significance and where the activities connected with sheer survival are permitted to appear in public.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition
Ms. Arendt is basically defining the core of a society that works for all it's citizens as opposed to the one in the USA at this time that has splintered into groups that will even admit they hate others in their country and deny them equality on any level. The price of education that allows a society to function cannot ever be considered too high a price to pay for the freedom that results when commonality is the goal.
5
Bildung is a German word and it has never been the corner stone in education in the Nordic countries. The Swedish Folkskola was a practical institution with a rather no frills agenda. Still there has always been free education but it has not stopped it from being segregated at top level.
To this day attending High School is not mandatory in Sweden.
As well, student from Jr. High or Hogstadiet as it is called are obliged to apply to High School. There are a plethora of direction High School studies can take from science to hairdressing. Only if you have very high marks from Jr. High
can you study academic subjects. For anyone living in Canada
this seems like insanity. Even as I passed through this system myself.
I think David Brooks article is very dated. High ideals but not really valid for today's schools.
10
David is right about the wonderful education scheme there. There are practical factors which David does not mention--and these practical factors are also the result of explicit policy and planning. Teachers are paid much more. Teachers are much better educated. In order to teach, one must be at the top of their class. Teachers receive the same respect as doctors and other professionals. That said, it must also be noted: So much of why we do not have bildung here, or any of these practical advantages, can be laid at the feet of his own Republican party which has, in recent decades, been an implacable, irrational, ill-intentioned, anti-science, anti-education, dishonest enemy of everything good pertaining to education including bildung.
9
Really cool to read all the truly international and informed comments to this story! Ditto with Paul Krugman's excellent opinion piece today and long list of comments from around the world.
2
excellent
It continues to amaze how much devotees of economic neoliberalism will contort themselves to avoid acknowledging what is plain for all to see: that severe economic inequality is at the root of so many national and global problems. Putin's rise in Russia? It must be that awful Putin, it couldn't possibly be a massive national backlash against the IMF- and USA-promoted neoliberal "shock therapy" that backfired utterly and impoverished the masses while a tiny elite prospered under our client Yeltsin. A wave of populist-national-Euroskepticism in Central Europe? It couldn't possibly be a broad backlash against the EU neoliberal model that has benefited the educated-urban minority while leaving tens of millions of workers and farmers in the dust, so it must be that nasty Victor Orban. Italy, Britain, the USA, we obsess about the symptoms (Salvini, Brexit, Trump) but avoid the root cause. And so too when we examine societies that have largely avoided these crises--Scandinavia--where the most glaring contrast with America is income inequality. In this measure we rank among corrupt kleptocracies such as Peru and Cameroon, while the Swedes, Norwegian and Danes have the most equal societies in the developed world. Their upper classes pay very high taxes for that nation-unifying social safety net that binds these Nordic "families." But if you dare point that out, David Brooks will write a column denouncing you as a "socialist" who is trying to provoke "class war."
9
Sharing knowledge is one of the more satisfying sides of life. It is a give and take that can last a lifetime.
4
When HRC dismissed Sanders with her “America isn’t Denmark“ line back in 2016, it was a poor argument.
National hubris, it seems to me, is the opposite of the concept of
bildung.
192
Great comment, and great memory.
12
@Tombo Denmark joined the War in Iraq. How balanced was that?
1
@Zareen
Many of us have not forgotten!
5
Scandinavia also didn’t profit from and then “free” 4 million enslaved persons. Those countries were essentially homogeneous and everyone looked like everyone else without the negative constructs of race. I’d be curious how as to how dark skinned immigrants there are faring or whether people begrudge the other.
3
By the late 19th Century socialist ideas started to arise in Germany and places like New Zealan.
@Daniel A. Greenbaum: The idea of public policy to improve public health and well-being has been excoriated as "eugenics".
2
All my Republican friends say poor people need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Then when they have kids, they move to the best school district they can afford.
It is not surprising the Nordic countries have better economic mobility, that ability to pull one's self up by our bootstraps.
5
We are being fed constantly how Scandinavia, is a model to be copied. NO THANK YOU. Look at their history, especially WWII, read their books, see the remoteness and coldness, view the "I deserve it-entitlement feelings". See their movies (Ingmar Bergman). Survey their suicide rate, drugs and sex traffic...
I would never have chosen to live there.
5
WW II? You mean like the Danes hiding and smuggling 7,000 Jews out of Denmark to Sweden?
Yeah, I sure wouldn’t want to be associated with that! :-)
13
Wishful thinking: to improve education all around for all in the US, we could establish a very big budget for quality dramatic productions available to one and all almost all free via any TV set or move screen. Let quality reign, profits be dammed.
By dramatic productions I mean our versions, for us, of what the ancient Greeks did with their drama, and Shakespeare, and some of what Bergman did for Sweden, and the best of BBC productions, especially "Wolf Hall."
Not the sex and sword fantasies, etc. popular on the for-profit über alles venues. Our public entertainments seem to be going more and in the gladiator direction: brutal, dumb, demeaning to the best in us.
But that's probably a very futile hope.
1
Nicely done, Dave.
For your readers, here are a couple of Michael Moore YouTube videos, one that highlights early education in France and Finland and the other a discussion with a CEO from Iceland. Each is at once compelling and embarrassing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb_z7ktbU1M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP4djR4rHh8
2
Hear, hear David Brooks. Something we agree on.
1
Wishful thinking: to improve education all around for all in the US, we could establish a very big budget for quality dramatic productions available to one and all almost all free via any TV set or movie screen. Let quality reign, profits be dammed.
By dramatic productions I mean our versions, for us, of what the ancient Greeks did with their drama, and Shakespeare, and some of what Bergman did for Sweden, and the best of BBC productions, especially "Wolf Hall."
Not the sex and sword fantasies, etc. popular on the for-profit über alles venues. Our public entertainments seem to be going more and more in the gladiator direction: brutal, dumb, demeaning to the best in us.
But that's probably a very futile hope.
1
Do you know the best way to take advantage of everything Brooks described in this essay? Move to Scandinavia. Indeed, that is the ONLY way because nothing like the Scandinavian system will ever be developed here. The religious zealots, American national Socialists, "privatizers" like the execrable De Vos, and even the tech bro Libertarians will insure that.
5
Republicans didn't want Michelle Obama to brainwash their kids into eating healthy foods. But sure, let's have schools handle a "complete moral, emotional, intellectual and civic transformation of the person."
Turns out, if this program isn't based in God, Guns, and Creationism, you just lost half the country. At least we can agree that education is the problem.
15
What would be the fate of our current Commander in Chief and his compliant GOP in Nordic country?
The GOP's worst nightmare.
As usual, a very insightfull observation. Something every American needs to reflect on. Hope the message goes beyond the readership of the NYT.
It appears that David Brooks just threw his support to improve public education by getting rid of charter schools. Finally.
4
Finland, often in the news as doing things best--check out new Helsinki library https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki_Central_Library_Oodi,
is not part of Scandanavia. It is a Nordic state (Pohjoismaat), however.
2
Brooks also needs to cite Amanda Ripley who points out that in Finland it's harder to get into Ed School than Med School. Also contrast this article with the one the other day by Russ Douthat in which he quotes some right wing "intellectual" who supports defunding universities because they just breed liberals.
4
America doesn't have enough Scandinavians to be like Scandinavia.
5
We spend so much time identifying our differences as a positive that too much energy is wasted in our population. Homogeneity is more than ethnic, but so many leftists disdain the racial factors that unify a people.
6
@norman grant well said
So David, Thank you for pointing all this out. And what in discombobulated mind and cognitive dissonance are we
waiting for?
Last summer, I visited Scandinavia for the first time. First staying with a lovely family in Oslo. We ate our weight in salmon and it was eye opening to see their values as proud Norwegians. We bopped around in a Tesla — whoa! The only negative was dropping $30 on dinner at 7-11 which was shockingly easy to do. On my bucket list is to return with my fly rod.
From Oslo, we flew to Stockholm. There we ate our weight in cinnamon buns and were never not doing fika. I was surprised by the ethnic diversity of Stockholm. The food was delicious and the people warm and friendly.
Norway and Sweden get it. I have tremendous respect for the Nordic countries.
4
Liberal Democrats following the party line would claim lack of funding is a primary cause of poor educational outcomes in the U.S. This is not true, see link below:
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/apr/21/jeb-bush/does-united-states-spend-more-student-most-countri/
There is a problem with money spent on administration, sports programs, transportation, facilities, computers and technical support, counseling, health services, everything but actual instruction (teacher's salaries). States like New York and New Jersey spend close to $20,000 per year per student. Even poor neighborhoods in New York City are spending $15,000 and more per student.
And yet, still not even about teacher's salaries
https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/sep/05/how-the-job-of-a-teacher-compares-around-the-world
It is not lack of money, but relying on children to learn mostly at home, do their homework at home, rely on the home environment, be absent from school for two to three months, start off behind at age four or five due to lack of quality childcare and preschool.
There are cultural obstacles for both black and white children, as the U.S. views academicsin opposition to sports and the arts, vs complimentary. We never are able to explain to children or college students why learning is important, why history, physics, algebra, and literature are interesting. Interest in the subjects are absent. Add in college debt, and lack of jobs requiring a degree.
4
@C "It is not lack of money..."
Yes, it is. The poorer the school performance, the more money is a central issue. And, equally important, the distribution of what money there is in the educational systems, particularly in large urban areas.
2
@gking01
Definitely not. Do you remember school? There is very little learning going on in the classroom. It's one teacher, 8:30 to 3:30, less lunch and recess or gym, six hours, three or four subjects, twenty five students, but how is this time spent? Unfortunately in a lecture, or going over the homework. In both cases the student is lost if he or she doesn't already know the subject matter, has spent the time at home doing the homework, has a reading ability equal to the textbook instruction, and has an interest in the subject. The interest can be fostered by parents, peers, the teacher, a combination of such and cultural expectations. But mostly I'd ask why shouldn't the learning be done in the school?
Also the quality of teaching is not directly releated to the salaries paid.
It's true rich districts enjoy an advantage in many ways, but too many school systems with poor outcomes are outspending others with much lower costs, for money to be the central issue.
https://ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/printnycbtn47.pdf
https://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-education-spending-per-pupil-data.html
The page says Queen per pupil costs are lower partly due to larger schools.
Dream on, David. You forgot one thing: America hates children. We constantly do what we can to pull the rug out from under them: no universal pre-K, many neighborhoods with underfunded, crappy schools, cuts to their SNAP benefits and subsidized school lunches, no meaningful action for high school students who want seasonable gun laws, & pricey college for the ones that get that far.
12
In a business, school or government, the culture reflects the leader. If the company president believes in teamwork, shared goals and driving fear out of the organization, the company tends to prosper.
If the school principal believes in the dignity of each student and hires teachers who share that view the school becomes an incubator of growth.
Teachers who let students work in groups rather than straight rows is cultivating an environment that engenders cooperation, shared learning and skills that can last a life time.
Societies that prize teaching and compensates teachers accordingly will attract skilled people who might otherwise go into business.
The value system of the country reflects in the school and each classroom. Is public education a high priority for a nation's leaders? Or do they view education as a sort of social Darwinism where the fittest, or richest, get the best private schools and the rest get short-changed for lack of funds.
Education in America under our current political leaders is not going to achieve the kind of nurturing, individual, growth environment found in Nordic schools.
America's national mood is trending rapidly toward everyone for himself, and if you're not making it you're a loser.
This trend is away from a spirit of national consensus where we take care of each other and build a society based on trust and belief in policies that are designed for the common good.
1
I lived in Sweden for three years, during which I learned a good deal about the country, so I speak with reasonable knowledge. It is correct that they have a very good education system across the board; however, what this opinion is missing, is that Sweden did indeed go through a social contract between industrialists and workers at the turn of the century, after having lost roughly one quarter of the population to emigration to America. Everyone realized that if the country was going to remain viable, social and economic conditions would have to improve for everybody. This gave unions an unprecedented power they still hold today (I am an electronic engineer, and I was unionized while I worked in Sweden).
What the opinion does get right, among many other things, is the fact that Swedes (and the rest of Scandinavians) are honest to a fault, and this permeates every aspect of Swedish life: for example, when unions sit down with employers to negotiate labor terms (something they do with some frequency) everyone at the table is aware that no one gets a deal if everyone doesn't get a deal, something that is anathema in our american system of beliefs.
15
Left out of Ross's assessment is the fact, for instance, that Norway is rich. And they didn't become rich in the last 50 years from their artistry with building fires or from their forests or from driving electric cars in Oslo. They are rich -- a $1 trillion sovereign fund that annually sends a check out to every man, woman and child in Norway. With a population of some 6 million.
And that wealth has resulted *entirely* from their oil production off the Norwegian shelf since 1969. Fossil fuels, some gas but primarily oil. And while they cut back on investing in other fossil fuel companies in 2019, they remain invested in BP and Shell.
Many, many things are possible when six million people share a $1 trillion sovereign fund (larger than that of China). A largely homogeneous and small population riding high on the crest of the fossil fuel bonanza of the last 50 years no doubt makes for more money into, say, education and healthcare and care for the aged. It's not something mystical about the Norwegian spirit.
5
@gking01 : Your argument does apply to Norway, but not to Sweden nor Denmark, none of which share on the North Sea spoils that Norway has...
6
David Brooks wrote this???
7
Very nice. But then we at work were very happy because a Finn was coming to work with us during the summer a few years ago. And she was a complete racist idiot.
6
@NEVT : Finns are technically not Scandinavians - more a kin of Russians, really...
But yes, there's a good deal of racism in that part of the World as well, can't be denied..
2
I yearn for what Brooks describes but how can you have high social trust in such a racist society? Seems to me that one of our main cultural pillars is institutionalized mistrust. How do we overcome that?
175
@A. jubatus .....We hear it said that social democracy is easier in countries that are small, all white, not like huge America with many ethnic and racial groups.
But a large diverse country needs social democracy even more than a small, same- race one. And especially in a country with a history of slavery, Civil War, Jim Crow, blocked voting rights, and ongoing economic discrimination. And less economic security for average citizens generally.
Leaving it up to states to decide crucial laws on access to medical care, on taxes, unions, education, criminal justice, abortion, the death penalty – under the false idea of freedom from central govt—only widens the huge contrasts in citizen rights.
Politicians can use competition between racial, ethnic and economic groups with fewer resources, to enflame resentments and get votes.
Social democracy helps to moderate resentments and polarization. Here, politicians can easily exploit our differences to gain power.
We see this daily, agitating our politics. The solutions are being blocked.
37
@A. jubatus I believe alot of the mistrust comes from immigrants of very different cultures not doing their part to assimilate into their new country the way earlier European immigrants did. And the government doesn't seem to want to address that.
15
@A. jubatus I think it's a slow process. We teach the whole person to all children of all races, racism diminishes over time, and social trust grows. Note that it didn't happen overnight in Scandinavia either. And they still struggle with resentment towards others not like themselves, but they're conscious of it. It's not a knee-jerk response the way it is in many communities here.
13
The group norms Repubs have internalized have been conditioned by wealthy corporations who donate big to the party and expect good return on investment. Average citizens can't afford to invest, or compete.
But the Dem Party has for years been forced to compete for corporates funding, thus influencing their norms also
One result --- we have the world's most profitable health care, still leaving out multi millions.
We stand out among modern countries in blocking universal health care as a right, centrist in other countries for generations. Canada started it in 1960s.
We have been taught to actually fear HC for all, or low/free college tuition as radical, left wing, big govt. Those reforms contradict the political messages that have inundated American voters.
If many people have to be sacrificed to lack of medical care or huge debt----that's seen by many as just the price we must pay.
There's a new, healthy trend among voters for HC for All, and for reversing Citizens United that legalized unlimited mega donation to politicans as 'protected free speech'. Many see this as another distortion of our professed American ideals.
See Times editorial Feb 1 re big money in our elections on the 10th Annniversary of Citizens United.
Serving the elite sounds un-American. But it's actually been equated with American freedom from big govt---a distortion that other democracies don't buy. They prefer to show respect for their citizens, the whole purpose of having democracy.
4
My daughter had a very successful two years at the Washington Waldorf School, which is based on Rudolph Steiner's philosophy. It's similar in many ways to the model described. There are Waldorf schools in many states.
1
What? Lifelong development model?
David, the GOP you always supported would say phooey on that! You and other Repubs have long internalized their norms---keep govt small---at least for the average citizen.
We've had years of propaganda---that it's every man/woman/child for him/herself in America, land of Freedom, of individualism, self reliance and the anti big govt idea that makes America unique.
So, by this view, the smaller the political unit the better. No fed govt 'control'. Fund schools with local property taxes, so that the rich districts have better education than the less affluent.
Keep the national govt out. Put college students in huge debt and admire them for their ambition and sacrifice.
Let states opt out of Obamacare.
In other civilized countries their national govt funds education. In many ways they are realizing some of America's professed ideals better than we do---such as Equal Protection of the Laws--per the 14th Amendment.
The US conservatives have rejected that. The idea is that our inequality demonstrates that we are a 'free country'. Politicians can use competition between racial, ethnic and economic groups with fewer resources, to enflame resentments and gain political power.
All works together. America may be called the land of the Free, with a 1st Amendment protecting the free press from govt censorship, but Americans are the most propagandized people among the democracies.
We see the upshot in our current daily news.
5
If America's economic model is the antebellum plantation, and all which that model implies vis-a-vis "workers," it is understood (or should be) that there is no percentage in spreading safety from violence, healthcare, or education beyond the amount which benefits the master.
2
The thing that bothers me most about America education are the different educations children get depending on their parents income level. I am in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in philadelphia. Our public high school was closed and sold to a developer. There are several high end Quaker schools and a Waldorf school in the neighborhood. We also have an elementary school and a charter school junior high. I have never seen so much segregation in my life. The entire oppressive, racist system is enforced from day one. And it seems counter to people’s core beliefs for the liberals and more affluent to all send their kids to private schools - enforcing the class and race divide. Yet these schools are where creative learning is embraced and music and art is a part of the curriculum.
We need equality in the schooling of American children to ever handle the racial inequity and racism.
1
It is worth noting that the welfare state was originally a conservative German creation, much lauded by Winston Churchill more than 100 years ago.
Capitalism was seen as vulgar and liberal. How times have changed...
2
Mr. Brooks you just give your GOP audience the best reason to elect either Bernie or Elizabeth! Please be true to your opinion of Scandinavia and don't attack Medicare for All again..
3
I'm surprised to see Mr. Brooks dance with the possibility of expanding lifelong education and a renewed emphasis on liberal thought and critical thinking. He has fought so long against these things. I'm sure it'll pass and he'll resort to hippie-punching next week. Amusing while it happens.
3
The Scandinavian utopia is real. I feel it every time when visiting. I've always assumed it must be the result of a superb educational system, so this was an interesting read. The obligations to both one's own well being, and the greater community seem so amazingly balanced. The "me" is important (as reflected in a high standard of living), but it never seems to supersede the "we." I almost wish I didn't know such a place existed, because now when I see someone with their dirty shoes propped up on an unoccupied train seat (for example), it sort of ruins my day.
332
Also, I don’t think citizens of any Nordic countries would put all their eggs in one billionaire’s basket like America did in 2016 (and may do all over again this year if both Bloomberg and Trump aren’t stopped).
Bernie 2020
Not Me. Us.
14
@MichaelD Is the success in the Nordic countries something to do with ethnicity (near homogeneous) and mono-culture/value, which makes easier for them to get general consensus?
While race and discrimination are always pointed out here in North America, importance of social effect of distinctive culture of each race shouldn't be ignored.
I say we all should recognize the differences of people and their culture and live in harmony rather than trying to convince ourselves we are all same.
9
@Zareen
The reason billionaires don't become Prime Minister in Scandinavia is the system of parliamentary democracy and limits on the influence of money in politics, not the petty resentment and group-profiling of Billionaires you demonstrate here. They do not have elections where the whole country votes for one individual or the very high capital bar need to run for office in the U.S. The super-rich are a smaller group in Scandinavia, but they are highly admired; so perhaps the system serves them as well?
In any event, your unfounded use of Scandinavians as a reference for snide bashing Bloomberg is exactly the kind of non-sequitur debasement of political dialogue they are resistant to there and that contributes to the unraveling of our own democracy here.
18
Interesting column. I’ve observed over the years that the parts of the US that were heavily settled by Scandinavian immigrants tend to have good public schools and relatively good governance. I’m thinking the Upper Midwest and the Pacific Northwest here. I think Mr. Brooks is onto something here.
268
@K. Anderson, having lived in both Portland and Minneapolis, It would be a mischaracterization to claim they are similar. Minneapolis has a business forward climate and is remarkably open to “others“, as evidenced by the remarkable successful settlement of large numbers of refugees there over the past 30 years. Portland, on the other hand is isolationist, is not business friendly, and has citizens who routinely complain that it’s not the Portland of the 1980s anymore, rather than a more Minneapolis attitude of expecting and welcoming development and transformation of the city.
13
@Erik Schools in Portland are suffering.... as in many cities, from lack of funding, too many of the kids come from a very disadvantaged home, and teachers' class sizes are too large for them to gracefully deal with. Special Ed resources are stretched very thin.
9
@Erik Oregon was founded as a white supremacist state, don'tchaknow?
3
This is merely observational in re to America. What’s the prescription? Is it a strong national education system? Is it democratic socialism, as the Nordics mostly are? Is it equal use of educational funds across the entire American system?
Regarding this last point, it is impossible. So is point number one. America CANNOT implement a national education system, as we are a republic of states, which set their own educational policy as a matter of law. The federal government literally cannot intervene in these systems. It is not legal. Yes, it can set goals and guidelines, it can incentivize outcomes, but none of it is binding. Look no further than the mess surrounding Common Core. And that was mostly about math and ELA! Imagine if the feds told the states what a person, or a child, was. Imagine trying to explain “bildung” when CA and TX can’t even agree on what should go in the same history textbook.
I would support a national system. I’m all for bildung. I believe in the Commom Core. I think educational resources should be tripled or quintupled and then everything shared and all schools made equal. But that’s not America. People would lose their minds. The teachers unions would lose those minds. Christians, anti-vaxers, closeted (or not) racists, they all would lose their minds. The madness would cover all political and partisan bases.
We’re broke, folks. Our original sin did it. Just try to live in a state that believes in people, children, and schooling.
2
Perhaps some readers who live or have lived in Scandinavia can weigh in on my questions:
Are drug addiction/alcoholism as prevalent in Scandinavia as they are in the USA?
Is food insecurity a significant issue? Homelessness?
How many children are exposed to violence in their homes and neighborhoods?
What happens if someone suspects a child is being abused or neglected?
I ask these questions because I think they, even more than questions of curriculum, get to why the USA does not, and probably never will, achieve Scandinavian educational outcomes for the majority of our children. Too many here are traumatized by violence inside or outside the home (it's not less common among the middle class, just better hidden), living with the stress and fear of poverty or eviction, neglected or abused by a parent dealing with substance abuse or mental health issues, or crying for help and getting no answer. Far too many of America's children are traumatized, anxious, or depressed. To them, "bildung" would seem like a cruel joke. Is it "bildung" in the schools that makes Scandinavian societies possible, or do those societies, with their built-in support for the family, make learning "bildung" possible?
4
Our state and local school boards too often are the epicenters of resistance to education of all kinds, including what is described in this article. They also fend off attempts by the federal government to improve education as well. The well-off don't pay any attention to these boards; perhaps our public education could be more like what is described here by explicitly limiting these boards, many of which had their responsibilities expanded not to improve education but rather to fight desegregation, and incorporating aspects of the education system we now have for the well-off.
We spent several weeks in the four Nordic capitals this past summer. One theme emphasized by all those with whom we spoke was that they did not live in socialist states. They had thriving capitalist economies but paid high taxes in order to free private enterprise of the burden of managing health care, retirement, and education. These countries are full of creative capitalists and healthy citizens. Not all is perfect in Scandinavia, and the current turmoil surrounding immigration and social and cultural cohesion is increasing public anxiety, but on the whole, one sensed that these are nations whose people are proud of their ethos and quality of life. It reminded me of comments we've often heard in Germany, where businessmen complain about high taxes but confide that they would feel deep shame if their streets were filled with homeless vagrants; they want to live in communities whose quality is reflected in the welfare of the citizenry -- strangers and neighbors alike. Their sense of pride rests upon the quality of their civic and community life, not exclusively on their private privilege.
389
@KB
"They had thriving capitalist economies but paid high taxes in order to free private enterprise of the burden of managing health care, retirement, and education."
Exactly. I don't understand why this has to be so polarizing in the US.
47
@KB
America is the land of profiteers and everything is about revenue streams - almost as if there is a constitutional God given right to make ungodly profits off of one's illness, labor, fear (insurance) or human need, like education, housing, food even clean water (bottled) and air (soon to be bottled) and a functioning society which should be a lubricant for business has now been sold off to the profiteers. Why let the government tax its population when privateers can charge you twice the amount and give you half as much - is it so puzzling why healthcare (a human right) uniquely costs so much in America?
The lifeblood of the profiteers and the 1%ers at the top is their gift of forcing and conning themselves into ever more revenue streams adding costs to everything.
It is the private sector that corrupts government - not the other way around and then gets smeared by the private sector as incompetent. Beware corruption - it is what's destroying America.
46
@KB ..as you say, the Nordics "paid high taxes in order to free private enterprise of the burden of managing health care, retirement, and education."
And also to free themselves, as citizens of a democracy, from the CONTROL of private profit enterprises, and its influence on lawmaking. This gives citizens more freedom. It's the core of our political problems today.
We've been propagandized that high taxes are antithetical to our freedom, but in fact adequate taxes, fair and progressive, help protect our voice for laws in our interests. That's an operating democracy.
Per Wikipedia --- many countries actually ban paid political ads in their elections, to prevent special interests from dominating their political discourse. Here, those ads inundate and manipulate voters, as our biggest campaign expense, needing wealthy donors to finance.
On the 10th Anniversary of Citizens United, see NYT editorial Feb 1-- "More Money, More Problems for Democracy.
Countering private campaign funding with public campaign funding is the most viable way to limit the political influence of the wealthy."
Our politicians must vie for big corporate donations to run. The mega donors expect return on investment, or why donate?
It's been one of the great con jobs of any modern democracy.
42
THIS. “Bildung is the way that the individual matures and takes upon him or herself ever bigger personal responsibility towards family, friends, fellow citizens, society, humanity, our globe, and the global heritage of our species, while enjoying ever bigger personal, moral and existential freedoms.” We need bildung in our country and in our world.
3
Education is critically important, but the particular type of education described in this column seems to stress the group above the individual. In other words, it is not just about making someone a "whole" person, it's also about making them a person who sees themselves as part of a greater whole. This stands in stark contrast to the almost narcissistic individualism that rules in the U.S. (and which, not coincidentally, helps to convince us that we need to buy and/or are entitled to have numerous products).
3
I'm a Dane, who recently returned to Denmark, after earning my BA in the US, so I figured I'd throw my 2 cents in here as well. The difference, which stood out to me the most, when comparing Americans to Danes (I can't speak on behalf of the other Nordic countries, nor any other Dane than myself, I guess), seems to be the "mental maturity" of an individual; time and again I would notice Americans, adults included, behave in a way, I had only seen children, in Denmark. A sense of underlying childishness in the everyday life. The best example I can give, would probably be life on a university campus: I remember being completely dumbfounded, when a woman asked me what kind of dog I would like to have, as my sign, on our room door. I was 22 at the time, and I couldn't stop laughing, because why would I need a dog? Couldn't I just get a regular sign, square, sign? Then we'd have a superhero theme, Disney theme etc. Meanwhile, in DK, students would get naked, drunk, hold canoe races. All on their own. My point being, that I think the American youth needs less hand-holding and protection, in that regard, but I fully understand it would be difficult, when school shootings, and the like, becomes the norm. On the other hand, Americans seem really dedicated to whatever interests they may have, politics fx, to the point of many becoming their interest (I could clearly see where the stereotypical "nerd", "jock", "art student" etc. in films come from, during my stay) This I really admire.
5
Sweden is the size of California, The US is 22 times bigger than Sweden. And let's not count population. WE ARE DIFFERENT. Congratulations to the Scandinavian Countries. In the meantime, let's find somebody that can bring common sense and be in the middle so we can move forward despite our differences .
3
That would be "someone who." Great education, indeed.
2
@Jlad
Democratic socialistic policies are not just in Sweden or Nordic countries. It's sort of the common denominator among the modern developed countries of the world that are often very different, yet provide better conditions for their average citizens than we do. Being "in the middle" by American standards if not going to move us forward by world standards.
3
This is lovely, but seems to suggest (as per Brooks' usual wishful thinking) that the Scandinavians invested in this education model and nothing else. He ignored all the Scandinavian governments' investments in health, nutrition, housing, etc. that ensured that students weren't sitting in school with rumbling stomachs and distracted by anxieties caused by extreme poverty.
7
It's well know that the republic party has been trying to dismantle the social safety net in the US for generations. They opposed Social Security from its inception. Witness the trump administration's attempt to privatize Medicare through its promotion of Medicare Advantage plans and its attempt to limit access to food stamps. The republic party's efforts can be characterized as "starve the beast," i.e, reduce taxes until there is no way to afford funding the military and other "essential" government costs other than by reducing spending on so-called "entitlement" programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc, etc..
4
Here is my American story. Son of a single parent making an adequate income because we lived modestly, but still considered poor. Graduated from a public high school in Connecticut. Got a full scholarship with room and board to attend a state university without any debt. Free education. Graduated with a Bachelors in engineering that I parleyed into a full-time job with benefits, hired before even graduation day. Always had health insurance, unemployment insurance. Never needed unemployment benefits. Always had multi-week paid vacation, sick leave. Not quite by French standards but close enough, didn't want to loaf anyway. So, quite honestly, the premise that the US has no social conscience and programs just does not ring true, I could however gone to a private college, majored in fun and games, took out college loans to get skunk drunk at spring break and get high around the clock, and majored in something that no employer paid for.
10
Ok boomer. What about the kids who don’t win full scholarships to college? What are they supposed to do?
3
Brooks is arguing that attitudes like this (America is a meritocracy, pull yourself up by your bootstraps etc) represent a breakdown in the social contract. It’s great that American companies used to offer generous benefits and education was affordable and the cost of healthcare didn’t bankrupt families. That is no longer a reality. The point here is that Scandinavians believe that they have a responsibility to others, and that everyone benefits when the social contract includes affordable education, benefits for families, affordable health care. We are failing our citizens.
3
Sure...the current president wants immigration from Norway but calls our public schools "failing government schools" and he and Betsy DeVos give out vouchers so the public education can be eschewed altogether. Keeping the nation at low levels of education is advantageous for the Republican party, because unenlightened nation is easier to manipulate. I am not necessarily a Bernie supporter but I do agree that at this point we do need a revolution; almost nothing works in this country anymore.
4
Even with recent waves of immigration, the Nordic countries are extremely homogeneous in their culture and overall
demographics.
And in the case of Norway, they benefit from one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world as a source of spending. (the bulk of the SWF is derived from mineral and oil revenue)
4
Governmental control over our lives is terrifying not something to strive for. Bildung is abhorrent to a free, diverse, heterogeneous society. No wonder it is rooted in Germanic totalitarianism.
what Brooks has described in the Nordic Model of education is exactly what Confucius had been teaching and written about 2500 years ago. He is also the first teacher in public education (no tuition) in Chinese history (before his time, only the aristocrats got educated).
If Confucius is living in the U.S. today, he would be called "socialist" (if not communist) by Republicans.
And it is this kind of philosophy which keeps Chinese society going and in existence today despite of being conquered by barbarians repeatedly and ruled by tyrants over the last three thousands of years.
That is why Confucius is the "saint" in Chinese history.
1
Public education has been taken over by Republican state legislators who like most Americans, are ignorant of the difference between education and training. Instead of educating citizens, the goal of public education is now saving corporations billions by providing taxpayer funded job training.
3
So much pleasure in life can be gained through perspectives that only education can provide.
It’s a shame we try to beggar our neighbors by any means possible. Our sorry schools reflect and amplify this spurious attitude. Generosity of education would lift all boats.
2
Secularism and the welfare state, David. That's what's great about the Nordic model. They don't have Republicans there to bad mouth government services or promote superstition.
Perhaps it's time that Mr. Brooks support America's greatest promoter of the Nordic model, Bernie Sanders
3
@Ezra Bernie Sanders is far off from having policies similar to the Danes. There is a lot of economic freedom in the Netherlands and corporate taxes are relatively low. Additionally, much of the population pays higher rates of taxes, not just the rich.
1
Has anybody else mentioned some of this sounds like Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development?
1
And why exactly do you think this is the case David? Please, if you can, name one person in the Republican party that would support a move towards an educational and socio-economic system like this...
5
And our moto is: "Don't tread on me."
1
The ethnically homogeneous society that Mr. Brooks describes as being there in 1800 has largely remained in place. That allowed them to pursue a bildung educational system, because at its core the system builds on broadly accepted truth and viewpoints and connect people to a greater appreciation of their role as citizens, neighbors etc.
The US has in fact had waves of different cultural views and beliefs pounding it since inception. Sometimes celebrated, and recently vilified, immigration constantly changed the direction of our culture. People fight to retain some of their customs, and pure assimilation never really occurs. We have ended up being a nation that celebrates all of our differences, which is a very good thing indeed, but it comes at a cost of it making nearly impossible to have a bildung education system, because such a system requires equality not just in access, but in subject matters and other substantive areas, like civics and ethics. In the US, a bildung system would be interpreted as invading the rights of people to be have different sets of moral values and ethics. And that is a shame, because what many people view as moral or ethical positions in this country have little to do with ethics and morals and more to do with beliefs.
5
@T Mo Honest question T Mo; from whence do we get our morals and ethics if not from beliefs? To your point, with the waves of immigration that built our country came different sets of morals and ethics. Our founders and constitution celebrate the individual whereas Eastern culture has a much diffent focus on shame and honor of the family and clan. I think i just made your point for you but would genuinely like to understand the perspective of how do we determine which morals and ethics are the correct ones?
However, the roots to what Mr Brooks describes are much older than 1870. Which he also indirectly shows by referring to the same characteristics whether they are in Stockholm or Minneapolis. Complementary to the educational aspects are the very old law tradition, and respect for the rule of law.
The most striking difference between the political discussions in Scandinavia and in the US about "welfare state" or social security organised by the state is that it is accepted that it cost big money, and that everyone is supposed to contribute. The US left seems to claim that a lot of free stuff can be available without the middle class paying for it, which is a completely different approach, and unworkable.
4
A good education system may have played a role in why the Nordic countries are wealthy -- I don't think many would dispute that.
But the United States is wealthy, too (indeed wealthier on a per capita basis than the Nordic average).
And yet there's clearly a vast difference in how non-rich people live in the two societies.
That can't be hand-waived away by citing differences in schools.
As usual, Brooks is retro-fitting the facts to fit his ideology.
2
@Jasper
Hello. Compare Norway and the US in terms of wealth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult
You will notice that the US median wealth (half way point) is lower, while the mean (average) is higher. Wealth inequality is a hallmark of educational inequality.
I think you are possibly closer to Mr Brooks than you realize.
"And yet there's clearly a vast difference in how non-rich people live in the two societies." This, I think, reflects Mr Brooks' ideology. He seems to be expressing the opinion that mutually beneficial social behavior is learned.
Although many of the comments here are valid criticisms of our social and governmental policies, one reason why the USA can't or won't finance a more generous level of social and educational spending is that we subsidize the national defense of all of these other developed countries. If entities such as Communist China, Russia or Isis ever get a clear advantage in military technology over the West in general and the USA in particular, we will all live in totalitarian misery for who knows how many years or even centuries to come.
2
I wonder if having a small population has something to do with it. Sweden has a population of 8.9 million; Norway, 4.5 million;
Denmark, 5.3 million; Iceland, 282,000. Can you get more harmony and agreement and social cohesion in a small country than you can in a large one? Could be.
5
The Swedish economy didn’t take off in 1870, it took off after WW2 and the Marshall-plan. When neutral Sweden as one of the few Europeans countries with an intact infrastructure could take advantage of the post war economic boom and build heavy industry exporting to the rest of the world. In the 80’s Sweden was the richest country in the world, but since then that advantage has evaporated and Sweden is somewhat above the middle in Europe.
According to the article, the Nordic model was developed 150 years ago. I doubt that Americans are willing to engage in such a long-term project, particularly when the majority seem to be doing okay. In general, humans who are more or less satisfied with their lot in life are unlikely to support change.
1
Sometime ago Michael Moore made a film about taking the best ideas from each country in Europe and bringing them home to America.
In the part of the film on Iceland, he interviewed three female executives and asked their advice America. One of the three said that she wouldn’t live in America because of the way we treat each other.
David’s term of bildung- “the complete moral, emotional, intellectual, and civic transformation of the person is a more complex word but it come pretty close to how we treat each other.
We don’t treat each other very well, in fact pretty badly.
11
@Midwest Tom I don’t know where you live, but where I live in the US we treat each other with consideration and kindness.
1
Perhaps you and your friends do treat others on a personal basis with consideration, but any country that allows some of the social policies we have does not treat our people well.
The poor, people of color, minimum wage workers and many others are not really treated well.
3
You underestimate the benefit of homogeneity of Scandinavians, poor or no, on their policies.
They feel "we're all Scandinavians so we don't mind paying high taxes to school our kids, because we're of the same tribe."
That is absolutely not true here. In America, we are vastly more spread out and don't consider all Americans of the same "tribe" despite e pluribus unum.
The struggling farmer in rural Idaho does not feel kinship with an urban family across the country in Atlanta — they are just too alien to him. Said farmer is going to resent paying high taxes he can ill afford to benefit those he doesn't feel any connection with.
Like it or not, that's human nature. We are tribal. And it's silly to keep comparing us to Scandinavia, despite how good their model seems to be.
What we should be doing is trying to get everyone in America to believe in e pluribus unum.
7
And Yet the more heterogenous areas like California and New York pay higher taxes than the more homogeneous middle America.
4
I spent a year in Sweden as an exchange student in the 1970s and attended a local high school (gymnasium). What struck me at the time was the policy about homework: No more than 3 hours of work per night and no homework over the weekend. Coming from a competitive American high school, I found that very odd. What also struck me was the dearth of extra-curricular after-school activities. Instead, students were involved in community activities and sports rather than school-affiliated activities. I also appreciated the policy of being able to walk anywhere as long as you don't disturb the land, which lets people get out and enjoy nature and is so different from the US where property is fenced off and trespassers are prosecuted. Looking back now, all that was a better way to balance the home-school-life workload and create a sense of shared responsibility among young people which persisted into adulthood. It's a completely different mindset that looks outward, not inward like many people in the US and is, I believe, a much healthier way of living in the world.
9
There is also a concept of universal equality, that regardless of wealth or position in society people are equals. The government leaders and every day people have lived and worked together with no distance. Only under the pressure of terrorist acts have government leaders found it necessary to have protection from others where they live.
Achieving social cohesion is far easier in a culturally homogeneous society than a diverse one. However much we may wish to deny the fact, evolution has made humans deeply xenophobic; we find it much easier to be altruistic to members of our in-group than to outsiders. The relative homogeneity of Japan, New Zealand, and until recently Scandinavia, underlie their peace and prosperity. Sweden and Denmark are having a hard time assimilating the huge numbers of recent immigrants from the Middle East, culturally at the opposite pole from Scandinavia. It is hard to predict the eventual outcome of globalization but it will be a long rough road from here to there.
8
@Someone else
I find that Americans have no cultural rites, other then Thanxgiving, and bbq with fireworks. The cultural rites in northern Europe are deep and plentiful, including sentimentality, plays,music, literature, Pipi Longstocking stories, many stories, many customs and rites. Scandinavians have culture, Americans have none. We are the land that got pasteurized. The first globalization.
4
This is the down side of multiculturalism. It denies any single culture. Nothing can be defined as a product of American culture. For the sake of an ideal that exists nowhere else in the world, we have abolished the idea of a specific American culture. This has caused the rise of the tribalism that drives our politics.
1
Oh... so New Zealand is a homogenous society? That must have been after they killed what was left of the Maori people.
No, not if any of these Nordic countries becomes a rival of the US, UK, Australia, Canada or New Zealand.
If that happen, the Anglo -Saxons would be condemning the new rival to them.
Britain did this to Spain, France, and Germany when they they were on the rise; and US are doing this to Russia and China.
The Anglo -Saxons simply can not tolerate anyone to challenge them. They always stick together.
To bring about a Scandinavian society in the United States, taxes would have to be increased, racism abolished and the Wars of Freedom brought to an end. Such a society would be bitterly opposed by a large number of ordinary Americans and by almost all rich people. It will never happen here.
3
@WB
Au contraire. I was struck how much scandinavian houses and gun ownership and outdoor life is like Minnesota, heck, most parts of rural USA. Nowhere else in Europe will you find homes built like in the US, in the middle of nowhere, and so much vast unpopulated but still managed land. But the Scandinavians have sane gun ownership, oriented towards sport and hunting, not assault weapons, which quite frankly they would call crazy. Very much unlike the French, and really different then the English and Germans and Spaniards and Italians.
1
There is racism in Sweden. Even as far back as in 1870 there where minorities as the Sami people or “tattare”.
Bret Stephens: "Of course, Bernie can win"
David Brooks: "Scandinavia is great"
Krugman: "Bernie is not a socialist"
All sound advice! Thanks!
2
After spending seven winters in Arizona, people thought we were nuts to sell our house and return to Minnesota year-round. Thanks for reminding us that it's not just the weather.
7
Yes, and the more educated a person becomes the more likely they are to gravitate toward supporting policies that benefit the whole community -- universal healthcare, free public education, a living wage, etc. Unbridled capitalism teaches the opposite -- destroy your competitors, take advantage of others and think only of yourself.
10
I was in Paris and Denmark last September.
In the ride in from the Paris airport, I noticed something surprising, homeless encampments. I live a few miles from Such encampments in Washington State but hadn't expected them in Paris!
Copenhagen was more homogeneous, although news stories talk about a growing number of Muslims, about 5.5% of the population. This immigration has become controversial.
France and Denmark are being transformed by immigration. Political correctness requires that we regard immigration as a blessing. But it isn't.
The front page of the NY Times gives a montage of photos from people in Syria fleeing to who knows where.
Why? Look up the figures in Wikipedia and you see that Syria had a population growth of 3% per annum until the recent civil war.
The Western media demonizes Bashar al-Assad. Yes he is a tyrant worthy of rebuke, but the real culprit is population growth that continued year after year, doubling every 23 years until people succumbed to violence.
Africa's population is projected to double (again) by 2050. Immigration to Europe will increase. What Brooks sees as a paradise in Scandinavia will be engulfed by a human tide.
I reflect on why we did nothing for so long, and continue to do nothing.
In 1968, Paul Ehrlich published the Population Bomb which argued that population growth would destroy living standards for humans.
He was regarded as a crackpot and a fool.
Global warming leading to human extinction is the price we pay.
9
@Blaise Descartes A lot of Europe have glittering cities with the poor banished to the outskirts. You don't see that in tourist brochures.
The Danish education system has also taught them the value of increasing income equality and a comprehensive cradle-to-grave support system, including day care and national health—all those things that horrify the author when he thinks of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. You can’t have it both ways. Wake up and smell the coffee...and have a nice Danish with it!
5
Our chances of becoming a Scandinavian utopia? Slim to none! The "American Dream" is rooted in how we systematically destroyed the indigenous culture that had lived here for more than 10,000 years. Then we set up a Southern economy entirely based on slavery and the selling of humans. Will we ever truly acknowledge our monstrous and immoral history? We are still reaping the rewards of our inhumane choices. Let's keep in mind that a significant portion of Trump, the Lyin' King's base still flies the confederate flag. And while we are at it let's stop worshiping the constitution and our forefathers. Charles Carroll
Samuel Chase
Benjamin Franklin
John Hancock
John Jay
ThomasJefferson
Richard Henry Lee
James Madison
Charles Pinckney
Benjamin Rush
Button Gwinnett
Edward Rutledge &
George Washington were all slave holders. Slave-based staple agriculture, combined with deep-seated racial prejudice, posed considerable obstacles to emancipation. We are a mess...deservedly so.
6
@kevin I agree completely, that we must acknowledge how both the myths and the realities of our history have contributed to our present ills. Also acknowledge that revolution will arrive when women and men together collaborate to run a society based on the tension of free enterprise and public collaboration reflecting both a healthy competitive and cooperating society. We have a long way to go
2
@AmyClaire777
Agreed. Your perspective is spot-on and revisionist. I recently had the good fortune to spend time in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. The personal relationships between men and women appear to be intrinsically so different than in the U.S. Shared personal values as well as a sincere belief in the social system are woven into daily lifestyle choices. Mostly everyone I spoke with was keenly aware of how fortunate they were to live in a socialistic political framework and thankful for the benefits it allowed. On the other hand, there are reasons that the U.S.A. wallows in a predominately two party dog and pony show. Polarized, contentious feedback loops insure that there are few if any bipartisan solutions so, nothing gets done or changes. Plus, our political system has always been corrupt. Nothing new here, except that Trump, the Lyin' King, really thrives in this environment. Thus his success in exploiting it.
2
It is a mistake to apply current standards of morality to historical events. In 100 or 200 years, people will be appalled that people died because they couldn’t afford health care or that quality education could only be had by the affluent. When this country was formed, slavery had already existed for 3,000 years of human history and was a worldwide practice that was never questioned. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that slavery ceased to be normal in most countries.
Tho politicians demanding the charter or private schools are incapable of fixing the public ones and are willing to sacrifice all the children attending those schools..
2
David Brooks should just admit that the real reasons for American decline are the policies of the Republican Party over the past 50 years.
5
It sure didn't get great by following any of the Republican starve the government policies you have advocated for 40 years.
7
They take care of their neighbors kids.
It really is that simple. If you take care of your own children first, society benefits.
US allows billionaires to import millions of h1bs , F1s, OPTs, L1s, H4Bs, H2Bs and guest workers to take jobs from US grads for more profit. Complete opposite philosophy.
Let the rich rule and take advantage of the poor.
Time for us to focus on US workers and US children first.
2
I lived and worked in Finland in the late 80's after college. I worked for a software start up. I heard lots of criticism of the US and agreed with a lot of it. But my true response was always how can you compare the two nations? Finland had a population of roughly six million at the time and the US, hundreds of millions. Even now, all of Scandinavia has the population of Los Angeles! Also Scandinavian countries don't have a history of being a nation of immigrants. Even now they have a very low percentage of immigrants. And finally, they don't spend billions on their military each year or have a massive national debt. They are much better with their money.
The majority of people I knew and worked with were very content with their lives and the benefits they received (child care, parental leave, health care, education). I didn't know anyone who had a second job or side business because, I was told, they would have to pay almost 80% tax on their second income. So why do that when they weren't struggling to pay for health care or medicine.
Anyway, I do wish we could solve the health care and prescription drug cost issues, as well as raise our children with these Nordic sensibilities. But it really is comparing apples to oranges to think we could easily do it here. We're a very complex nation.
6
I'm an American with one child, born in the US. I did not have parental leave, struggled with finding decent/affordable day care, was unable to pursue various business ideas for fear of losing health insurance, and worried about paying for my son's higher education. I now live in Sweden with only one regret - not getting here sooner.
14
I guess this means our Mr. Brooks will be throwing his support behind Bernie Sanders! Let's all let bygones be bygones and welcome him to at least the 20th Century.
207
@UWSder Haha exactly. As I was reading this I became profoundly disconcerted with how much I was resonating with David Brooks!
I would point out his slightly antiquated take on "love of nation", however.
As one who was partly educated through the Swedish system and frequently discussed the countries education policy, this has shifted into an even more pluralistic view of belonging and responsibility.
I would contend that responsibility is more focused now on local geopolitical belonging (EU), and even spills greatly into connection to humanity-at-large, in the realm of Appiah's idea of "Cosmopolitanism". I feel this has been a marked improvement over the stale idea of instilling responsibility to the "nation", not to mention the even more constrained idea of high-tier responsibility only belonging to the "state". We see that the right-wing Swedish Democratic party is a prime offshoot of prioritizing a mythical and pure Swedish "nation".
10
@UWSder Bernie doesn't talk about the main points that David's talking about here -- that shared responsibility of person to person. Bernie concentrates on wealth inequality and healthcare for all. I've never heard him talk about changing our mode of thinking from mememem to thinking of all of us as interconnected and responsible for each other. That was one of Obama's strongest messages -- that we are all connected and what happens to one person, affects the other.
21
@UWSder .....Welcome him to the 20th Century, right!
In the 2016 debate, Hillary Clinton proclaimed -- 'We are not Denmark!'
A CNN article quoted Bernie Sanders:
....."you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the US," Sanders said. "You see every other major country saying to moms that, when you have a baby, we're not gonna separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have medical and family paid leave..."
"....We should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their working people."
Clinton fired back with a defense of capitalism as a concept. First she redefined it - capitalism, she said, is about entrepreneurs being able to start small businesses - and then she said America must save it from itself. "We are not Denmark," she told Sanders. "I love Denmark."
Whatever that means.
Our centrist politicians just tell us 'we're not Denmark' and expect us to be satisfied with that explanation of our social backwardness.
14
As much as such articles are informative, in my view the key impediment to a stronger social safety and educational system in the US has to do with the lack of social sense of cohesion and community, compared to Western Europe.
The article does not mention that. But there is a body of literature pointing to slavery and Jim Crow segregationist history as the foundational element behind the lack of impulsive solidarity across the population. And without that, it’s just hard to see most of the population accepting big structural changes.
Here is a telling exemple, from the past democratic debates. The « moderates » attacking Sanders and Warren on Medicare for all, highlighting it would deprive 146 million Americans of their private insurance. Well of course! They could have instead talked about the need to get rid off the employer-sponsored model of insurance, without changing the actual level of care for those who have it, while actually extending the medical net to those in between jobs, or whose jobs don’t provide insurance, or weak insurance, or the people losing their jobs because of sickness.
Why do people such as Biden, Buttigieg and Klobuchar chose to pander to the me-first instinct of the American voter instead of the us-together community spirit so strong in other parts of US citizens lives?
Because it basically works politically. Because most citizens do not have a sense of solidarity beyond its immediate neighbors or beyond people similar to him.
3
This is a gorgeous utopian ideal and if it's working in these Scandanavian countries, I applaud them. I love every idea of Bildung. However, it begs 3 important questions: nowhere in this opinion does it talk about how these ideals play out in real time. I would like to see evidence of that. Second, who determines what the unifying factors are for morality and character and what it means to be part of a larger society? And third, how are the vulnerable, for instance, children with disabilities addressed with regard to belong, growth and development within this "normalized" Bildung structreu?
Yes, College is free in Sweden
But that does NOT mean that Swedish students do not graduate without debt.
To cite the Atlantic
"Swedish colleges and universities are free. Yep. Totally free.
But students there still end up with a lot of debt. The average at the beginning of 2013 was roughly 124,000 Swedish krona ($19,000). Sure, the average US student was carrying about 30% more, at $24,800."
"...students in Germany and the UK have far lower debts than in Sweden. And 85% of Swedish students graduate with debt, versus only 50% in the US. Worst of all, new Swedish graduates have the highest debt-to-income ratios of any group of students in the developed world (according to estimates of what they're expected to earn once they get out of school)--somewhere in the neighborhood of 80%. The US, where we're constantly being told that student debt is hitting crisis proportions, the average is more like 60%. "
For more read
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/05/the-high-price-of-a-free-college-education-in-sweden/276428/
1
I agree with many of the comments made here: Scandinavian countries provide so much more support and true equality to their citizens. But let me add one more point: It's going to be hard for US educational systems to teach students to be "complete people" who understand social ties and responsibilities when they're having such a hard time teaching them to read and do basic arithmetic. You can't teach advanced skills and good citizenship when you do such a lousy job of teaching the basics.
2
If we can’t agree on how to teach math or reading, subjects that someone has taught for thousands of years, how would we ever agree on an American bildung? I doubt I would trust any public school educator as a transmitter of values. Who would have taught him or her? A university? Spare me. Who would write the textbook? The school board, bureaucrats or legislators? Please!
This article doesn't seem to reflect the reality of Norway in the late 19th century, in my opinion. In 1870 and thereafter, thousands of Norwegians emigrated to the USA and Canada. I don't think all that immigration suggests that Norway was taking off economically. Norway is second only to Ireland in the percentage of its population that emigrated to the USA and most of that immigration took place in the wake of the US Civil War. My mother's parents grew up in rural western Norway and emigrated to the USA in the early 20th century. They both had about a 6th grade education, which was probably par for the course for the non-urban parts of the country. Until fairly recently education beyond the elementary level was something for the minority of the Norwegians who lived in the handful of urban areas, not the masses of people who lived primarily off farming, fishing, sea-faring, and timber cutting.
1
To understand Germanic sensibilities toward education (and authority) you need to understand that Germanic children are given answers for the world around them before they are old enough to ask questions about it. Nearly everything falls under Natural Law to them. Truth is highly respected, but independent of context and never subjective... forget about probabilities (Heisenberg even had a principle for uncertainty) - and it's just a matter of having the right authority to convey it. In my opinion, Americans could benefit from some 'germanification' - and some aspects of the American mentality wouldn't hurt germanic folks (i.e. there's a lot of context here).
2
I apologize for my "you need to understand..." statement. After reading Dr. Krugman telling me (about 100 times) "this is what what you need to know" I told myself I'd never splain away like that....
I agree with this assessment of the Nordic educational system and general mentality. The same exists in Switzerland...and to a certain degree in other European countries. To structure your society and educational system like this you need to believe that your fellow citizens are your extended family. Unfortunately, we don't have that way of thinking in the US. The US is a collection of tribes, many pulling in opposite directions. I think a first step would be to start teaching local history in school, and by local I mean neighborhood by neighborhood, borough by borough. Start teaching Staten Island primary school children the history of Staten Island, Brooklyn children the history of Brooklyn, slowly building up to the city as a whole, then the state and the country. Give them a good years-long grounding in local history so that they feel connected to their communities. Who are folks our neighborhood streets are named after, for example? This is how they teach history in Europe and it is what helps to develop a connection to community and a sense of civic duty and engagement.
4
@ML
I share your views. I just wrote a post coming to the same conclusion through a different angle.
The main impediment to an extended social safety or medical net in the US is the lack of a cohesive sense of community and solidarity across the country.
Without elaborating, there is social research linking this to the « cardinal sin » of US history, it’s segregationist past.
when I was teaching, my classes were mostly in the morning and evening. Once,when I I stayed late I found myself standing in front of the library looking at an empty quad, even the student center looked dead. I asked myself why are there no students around and I realized that it was delibrate. the powers that be (presidents and their teams changed frequently. It might have been president Hughes) had decided that this local University had to be a commuter school, an efficient producer of engineers, nurses and accountants. no sitting around having lunch with classmates,no doing your homewor in the library or the writing center, advisors helpfully arranged student schedules in three or four hour blocks with ten minutes to get from one to the other. the few work study jobs went to international students as did the on campus housing. 10 years later a new administration decided that exchanging ideas outside the classroom was valuble. he built dorms, he built an innovation campus with creative spaces where engineers and tech developers could tinker. I had to retire but I hope it works out.
2
Isn’t it great what huge tuitions and ginormous fees, all funded by practically unrestricted government provided student loans, can accomplish? I think the first college president had the smarter idea. The second guy or gal simply looked at the river of money and said “Let’s get some.”
"Whether in Stockholm or Minneapolis, Scandinavians have a tendency to joke about the way their sense of responsibility is always nagging at them. They have the lowest rates of corruption in the world. They have a distinctive sense of the relationship between personal freedom and communal responsibility."
KLOBUCHAR!
6
I lived in Sweden for 10 years. It is easy to sit in the U.S. and say how wonderful Sweden is, never having visited or studied there, but in the end I came back because of the shortcomings in Sweden, which are never discussed in articles like this.
It is true that Sweden starts with parental leave, continues with free pre-school, health care, free university, etc, and gives everyone equal opportunities and instills a sense of society and caring for each other, and that is sorely lacking in the individualistic USA.
However, this system fails to provide opportunities for excellent students to excel. People are not equal in abilities, and Sweden crushes excellence because they believe everyone should be equal. This insistence on equality in soul-numbing, and it saps any desire to work hard. It turns Swedes into zombies, in my opinion.
7
@Herr Andersson I have lived in Sweden since 1969. I beg to differ with you regarding the encouragement of excellence and the possibility to become exceptional in the school system here.
If you look at statistics regarding which countries have received the most Nobel prizes in the sciences you will no doubt be amazed.
The three Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden have each received more Nobel prizes than the USA. Per capita. That fact seems to indicate that the educational system does produce excellence in the sciences.
1
It seems that seeing oneself as part of a larger community and having a feeling of shared responsibility within that community has benefits. Who would have thought this? Sadly, this is the antithesis of the States, the land of rugged individualism and profit above all else. Is it any wonder we're in such a precarious state? If only we had the capacity to look outside ourselves and learn from other countries / societies, but we're too busy being great (and getting greater everyday) to do something such as that. Where can I buy a MAD (Make America Denmark) hat?
6
I believe that a spin-off effect of their educational system is that their politicians make decisions based on the big picture, unlike some politicians in my country or yours. A great example of this is a heritage fund that the Norwegians adopted when their North Sea oil riches became apparent. They realized that these would eventually run out so they put away a certain amount each year to help them transition to a post oil economy when that oil ran out. This country of 5 million people now has over $1 Trillion (US) in this savings account (about $200,000) for each man, woman and child. The irony is that they copied this model from a Canadian progressive conservative politician name Peter Lougheed, in 1976, in oil rich Alberta. However, a series of not so progressive conservative politicians in Alberta decided that it was more important to give tax cuts than invest in the future and they even raided the fund to cover budget deficits. The result is that today, Alberta has approximately $14 billion in their heritage fund (only about $5600 for each man, woman and child in Alberta). This is about the same size that the fund was 35 year ago. I like Norway's chances of transitioning to a post-oil economy more than Alberta's.
4
The driver for Norway’s fund is the knowledge that North Sea oil was always a short term revenue source. Now, as they and Scotland find revenues dropping, at least Norway has those savings. Norway had no desire to just save money per se. Alberta has so much oil that it will still be pumping money when a real starship Enterprise heads out. It makes sense that Alberta would treat the revenues as a long term funds source, using the fund as an Inter year cushion, but not a trust fund.
@Michael Blazin I assure you, Norway is still locating deep sea wells (since the late 60s). One was found just last year that is so enormous that the geologists still can't tell how big it is. And gas, Norway can supply Europe with 20 percent of its needs for the next hundred years, but all this industry will be phased out long before then.
@Michael Blazin
"Alberta has so much oil that it will still be pumping money when a real starship Enterprise heads out. "
Perhaps not, per this article from two days ago detailing how investment funds and other financial companies are looking to stop investing and insuring in Alberta tar sands extraction:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/climate/blackrock-oil-sands-alberta-financing.html?searchResultPosition=3
Very perceptive writing. The idea that education should involve “the whole person” should not be a some radical, outlier notion, but in the US it surely is. Even our new emphasis on STEM skills betrays a fear of being overtaken in the breathless competition for tech superiority among nations, and implies a lack of interest in that “whole person” who is an increasingly rare product in our educational system and, to our detriment, in the society at a large.
1
I have lived in Finland for an extended period twice, courtesy of the Fulbright Awards program. Mr. Brooks is spot on about the ways in which the Scandinavians have thought about their history and culture and worked to implement programs that will advance both the interests of their communities and their nations as a whole. But Americans cannot seem to get past the red-baiting misinformation that seems to be everywhere in their society and their stubborn rejection of any idea that they did not (or think they did not) invent.
Scandinavians also do not to be as prone to isolating educational information. When I taught US intellectual and cultural history at the University of Helsinki 20 years ago, I was asked to deliver a lecture at the Business School. I was pleasantly surprised at this, but they thought it a perfectly logical thing to do. Try to imagine an American Business or Law School doing that. One would hope that, for example, a law school might think it appropriate for Constitutional Law classes to study the intellectual history of the Document. As we witnessed a couple of weeks ago, this clearly didn't happen.
The school systems are great; the students spend fewer hours per day in class and fewer days annually in school, yet do better on international exams. And please let's not hear the argument that Scandinavia is homogeneous. That's inferential racism. Karelians are different than Swedish Finns and Sami peoples.
5
"Their economic growth took off just after 1870." Really? My grandmother's parents left Sweden, my infant grandmother in tow, in 1900 because there was no opportunity for them - thirty years after the Swedish economy supposedly "took off". My grandfather left Sweden, at age 19, alone, in 1917, again because there was nothing for him there. While the seeds of social democracy may have been sown among the intelligentsia before the turn of the twentieth century, the "Nordic Model" did not really take off until well into the last century, with the ascendance of unionism. Let's not pretend that the Scandinavian miracle is due to the benevolence of a wealthy class that supported public education. It was, in fact, the result of a grass roots ovement. It was the people, not the elites, who said, "They will not do it for us. We must do it ourselves."
8
Nice article Dave yes yes yes! Those of us on the left have been trying for years to get this across to those on the right they are the me and mine group and can not make that connection. Those that sit on top also seem not interested after all life is great for them what is the issue. Until we work together as one nation I do not see this happening as a matter of fact the right would have us go the other direction a well informed and educated society is not their plan. Why would we want healthcare for half the cost affordable education and care for others what a crazy though. A close friend who is a Republican told me he loves the policies and the direction we are going! This is hopeless let's split this up and move on I do not see a compromise.
1
What is the history behind how this way of teaching came to be? What historical forces encouraged these places to come to the conclusion that this was the way people should be educated?
Change in education takes years, far longer than the political life span of our average politician. Improving education or changing to some idealized form like Scandinavia's will never pay off for the governor or President who promotes it. Better to cut taxes and get reelected. Cut education funding to pay for the tax cuts -- Kansas. The Nordic model probably took one hundred years to implement.
Besides, holistic education or teaching for transference have been around for years. It's just harder to pursue such idealistic goals when the school systems are scrambling to keep the lights on.
2
Around 1970, I spent three years on a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities to examine the state of learning and teaching of the humanities in secondary schools. Our commission did its work, made recommendations and filed its report. Since then, and before then, many other commissions and or and organizations have done similar work all of which have resulted in approximately zero change or improvement in the quality of education in the United States.
If I had to identify the major culprit for the extremely poor and ineffective level of education which we as a nation have accepted for our children, I would say it is the failure to have defined national standards and objectives for the Humane and Stem curricula and to provide national funding for education.
Only the United States among all advanced nations gives primary responsibility for the education of its children to its constituents states and their various subunits. As demonstrated by the example David Brooks details in Scandinavia, education is too important to be left to the whims of local boards of education and the many conflicts that are inherent in a non-national educational system. It might’ve worked in the 1880s, but today our system is completely out of touch with the needs of tomorrow’s citizens and should be totally revised and updated. Surely we can do better
5
Bildung leads to social systems like universal healthcare that demonstrate a concern for the person as a part of a social whole. The fact that Brooks applauds Bildung but criticizes Democratic Socialism is completely incongruous.
3
The lack of “universal” military or public service is another good example of how we have lost our way with regards to the common good. Loading the burden of fighting our wars on to less than 2% of the population, not only exploits the volunteers, but also insulates the rest of us from the consequences of war.
Realistically though, it is hard to imagine a country that is built on laissez-faire capitalism and discretionary equality could ever emulate a “bildung” society.
1
Not that long ago people were leaving for the US in droves, establishing communities mainly in the northern mid west. Native laplanders were not well treated and only now has the government started to address the historical discrimination. American should not assume that others peoples have a leg up on the US. Also, huge problems exist in the newly arrived Muslim communities, with crime and unemployment proving hard to solve. Until the teachers unions in the US stop owing the Democrats, perhaps the educational system will improve, but not before.
2
Interesting article on education. Could have added Canada in the mix as it is a Nordic country and certainly falls within range of the other Nordic countries using the metrics stated in the article. The low cost of education to the end user is also important as it helps with class mobility and shared with the Nordic countries mentioned in the article as well as Canada.
2
This social democrat is letting his deeply repressed benign dictator self out of the closet for a moment in the interests of the sustained surviving and thriving of our species.
I - GRW - command that all Americans be forced to read this article - or to submit to having it read to them - aloud, in the name of any historical figure they respect, or deity they believe in. Then all Australians. Then ....
Really superlative work David. Many, many thanks for the further education.
2
Education basically has three parts, the self, the civic community and the professional. In the US, only the professional goals are most pursued. If you want to have resilient citizens without personal survival anxiety, the most practical move is to re-institute mandated Home Economics in K-14 -- read that literally, economics for living in a home. Teaching human beings how to be healthy, fed, clothed, housed and financially knowledgeable human beings, which most European schools do, is the low-hanging fruit with a long track record in this country. It was stupidly withdrawn from schools in the 1980's and it was never assigned to both men and women, as it should have been. Human Ecology (Cornell's name for it now) is not irrelevant, except in the US.
6
And, of course, it is safe and wonderful because it is a "democratic socialist" country. Americans would rather dodge bullets than pay for someone else's kid's education. One curious thing is that the Scandinavians produce such grim but wonderful mysteries. Jo Nesbo, et al. Maybe, like Dorian Gray, that's where all the violence ends up instead of in society at large.
5
This column should have noted that most American colleges and universities walked away, no ran, from the idea of teaching morality as a vital part of the curriculum decades ago. When and how did this happen? The answers are complex but a major factor probably was the "youth revolt" of the 1960s that swept around the world. Students rejected adult authority in many cases because they believed they had been lied to in various ways since birth.
As for a vision of the nation in which they live, college students today are heavily exposed to the notion that America was built not on ideals of human equality and capacity but through slavery and genocide. (This belief is often reflected in the opinion pages of the Times.) The latter charge, genocide, is not accepted by most historians. Yet if we live in a nation with a befouled history with little consideration of its accomplishments (other than wealth) and ideals, where is morality? Students are abandoned to their own thoughts and purposes with little guidance.
What is the value of education without moral grounding? This does not imply that religion needed to be deeply involved but a fulsome understanding of oneself and one's place in the world should be vital to being called "educated".
3
David, you're making this too complicated. Scandinavia's success is more practical.
Start with simple geography: Sweden is the third largest land mass in Europe, and yet has only 10.2 million people. You have over 8 million in NYC alone. Scandinavia is also way off the beaten path, so people don't mess with them.
Homogeneous population notwithstanding: the population of Scandinavian countries is too small, and the climate too harsh for people to lie to each other and hope to survive, period.
Hence, the near 100% literacy rate. You can't have a civil society and tell the truth if people can't read, or don't read. About one third of Americans are completely illiterate and another third can't read beyond a 5th grade level. Literate or not, relatively few Americans read at all.
Sweden's last major war was in 1814. Their military spending has been decreasing as percent of GDP from modest 3.78% in 1960 to just 1.04% in 2018 a mere $5.76 billion. You can't save a lot of money if you stop killing people.
Sweden had a slave trade which was first abolished in - wait for it - 1335! Yes, Sweden had a smaller slave trade in 1638-1813, and it was formerly abolished in all parts of Sweden by 1847, 14 years before the American Civil War.
Honesty is the best policy, and that's something America has yet to learn.
7
Brooks ignores that poverty rates in Scandinavia are low, Poverty rates in inner cities are 10 times as high. Google it!
Well meaning piece, but so was No Child Left Behind, The Common Core, and Every Child Succeeds. All failed. All ignored the devastating impact of chronic poverty, deprivation and neglect. It's led researchers to describe many impoverished students as suffering "toxic stress" before they enter kindergarten (see link below)
https://centerforyouthwellness.org/
5
Teacher here. There are so many factors and ideas I’d like to address. But I just don’t have the energy because everyday I see abundant evidence that American culture does not really believe in educating its children. Compare defense funding to education. As always, actions speak louder. Parents and families care about their own kids. But American society and government support for education is pretty much in line with our supposed Christian values. All of which isn’t saying much at all when you look at the actual support for America’s students, our poor and homeless and our infirm.
7
Dear Brook, great article as always.
But no surprise, many ancient cultures and civilizations focused on the whole person. As you described clearly the word education or being educated has a complete different meaning in some other old languages. For instance in Armenian display of poor manners, usage of poor language, poor and selfish uncaring inconsiderate behavior and so on.., would be considered as the results of being uneducated! In our report cards we were graded for our behavior and manners. My parents would be ashamed and very disappointed if I ever brought home a report card with poor marks on manners and high grades on academics. They always believed you’ll be no one in life without proper manners and understanding.
First page of all our school books from first grade on started with this verse:
Read and write my wise child
Read and write the whole year through
For the mind of the reader is clear
And thoughts are sharp and bright!
Some other old wise saying goes:
Seek knowledge and wisdom from crib until grave!
Results of the separation of academics and wisdom is what causes all the chaos and destruction all around us globally!
Rules and laws without understanding, compassion and love are meaningless.
3
Dan C is correct about the equality, especially Sweden and Finland (Finland being the eastern part of Sweden from the 1200's to 1809, more than 600 years.). There were basically no privileged classe. Basically, everyone was an independent farmer, with the same political rights. The king was (except for some periods of autocracy) accountable to the people's assembly (i.e. real democracy) for government funding, funding for the military etc since medieval times. With the introduction of Lutheranism in the 1500's, the church emphasized literacy for the people to be able to read the holy scriptures themselves in their native languages. Literacy was smartly enforced by requiring basic levels of literacy before getting married which was a strong incentive as sex outside marriage was severely punished, including execution of the offenders. Higher education was possible to anyone regardless of social status and wealth, which created an environment for social mobility to anyone with the necessary talent. Universities were founded since the 1400 century, and further studies were possible with government funding at prestigious European universities already in medieval times. What we can learn from the Nordic countries is: Real Democracy and Education, Education, Education. We are a little late here but it is never too late...
2
Thank you “Scandinavian” for your excellent article. I would like to add the following, ‘Real Democracy and uniform standards of education in all 50 states of the Union’.
When Scandinavians began their social experiment in Bildung, they WERE quite homogeneous countries and all children were included. In contrast, public education in the US began as a segregated enterprise, leaving a huge chunk of people of color in sub standard schools. Efforts to integrate were met with howls of protest and a sudden passion for vouchers and school choice. Inequality in education continues in this country at our socio-economic peril.
6
I just want to clear up a misunderstanding reproduced in this article (no offence towards David or the NYT is intended - it's pretty common). It is that the terms "Scandinavia" and "the Nordic countries" are synonyms - when they are not exactly.
"Scandinavia" only refers to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
"The Nordic countries" however refers to Norway, Sweden and Denmark - and territories associated with them such as Greenland and the Faroe and Aland Islands - plus Iceland and Finland.
Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Icelandic are all closely related languages. Finnish is completely different however. So Iceland is removed from Scandinavia by location. Finland is removed from it by linguistics (and history also therefore).
Cheers.
5
Savage capitalism does not raise the economic bottom to the top, but just uses it and discards it. Autocrats do not want the least priviledge to become educated, because they rise from their humanoid state and turn confrontational. Witness the current efforts of voter supression in the USA and removing the health and public benefits for lower incomes. Why on earth do they oppose the ACA or Obama care? Simply because once they cancel it, then they can lower taxes for the rich even more with that money. It is all about greed and corruption and the emptyness of narcissism, plutocracy and malignant capitalism.
Religiousness without compassion, empathy or spirituality.
6
For profit healthcare is an obscenity. End of story.
6
@Rich We need to make a banner of your comment.
1
Stream “Sami” (Amazon) for a look at the cruel side of Scandinavian culture and its treatment of indigenous reindeer herders.
2
It's really funny when the comments are more enlightening than the article itself.
7
It seems that the GOP leadership cannot make any distinction between the good standard of living and the socialism.
That makes them the strongest proponent of the socialism in the world!
3
Those incapable of critically evaluating own past have a simple problem - they still live in the past and are incapable of making the changes and adjustments or eliminating the chronic mistakes.
You cannot compare apples to oranges in your assessment
1
Just one comment. This free cradle to grave approach to education is very much related to cradle to grave health care and other expanded services. The attitude they bring to education teaches them that it is right to care.
4
Completely Agree. People always think I'm a geek when I say Education can save the world. If we spent all our wealth to build universities at every street corner and educate every person on this planet , it would indeed be a wonderful world.
2
Mr. Brooks fails to mention the lack of private/charter schools in these countries. I'm sure as water is wet that if the rich had to send their kids to public schools we'd have the finest schools in the world with the highest paid teachers.
7
@Doug Yes, there absolutely are charter schools in Sweden! They jave existed since the 1990s.They are called friskolor I.e. free school whuch is created as a private enterprise but controlled by Ministry of education. These schools are paid from tax money because every pupil going to a friskola takes with him/her an amount of funds which follow the pupil.
"Scandinavians have a tendency to joke about the way their sense of responsibility is always nagging at them."
That nagging conscience — from Latin for with learning or knowledge. Or, what Freud called the inner "Above-I" ...
There used to be public models of conscience (even before the concept was thought): Athena, Moses, Jesus, Mary, the George Washington who could not tell a lie, the Good Witch of Oz, Angel Clarence of "It's a Wonderful Life" ...
What have we got now? Sheldon Cooper on "Big Bang" was nagged, admonished by an action figure of Mr. Spock. Maybe some of us are hoping aliens will come and help out. Others are building walls against them, so that we are stuck inside the walls with who, what?
I don't think our "celebrities" will do.
What heroes do Scandinavians have?
1
It also makes i t easier if you don't have 50 different states with 50 different governments and 50 different "cultures"
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Every time I read an article like this, I can’t help but think: the United States has more people stuck in traffic every day trying to get to work than live in Sweden, which itself has an extremely low degree of ethnic diversity — indeed, the United States has a population of undocumented persons from all over the world larger than Sweden itself. This is to say, on a day to day basis the United States has a far, far tougher job than the author’s comparison let’s on. This is not to say we throw up our hands. All the advice is fine as far as it goes. But to say, “Why, oh why, can’t we be like Sweden!” Well, because America is not at all like Sweden.
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@Max I would think David would agree with you, but, as you say, let's not "throw up our hands"...there would be challenges galore to get to "great" (as in the headline), and it will take incremental steps, but it can happen over time...
1
@Max Nice try, but that is not the case. Sweden is very ethnically diverse, and has taken in more immigrants per capita than any nation on Earth.
2
I'm sorry, David, but what has your party of choice done to support the "whole person"? The party of shrink government until it's small enough to drown in a bathtub. And, along with it, all of the people who weren't born into obscene wealth, or faced health or financial challenges, or loss of a parent or other loved one. It was your party, David, that made selfish fashionable again in the 1980s. Thanks Ronnie. Exacerbated with every GOP administration and Congressional majority until the Grinches at the top snatch up even crumbs that are too small for a mouse. Please, spare us the faux philosophy lecture. For us to achieve even a fraction of what Scandinavian countries have achieved we'd need to invest in something other than ourselves. Isn't that what Bernie is advocating? Waiting to read your endorsement of him any day now.
6
Here in California, our schools and culture teach us to tolerate the “other”, celebrate diversity, and protect our environment. It’s a value system that allows the worlds first “majority minority” state to thrive. We’re not ideal, and bonding so many different ethnic and economic backgrounds into a civic body is hard, but I’m watching it happen. It’s a different - I’d say more difficult - challenge than the Nordics have. But to say we’re not doing it is wrong. In fact, I’m proud of how well we’re doing it
2
Yeah, David, I've spent some time in Denmark and what you say it true. But, then, at least in Norway, North Sea Oil sure hasn't hurt the cause.
4
Beyond being an American or a Scandinavian, we are just Earthlings. =
1
I am sympathetic to your assessment of Norway and Scandinavia, but your assessment is riddled with sentimentality and evades some hardcore facts. I'll pick on Norway here.
Anders Behring Breivik is the perpetrator of the July 22, 2011 slaughter in Norway where 77 people, mostly young people, were gunned down at summer camp and hundreds more injured. That surpasses even our 2007 Virginia Tech slaughter where less than half as many people were killed (for those keeping count). Norwegians now know fear, and the danger came from one of their own. Not swarthy with a foreign accent: a Norway born and breed white boy.
In 1969, Norway discovered a mother lode of oil off the Norwegian shelf, and they became instantly rich. Even given that, they *tripled* their gas and oil production in the 1990s, and last year the sovereign fund (the government Oil Fund) decided to continue to reinvest in fossil fuel funds. Yet the image for global public consumption, an image that many Norwegians prefer to buy into as well, is that Oslo is ground zero for electric cars (it is). And they have made an art of building fires (it's true).
I am crazy about the Scandinavians (some of my best friends are...), but we, and the majority of Norwegians in this case, need to get real. No reason to panic; just get real.
2
@gking01 Norway began divesting in fossil fuels in 2019.
1
@Harry Yes, "began," whatever that means in real terms of barrels of output coming off the Norwegian Shelf. And they had already reached *$1 Trillion* (not a typo) in their sovereign fund -- which services annually every man, woman and child in Norway (in a population of some 6 million). I guess everyone agreed, finally, that they had enough profit from fossil fuels. Skal!
Norway's beginning is not a moment to soon (I'm being generous)...
Things are not quite as rosy in Norway and the rest of Scandinavia as Brooks suggests (though far better than here in the US). Yes, crime is fairly low, though the murder rate is about double that in Japan. And IQ rates are falling in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Western Europe, and have been for decades (and not because of immigration, but likely due to educational changes and reading habits) -
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/health/falling-iq-scores-study-intl/index.html
The factors Brooks lauds for producing a healthy society are found in some non-European countries (like Japan and Singapore, where social cohesion and a respect for learning are inculcated in school, helping to support very high IQ rates), but Brooks would never consider anything very positive or instructive coming from a non-Western environment.
1
You realize that Bernie, your boogey man, wants to move us to more of a Scandinavian model, right? Is that why you're trying to make it about fuzzy stuff that can't be proven or disproven either way? Whenever Brooks looks at things that can be proven, his assertions usually end up on the wrong side of that equation.
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And who has devised and implemented that social, macro educational system? The government! That is why referring to the political system of Nordic countries as social democracies would be the best way to describe them. Now you bring that notion to our country, and will be immediately dismissed as a “communist”!
1
My parents emigrated from Russia to Israel in 1970. I was six years old. Israeli school system 1970-1980 was similar to the “Bildung.” The curriculum was fully integrated on the human character and it’s various relationships to the friends, family, community, nation, environment, and God.
We had bible/Torah studies everyday in a secular way, focused on ethics, morals, philosophy of right wrong, consequences, responsibility, etc...
Literature, history, and other humanities classes were thought in similars ways. Teachers were not pumping information but rather triggering thought, critical thinking and problem resolution.
We were engaged weekly in meaningful community services from small acts to big projects. We were thought to build resilience, collaboration, and grit by being on the field and training monthly.
We have thought to stand up and do right for community sake, repair the world for next generations.
I have lived in the USA for 30 years, my daughter is 17 years old. I have been fighting the US system for the past 10-12 years. Private and public schools have much work ahead. I run for school board. I know well the school politics. It’s about money, unions, teachers, real estate, donations...
it’s certainly not focused on students needs.
When our education system will shift its focus on student needs then our society will succeed...
We will reduce depression, mental illness, suicide, school shooting, corruption, and other injustices...
2
This makes me wonder why the divorce rate is so high in Nordic countries?
@Carol Strandoo It's not any different than in the US.
I so thoroughly agree with David's observations and conclusion. My fear for this country, the U.S.A., is that our seemingly inbred expansionist and individualist traits will be our ultimate demise. One person does not a society make; two persons does not a country make ... oh, so lonely America is!
Scandinavia doesn't have a weaponized cult of ignorance like the U.S. American conservatives bankrupt schools for tax cuts then criticize public education in general. Now they turn to conspiracy theories on youtube to get "the real story." Weaponized ignorance. Knowledge and learning and humanity itself, in the US, are political weapons. Winning politics is more important than hope, children and our future.
4
Funny you should mention the "whole person" - especially when there are fans of the current president who regard other people as only 3/5ths of a person, still, in this day and age.
The age of Trump is not that far removed from the days before the every era in our country where racism was at its worst.
2
Scandinavian countries make this possible by investment in public education. Why do I never see David Brooks supporting policies like these when Sanders proposes them? In that context, he frames becoming like Scandinavia as a threat to the American way of life. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/opinion/livin-bernie-sanderss-danish-dream.html
1
It has happened often in history: cultures or societies look to others, maybe a long time ago in a galaxy far away, for inspiration to boldly go where they haven't gone before.
The Italians of the Renaissance looked to the civilization of the Ancients. The Puritans imagined they could build a New Jerusalem. The Founders of the new republic of the US looked back to the Roman republic. MLK looked to the emancipation of the Jews from Egypt.
It helps provide will, courage, fortitude, etc. A little delusion about that other place hasn't hurt, maybe is necessary.
1
Excellence = education, a real one, a rounded one. My next visit to Stockholm or perhaps Minneapolis might be a permanent move.
So much for Scandinavian education. How about women's emancipation in Sweden?
There's no mention of religious indoctrination in the description of Scandinavian approaches to public education.
Um, David, they fund that education. For all. Equally. Nationally. Here, yahoos would decry "socialism," "states rights," and similar nonsense. While I agree that are public education system needs a 21st Century update. The right has been systematically degrading public education for decades; Betsy DeVos is the realization of that philosophy. Attack teachers and their unions, encourage privatization, practice segregation in creative ways...
Our national story has to include the bad with the good, that's how you achieve maturity and capacity for empathy and holistic critical thinking. In Sweden, a restaurant owner sat down to talk with us, I think she wanted to suss out our thoughts on Trumpism. She spoke about a shameful chapter of Swedish history in collaborating with the Nazis. In Germany, many, many Germans have brought up the shame and horror of their Nazi history (completely unbidden by me). They face it, and they are better for it. The US needs to teach the shameful bits surrounding slavery and treatment of Native Americans, instead of celebrating it as our "heritage." We can't be "whole" without inclusion, it's part of us, like it or not. Then, we would understand the world better and have a clearer view of our roles. Denial is killing us, whether it's science or racism, it is degrading us back to the 19th Century.
5
The pathetic state of public education in the US is responsible for Trump's appointment as president by the Electoral College, our acceptance of the Electoral College and of Betsy DeVos, our pretenses about climate change, and our inability to communicate with anyone who lives in a different bubble than our own. Unfortunately, it would take years to change our system -- even if we wanted to -- and then more years for a well-educated public to graduate. Meanwhile, the products of our current abysmal system are perpetuating the chaos.
1
Gee, I don't know ... I'm still excited and singing joyful praises to the Lord that my president cut taxes for the job-creators.
Afterall, only they need education, because they create industries where I can work for over $7/hour, and I can get two or three of those jobs if I want. What a great country! I get free medical care from my local Emergency Room; in fact, as a result, I am very popular with collection agencies: If I had a phone, I bet it would never stop ringing. And I don't need a dentist because the few teeth that I have are no problem. (Did you know you can eat most fast-food without teeth? Those cheeseburgers are soft little devils. And I get 'em half-price as a McDonald's employee.)
I don't need higher education either because I have one Bible and lots of guns, so I'm protected here and in the hereafter.
As even a Yankee can see, I don't need or want America to become Scandinavia. This Florida Man is eating high on the hog down here in the swamps. Global warming doesn't scare me because my $80/month electricity bill in winter will only get smaller.
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@Jim Muncy Very well done Jim. We loves our satire here in 'Straya too.
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@Jim Muncy Thank you for a good laugh, I needed it.
Also, you hit the nail on the head!
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@GRW
Thanks, I really didn't think the august NYTimes would let me get away with it.
I'm probably on a blacklist in someone's computer now, though. The number is no doubt growing.
Oh, well, G'day, mate!
Americans don't want this.
Brooks might. Some NYT readers might. A whole lot of other Americans don't. As demonstrated in 2016, with a repeat demonstration coming up in November.
1
Nic Kristof warning us against Bernie, while David Brooks is praising the Nordics and Krugman only throws a few tomatoes at Bernie anymore, I'm confused.
1
Iceland is also a Nordic country!!!!
3
You must start with shared values and a willingness to hold each other accountable. We have words-the Declaration, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. We have teachers we profess to follow-Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha. But hubris and hypocrisy too often dictate our actions. The witches magic mirror tells us we are superior while facts and results indicate otherwise. We can do better.
Here the first question would be “and how are you going to pay for that.” This aside fro the total lack of social solidarity.
Best essay Brooks has ever wrote. Now, let’s spend some money on our schools!
2
The concept of universal education (Bildung) originated in Germany, not Scandinavia, and is still practiced here.
Unfortunately, American voters are probably the dumbest and most gullible on the planet. They are always fooled by the rich who put up one candidate on each side and present them with a "choice". That is the state of the fake American "democracy" so much touted by the news media.
That’s why a lot of people don’t know what socialism is, e.g. free “Bildung”, why fake news are such a problem in the US, and why we are on the fast track to becoming a 3rd world banana republic in no time. They only thing keeping us and our worldwide terror machine, also known as our military, alive is the fact that we can print money out of thin air.
Bernie Sanders is the only candidate in the race that can beat Trump decisively at the polls and set America on a path towards a more equal society like the -gasp!- socialist countries of Scandinavia.
1
I keep coming back to David Brooks, but I can't seem to finish his essays any more. It's deja vu. I'll keep trying, but in the true definition of crazy, hoping for a different outcome.
1
I wonder how many of these people have actually been to the Nordic countries. Sweden has a crime wave so bad it had to call in the FBI to help solve it. The second largest party in Finland is avowedly racist and nationalist. This is propaganda, it isn’t reality.
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After Trump’s State of the Union speech good public schools of any kind now appear to be a dream receding in the rear view mirror. To hear him refer to them contemptuously as “government schools” made clear that our rightwing government and ever more rightwing Supreme Court are driving us toward domination by Christian schools teaching intolerance and creationism.
2
As a Minneapolitan whose ancestors are German, I applaud any country who provides free education and healthcare. Wish we were more like Sweden except for all the whiteness.
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Yes, but Scandinavia largely has not had to contend with the racism we must confront in our pluralistic society. How much of our politics is “good for my tribe? Sounds great! Good for those others? They’re draining our resources!”
1
David,
As usual you are clueless, what you describe is how it used to be.
Today, thanks to conservative tax cuts, for the rich, the old Swedish model is dead, and the rich are getting richer, even in Sweden, while the rest muddles along.
I presume you have a research assistance, (s)he should be able to tell you the income disparities are large and growing.
The Social democrats sold out the "Swedish model" for no good reason.
Now Sweden is just like any other European country.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
2
Blah blah blah. Life is hard, second world America is fundamentally unprepared to handle it.
All the transfers of wealth we could conceivably afford won’t change that.
Enjoy this 4 day school weeks in the mountain west and southwest, catching up by going slower isn’t really a thing.
The world needs ditch diggers too. For now.
Conservatives hate, hate, hate the idea of equality. Not sure how much of Scandinavia's progress in that regard has to do with their (relative to us [the U.S.]) cultural/ethnic homogeneity.
2
Sweden has a nationwide school voucher program. I doubt liberal Dems and their teachers union bosses want that!
1
Don't forget Trump University.....enough said.
Part of the right-wing agenda includes keeping education out of the reach of the underclass: devalue schools, defund schools, appoint anti-education dimwits as Secretary of "Education."
with millions of new refugees living in Scandinavia ...will that change everything?
2
Oh, David, we did have a budding school system that you speak of way back in when we were still living under that Flaming Socialism of Franklin Delinor Roosevelt. It had its ups and downs. But it died in the glow of the napalm of Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson brought us the Great Society and Nixon and Reagan brought it crashing down. I never like to miss the opportunity to point out that Ronald Reagan's second political act when he became Governor of California was to cut funding to Public Education, His first was to close down Californias system of Mental Hospitals and turn those poor people on to the Streets of San Francisco. Strange actions from your Republican Sanit, but that is what he did. Buy the way the Republicans very well might have won the 1964 Presidential election if they had not nominated Barry Goldwater, who promised to Drop the Bomb on Vietnam. Oh the twists of fate
1
looks like they’re all looking at their phones
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Tell the Left that some countries' taxing of income and sales BEGINS at 65%. They'll all be hopping a jet tomorrow to get into such big-government nirvanas!
"This Is How Scandinavia Got Great"
They closed their borders, they stayed all white.
You can accomplish a lot without tribalism and inter racial strife.
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@Jason W Canada and Australia didn't and they are much more like Scandinavia than the US. If the US was fairer like Canada and Australia, you wouldn't have so much "tribalism and inter racial strife". Cause or effect?
You are describing a "Liberal" education--in the true sense of the word. You haven't discovered Rosetta's stone, David. So behind the 8 ball.
1
Thank you David. Now to send this to all who really need to read it. Let's start with Betsy DeVos.
.....[correction] and hugh chunk of NORTH SEA oil revenue.
It's good to try and learn from others.
I've met too many "heartlanders" who don't wanna hear nothin' bout no place else cause we got the best right here and that's good enough fer us ...
3
As a person who has lived in this paradise (in Sweden) for the last 35 years I can assure you (mr.Brooks and al) that though geographically in Scandinavia the 4 countries differ quite a lot. For instance the school which is exemplary and enviable in Finland, is in quite average if not mediocre in Sweden. Public schools and state-owned Universities are free of charge and everybody is entitled to the health care, but it is a standard in the whole EU and here in Sweden it does NOT function perfectly in any way. We do get voting cards before every election, but that is possible because everybody is registered from birth with tax authorities with a unique personal number and address. What is really specific for Scandinavia is the right to a long maternity leave and a broad network of pre-school child care places, which are not free by the way (you pay a monthly fee in proportion to you income). All in all, this model gives you a safety net, which is good, but it has had its darker sides as well. Above all I believe it is important to remember that nothing is perfect (especially as perfect as it looks like from a great distance) and that everything has its cost.
6
Scandinavians treat their citizens as precious resources who deserve to be treated with dignity, justice, fairness and equality. In the US, it is all about "rugged individualism' and "survival of the fittest". Is it a surprise then that the Scandinavians are happy and many of us in the US aren't?
2
Want to know why bildung isn't part of our educational experience? Two words: conservative Christians. The idea of bildung, especially if it's supposed to come from a public school curriculum, is anathema to them, a rival and threat to the orthodoxy they want to inculcate in the young.
As for social trust, drive through the Bible Belt and you'll see billboards with verses proclaiming "the friend of the world is the enemy of God." Christian conservatives shun any social reality that doesn't reflect their view of a "Biblical society," and they will either fight to enforce theocracy or retreat into something like the "Benedict option". For all they like to wrap themselves in the flag and extol the virtues of patriotism, they have zero social trust outside of those who share their religious beliefs.
1
I'd say we have a term that's pretty close to bildung in English: "progressive education." It's not the model that most public schools use (though I know of at least one public school in California that uses it), but there are private schools across the country that are great practitioners of it. I attended such a school growing up and to this day attribute more of my success to that experience than anything else.
1
Free Education = investment in the most important asset a country has , ie its people. Has nothing to do with socialism.
Why do many Americans only want to pay taxes for building a mighty military but not a well educated society? Beats me.
Btw, the same goes for Health Insurance.
1
@Wolfgang
Actually Wolfgang, I have always had health insurance and great medical care. Dues are about German levels, but almost no wait time for a Doctor or specialist. I have never been unemployed, but have always had unemployment insurance that would have paid what Germany pays. Upon high school graduation I received a full scholarship plus room and board, and paid nothing, zero for a bachelors degree. Much much better then Germany where I would have had to apply for Boefag, and my parents still would have been on the hook. So there. I got an engineering degree and always worked for large American corporations. That is the 'normal' and average CV for an American.
Before we make a "bildung" approach to schooling, there are a couple of things that need to happen.
First, the parents have to be reeducated to quit treating government as an evil institution to be hated, opposed and feared at all times. They teach that to their children at home, and the cycle of idiocy is repeated generation by generation.
Second, all public schools must be equal in facilities and opportunities. The most decrepit must be brought up to the physical standards of the best, public or private, and kept that way. That means that physical and financial resources for education state wide must be the same.
Third, taxes for public education are just that. If you don't want to send your kids to public school, fine, but you pay for it out of your own pocket.
557
Spot on. But there's that word again, taxes. The relatively small sum needed to initiate change is available. But as usual, the WILLFULLY blind and feckless will continue to cringe in fear of losing what for them is a smidgen of discretionary income.
14
@Bob Woods As an American of Swedish and Norwegian heritage, I have heard of the importance that my forebears placed on education. They brought this from the old country, but from their arrival in the mid-19th century until my parents' education in the mid-20th century, it happened in one-room schoolhouses, which are inherently less "government-like", but built around an intimate community. In many cases, the teacher would rotate boarding with the various students' families. I grew up in a somewhat larger school setting, but still in a setting where the teachers were well-known community members, and much of the town showed up for graduation ceremonies.
I don't have anything near a complete formula, but there must be a way to bring back some aspects of this. Have the schools do multi-generational activities that will include parents and grandparent-like people, even if not actually relatives. Also, older people as volunteer tutors. Make sure that the teachers become known among the community. They have long been underpaid, but becoming people of honored status might help somewhat. And make sure that the entire neighborhood is invited to graduation.
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@jim
That's easy, when GOP led state legislators started giving vouchers to parents, which takes needed money away from public schools, for their children to attend charter, mostly "for profit", schools. Such schools have largely avoided state accountability, making it difficult to measure just how effective they are. Such vouchers don't always cover the entire cost of such schools, but the loss to the state's public schools is considerable and unconscionable.
16
You truly can see it all if you look long enough, and here we have an American conservative lauding the Scandinavian model (even tough he is certain to point out "Their economic growth took off just after 1870, way before their welfare states were established." Indeed, Mr Brooks).
Education is very important. As a public high school teacher I know this very well. I also know where that push to turn "schooling as the transmission of specialized skill sets" comes from (note: not classroom teachers). One also suspects what conservatives would say if public schools were allowed to be places where a citizen of the Republic could get a holistic education, and not just training in certain areas deemed important for the economy and somewhat "measurable" in a standardized test. I can also guess what comes next in Mr. Brooks' mind as to which values public education should instill in our youngsters. Finally, I guess this is the umpteenth "failure" of American public education in conservatives' eyes and I see the solution: Common Core is dead, kids. Say hallå! to canned Bildung.
As another contributor said: when are American conservatives going to take responsibility for the mess they have created?
P.S. Mr Brooks, are all American children entitled to that bildung? Anything to say about the system used in America to finance public education?
2
The investment in human capital that is apparent in the Scandinavian countries is hardly is an enlightened model that acknowledges our collective success is not based on competition or exploitation but on prizing the assets brought by every person. It is the classic win-win.
Unfortunately, we are led by men who need others to lose for them to feel like winners. The longer we embrace this, the greater our decline, the ultimate irony.
I still can't shake loose of the idea that so much of this is based on race and white fear of being surpassed by 'the others.'
3
I think one thing that Brooks missed that is vitally important to understanding education in this country is the impact of private schools. I'm guessing the vast majority of children in Scandinavia and Europe in general go to public schools. This means it is in the interest of everyone to make sure those schools are good. The wealthy in this country simply do not care about public education because they can afford the astronomical $20+k per year per child to send their kids to private schools which they can exert significant control over. And of course they're willing to pay this amount of money for their own children, but heaven forbid any other (poorer) children benefited. Imagine what education in this country could be like if we took the resources people are spending on private education and spread that around. It seems so short sighted to only care about making sure their children remain at the top of the wealth ladder in the country while trying to cut taxes and bankrupt the education of the masses. What will the employees be like that their children will have to manage one day? What happens when society becomes as unequal as ours has become today? People revolt.
3
Brooks is right - a lot we can learn from these cultures, but it's more complicated.
1) Scandinavian cultures are communal, America is individualistic - so not everything good can be easily imported to the states where the mentality is so innately, toxically selfish.
*Not saying we can't try (I think we should), but it will be a lot harder.*
2) Scandinavia has a different system - a fork in the road where 4th graders (or about that time) are directed to different high schools, more like trade/vocational school and then the academic school, and only the latter will be allowed to go to college - far less a percentage than go to college in the US.
But their 10th grade degrees are far better than the standard high school diploma in terms of quality.
3) the US must start funding k-12 schools Federally -- not by state or based on the property tax system. Only then can we provide adequate teachers' salaries and funding necessary to remake our nation.
We do need a massive overhaul, as many to most of the students I teach at my college are often completely unprepared for anything close to post-secondary education - and I mean in classes, as citizens and in life.
3
Us, not me.
3
NYT columnists are really loosing it. On the one hand, they all seem scared to death of a Sanders win and are explicitly undermining his credibility, yet David Brooks of all people is telling us to emulate the Nordic education system. What gives??
3
Is this a a Bernie endorsement from Mr Brooks?
4
Liberalism in Scandinavian countries stops at its borders
Norway is on of the top 10 arms exporters . Several parties to Yemen conflicts were able to purchase arms from Norway in 2015
Scandinavian countries have benefited one way from their membership in NATO with arms exports in billions while not having to spend on defense
Sweden has played a doubtful role in WW2 providing raw material to Nazi industrial Armenia
It continues to export arms to conflict area countries in Indian subcontinent
Recently it was in bidding process to supply Grippen planes to Indian Air Force
Good use of its educated citizens to use technical knowledge to manufacture arms for export
2
@Azad Norway is not in the top ten of arms exporters.
1
My children’s school is living this educational model out, and they are getting a great education. The mission of the Twin Cities German Immersion School in St. Paul, Minnesota is “Innovative Education of the Whole Child Through German Immersion.” Bildung in action - come check it out! https://www.tcgis.org/mission--vision.html
2
Sir, you live in a racist, classist society. Education is the answer.
You rationalize the cruelty of an education system that mythologies individual greed and rejects communal values. You sir are constantly rationalizing this immoral canyon.
Eg. this all happened before social democracy in Scandinavia.
America doesn’t play well with his friends and neighbours, therefore should not move forward to grade 3!
1
Even worse, in our country, education has always been and continues to be perhaps the sharpest tool in the box for perpetuating marginalization and white supremacy.
1
This editorial is a roundabout way to blame our failing to meet Scandinavian standards is because we have a lot of black and brown people. Typical Republican line.
So, Mr. Brooks, given your glowing account of social democratic Sweden, why are you a conservative?
1
Sounds like the Jesuit approach.
1
How DB can admire educating the whole person and not support democrats is a mystery.
1
"[Nordic educators] helped students see the forces always roiling inside the self — the emotions, cravings, wounds and desires. If you could see those forces and their interplay, as if from the outside, you could be their master and not their slave."
Nordics, meet your C17 Dutch uncle: that's a great thumbnail of Spinoza!
Yes, but we Americans have Fox News and 300 million firearms to help us with maintaining trust.
2
Bildug has an English equivalent, or at least an American English equivalent. It's "brainwashing."
Mr. Brooks, please send your column to Betsy DeVos and don't ever think of voting Republican again.
1
Should we send Donald Trump to Sweden for remedial lessons?
"The Times needs your voice", they say. 'The times needs your subscription', I say. It's clear my voice isn't wanted. I'll just try reposting it....
All countries were dirt poor before 1800! Come on, Mr. Brooks... and then you go on and OVER intellectualize:
"It [Bildung] means the complete moral, emotional, intellectual and civic transformation of the person." 'Complete moral and civic transformation'? This is philosophical or literary babble. There IS pretty much a common english word for Bildung, "education". Ausbildung (and Bildung for short) and Erziehung are more like "training" and "upbringing". In the Ozarks, we'd call Mr. Brooks an educated fool.
And he goes on,
"It [Bildung] was based on the idea that if people were going to be able to handle and contribute to an emerging industrial society, they would need more complex inner lives." 'Needing complex inner lives'? What planet...? The word and concept of Bildung have been in similar use together well before the industrial revolution.
If Mr. Brooks went through a Germanic education he would know that his lofty, abstract ideas about developing an individual's capacity to understand their place within society and to think independently is about as ridiculous as Joe Biden's "No Malarkey Tour". Social responsibility, duty, principles, laws of nature, methods, procedures and authority... this is Germanic education.
Mr. Brooks may have a great appreciation for education, but he makes for a poor example of it.
1
I don't know what has happened to David Brooks. Once again he writes about something about which he seemingly knows little. To attribute Nordic countries' success and equality to education without mentioning labor's very different relationship to capital is either willful political misdirection or sadly ignorant.
2
We'd be great too, if we didn't have any minorities to worry about.
@Ryan Bingham Why do you have to worry about them? And don't you mean, really, that they have to worry about you? Canada and Australia do better despite having ethnically diverse populations like the US.
Fascinating. An article that only David Brooks can write, that praises Scandinavia without mention of the word "soc... ism." :-)
If this article was about the current situation in Venezuela, rest assured that word would appear in every sentence.
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Sure David. It's got nothing to do with their social programs, the ones you've spent your whole career trying to delegitimize.
4
Dear Mr. Brooks, thank you for this clearly stated essay on the value of broad and deep education for each individual in Nordic countries. I wonder how we could apply this in the USA with its highly diverse communities and history of racism and sexism which is foundational to our culture. What is our first step in helping our diverse communities value their contribution to the whole nation? Would the return of the fairness doctrine which requires balanced reporting by news organizations help? It seems to me many news outlets have spent decades driving wedges between our diverse communities and setting us against each other in ever more worrisome ways. Now, the GOP are dismantling education across the country, which is even more worrisome. What can we do?
1
So do people around the world flock to the USA or to those Scandinavian counties? Does the world look to those countries to lead? They are all at the beginning of their decline guaranteed to arise from the ills of central planning, of authoritarianism, of monopoly controls. Time will not be their friends, just as the USA has also been sliding towards its oblivion due to never-ending more power in the federal government over the limited powers it was supposed to have.
Alas, David knows much more Scandinavian than American history. The US was a pioneer in public education both before and in the three decades after the Civil War. It pioneered both secular public education and state university education (via the two Morrill Acts for land grant colleges), and almost enacted in the 1880s a remarkable federally supported education program backed by southern white and black citizens (and unfortunately opposed by northern Democrats who feared the need for large scale public education funding would prevent cuts in the tariff). The national Grange movement was a huge national effort in the 1960s-70s to improve the education of farmers and rural folk, and (like the Scandinavians) celebrated cooperatives as a way to fight corporate monopolies. The creation of the Agricultural Extension Service and the Vocational Education Act in the progressive era continued the remarkable policy creativity. Of course southern racism resurged and posed a huge burden on education equality, but the New Deal still managed to greatly encourage social mobility and the creation of a much larger middle class via support for public education (the G.I. bill, most prominently). The U.S. doesn't have to borrow from Scandinavian history. It should resurrect its own Populist/Progressive/New Deal experience.
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@Martha Oops, the era of the Grange was of course the 1860s and 70s.
2
Author Brooks... perhaps do another article highlighting critical thinking skills .... something that is not taught
And only developed by fine educators and PARENTS !
1
The King of Reductionism strikes again.
1
It's always interesting to see what book Brooks has been reading recently. He always acknowledges it early in his column.
1
I hate how much I love reading and rereading this article.
I mean, it comes in the time of Betsy Devos and the administration's very real attacks on public education, and with my personal experience of seeing what happens when you combine expensive private educational systems with less expensive and less comprehensive public degree systems.
So, ain't gonna happen in my USof A, just ain't.
But still nice to know Mr. Brooks has a place in his brain for dreams.
America was founded by creepy men who held fellow humans in chains so the founders could get rich and powerful. Black people were forbidden to be taught, and women...why waste education on such feeble creatures.
Hugh
3
Google "Nordic vs Aryan", to definitively understand the difference...
Meanwhile, we're stuck with Betsy DeVos.
Another nice try at spinning things to his conservative bias, as usual: it’s not that they’re economically more egalitarian, it’s “building.” Brooks thrives on leaving readers in the dust after confusing and mystifying them. But above all his theme is always the same: don’t change things economically, don’t increase wages especially! It’s everything except the money!! He usually prefers the usual conservative smoke screens: “prayer,” “hope,” “family,” “values” etc etc, anything except the things you can take to the bank to pay the tent or mortgage!! This time it’s bildung!! One’s supposed to have bildung/education, it’s why some are poorly paid below a living wage etc etc etc. this is classic Brooks, always the problem isn’t the pay, it’s the prayers, the family the values, now it’s the bildung!
I am sorry, would live it, but the banks don’t accept bildung, David! But a liveable wage might be helpful! Or affordable healthcare for all!!! It’s quite a feat! He has to cross the oceans to go to Western Europe to try to find a way to claim working Americans don’t need better pay, they just need bildung, prayers, family!!! Too bad banks only accept money!! And those Scandinavians still pay better and have healthcare for all, bildung or no bildung!
3
Bah humbug. Another David Brooks column about something fluffy, declining to mention that attaining such a societal fluffiness might definitely require raising taxes on the rich. This man is a caricature of himself sometimes.
1
John Dewey lives in the deep recesses of Brooks’ mind.
Love when you publish articles like this, David Brooks. Do you not see the hypocrisy in your conservative neoliberal political orientation and issues like this that you at times advocate for?
3
I love it. David Brooks comes out boosting the Socialist Swedes and the Nattering Nabobs of Norway.
1
"Immigration restrictionists?"
David, I am your age more or less. In the late 1970's and early 1980's I was amazed at The University of California how many of my fellow students were silo-ed into what I would call "advance training" baccalaureate degrees.
The kids in the Arts could not tell you how a light bulb worked, much less have anything to say about energy policy. The kids that were in computer science never read anything about philosophy or economics and had nothing to say about the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs that had started in earnest.
I always though that University meant a universal education. Boy was I wrong.
Since I paid for my education myself, I did not have to make mom or day happy. Dad was dead, mom old and broke.
That left me free to learn. I ended up in a department that one could say was based on Bildung. Too bad a few years after I graduated with my B.S that the Major had to morph into something else to survive. It leading booster was the Chancellors wife...she died and he retired...
This is one of the articles that you have written that I completely agree with. How nice it would be if we had well rounded individuals who walked into a voting booth. Had we, I doubt we would have elected such an spoiled brat idiot to be President.
You reap what you sow.
1
Currently, in perhaps most states, teachers must pass an online course called “safe schools.” Although well intentioned, it leaves one with a queasy feeling that everyone is out to take advantage of you is one form or another. The message: Trust no one and keep a safe distance. If children are also getting this course, it is most likely conditioning them to be fearful of their fellow man.
I had the most difficult time pushing my students to understand that they had to connect where they were with where they were going. Like a game of pool. Good players are thinking three shots ahead. The young (including many in their 30’s and 40’s) aren’t generally able to make this connection. They primarily need help AT HOME and most times that isn’t enough, especially when, “I never went to no college and I done good”, is the daily offering. An major unrecognized part of what divides us is education. You have one or you don’t.
1
Does a better education system make better students?
Does a better political system make better citizens?
Does a better church make better christians?
No.
The causal relationship is the reverse. Individuals define society. Individual responsibility has more impact on personal outcomes, character development, and social ethics than the effectiveness of any social institution.
Take for example the behavior of the current occupant of the white house. Does that situation reflect a failed constitution or the failure of the individual?
You know the answer.
Look at Trump's family values. There's a direct line from that legacy to the morass we find ourselves in today.
David, I appreciate your insight about a developmental approach to education in Scandinavian countries. American schools sadly neglect theory (Jean Piaget/Lawrence Kohlberg) and practice for developmental moral education. There are instructional resources available for civic education that teachers can use to foster development of ethical reasoning. Students can learn to develop judgment that begins with deference to authority, advances to group conformity, and culminates with respect for universal principles. One research-based example of such a resource, of which I am co-author, is "Reasoning with Democratic Values 2.0: Ethical Issues in American History" (Teachers College Press, Columbia University, 2018).
David, you're describing what Waldorf schools try to do with their students – educate the "whole child - head, heart, hands." The curriculum is tailored to the developmental stage the child is in, based on what they're ready for emotionally, intellectually, and socially. Reading is taught a little later than in public schools, so Waldorf kids lag behind a bit at the start, but parents who come to Waldorf are interested in the long game. While there are definitely some shortcomings and issues with Waldorf schools (as with everything else!) overall it seems like a better, ore thoughtful approach to education than you find in public schools. Unfortunately in the US, most Waldorf schools are private (and pretty pricey). While there are a handful of charter Waldorf schools, they are few and far between.
Realizing the many educational short comings in America's educational policies that we continue to create that go absolutely no where in curing our educational concerns you write about here today. The "newest" is Pre-K for 4 years old, is it day care or school? and can your community afford the price tag of it actually being an education? In my town it was started to help those less economically, and both healthy emotionally /physically, to get a needed hand to help thru their day. Today it is now offered to all at a huge price tag to a community that cannot fund it at it's current levels, but does. Everyday one can read of new improvements in educational programs that have never changed what they are saying it will change. Pre-k is going to be another new program that does not fit the bill. Agree a new educational policy is warranted in America today.
If we are to change our educational programs to make us great like Scandinavia, would this mean you could support Bernie Sanders in 2020 as a step in helping to change the program we have created for US?
To assert that "Nordic nations were ethnically homogeneous in 1800" is a stretch. True, the ethnicities that the countries are named for were and continue to be the largest ethnic groups by far, but each had significant ethnic and minority groups that impacted public policy. Finland had and still has a significant Swedish minority, who importantly have always been among the country's "elite." Norway, Sweden and Finland have always had a large Sami populations. Denmark had a significant German speaking population until the upheavals of the World Wars. And in Norway the linguistic differences between Danish and Norwegian, and within Norwegian between Nynorsk and Bokmal have been important issues the country has had to deal with. And don't forget the impact of the Swedish Monarch's personal rule over Norway until 1905. All a way of saying that Scandinavia achieved remarkable social democratic success with its own unique set of ethnic concerns.
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Education is the basis of our future. The better education we provide all members of society the better opportunities, decisions, health, security and welfare all society will enjoy. Investments in education will pay significant returns over generations.
2
See:
https://www.salon.com/test/2015/01/27/is_scandinavia_really_a_utopia_one_intrepid_reporter_seeks_the_truth/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1250061962/?tag=saloncom08-20
for more input.
My only complaint about a June night in a Finland hotel was the flimsy curtains. No blackouts in the Land of the Midnight Sun.
2
Great article. Why are we still using local taxes for education here? Why do we have some schools with children wearing winter coats all day to stay warm?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/kids-are-freezing-amid-bitter-cold-baltimore-schools-students-struggle/2018/01/05/8c213eec-f183-11e7-b390-a36dc3fa2842_story.html
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Great Mr Brooks, now after writing about how much better the Scandinavian system is why don't you write another column attacking Bernie Sanders as a horrible, dangerous, terrible candidate who wants to turn the country into (checks notes), uhm, Denmark.
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We must be partially great because a portion of our population is so educated.
1
Many battles I had with school board in St Paul when my children entered to school system. My comments were taken very often " go back where you came from".
I saw in Finland 1960's educational evolution. My mother was part of it. Results speak for success. Thank you David Books
2
Great article Mr. Brooks. And do you ever see the USA adopting such a model? I don’t....
"The Nordic educators worked hard to cultivate each student’s sense of connection to the nation.”
This is from a 7/1/18 NYT article titled "In Denmark, Harsh New Laws for Immigrant ‘Ghettos’’':
"Starting at the age of 1, “ghetto children” must be separated from their families for at least 25 hours a week, not including nap time, for mandatory instruction in “Danish values,” including the traditions of Christmas and Easter, and Danish language. Noncompliance could result in a stoppage of welfare payments. Other Danish citizens are free to choose whether to enroll children in preschool up to the age of six.
Denmark’s government is introducing a new set of laws to regulate life in 25 low-income and heavily Muslim enclaves, saying that if families there do not willingly merge into the country’s mainstream, they should be compelled. One measure under consideration would allow courts to double the punishment for certain crimes if they are committed in one of the 25 neighborhoods classified as ghettos, based on residents’ income, employment status, education levels, number of criminal convictions and “non-Western background.”’
A 10/8/19 abc article "Denmark's ghettos: How one of Europe's most open countries took a hard line on immigration” indicates that the above measure did pass. It says, "The Government also allowed for a doubling of penalties for anyone who commits a crime in a 'ghetto'."
Evidently many immigrants have not been "connecting to the nation".
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@ann
Sounds like a plan the United States should follow...
1
Educated people tend to make better decisions.
Sorry, David. But you can't help set a house on fire then look for praise for calling the fire department.
4
America is anti-intellectual to the core and always has been.
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@Michele
True fact.
DeToqueville made the same observation.
4
So unlike the Republican Model.
2
Ahh, Mr. Brooks finally got around to watching Mr. Michael Moore's "Where to Invade Next" documentary!! Well done Mr. Brooks, and better late than never.
1
It's called democratic socialism.
4
No.
It’s a philosophy of education.
As usual Brooks always places communitarian philosophy over real yes social democratic, progressive dare I say socialist policies. Most Scandinavians (and I spent considerable time in Norway and Sweden as a visiting professors and doing research) would scoff at Brook’s naivety.
2
Great article, David. Thanks.
What a smoke screen. David knows that no good Republican wants a highly educated populace. If they were, they wouldn’t vote Republican.
Therefore, my cynicism is how David can be a Repub?
2
"But the Nordic curriculum instilled in students a pride in, say, their Danish history, folklore and heritage."
This is true. And Denmark acknowledged that it had made a mistake by allowing a huge number of refugees into the country and changed the laws accordingly. I can't see America doing the same. If you have a 'ghetto' baby in Denmark, that child must go to Danish pre-school starting shortly after the age of one.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/europe/denmark-immigrant-ghettos.html
They will be instructed on Danish values, learn about Easter and Christmas. Their mother will not be allowed to wear a head scarf and should they decide not to participate in this program, they will lose their entitlements such as pubic housing and welfare payments. Can you imagine how AOC would freak out if this were the law in Kansas? Scandinavia is largely homogenous, there is a sense of community, there is no desire to fold a million different ethnicities into one. It is very different than America. Japan is much the same, you will never see someone standing on the walk part of an escalator, they line up at crosswalks and wait. Try that in NY. Still there is a model that does work a lot more like the US and that is Canada. There is healthcare for everyone, there are many different cultures. The real secret in the sauce there is mutual respect and less stratification of the society. The real problem in America is not education, it's the gap between the rich and poor.
5
Let's try this again. Seems the reviewers are protecting their writers again....
All countries were dirt poor before 1800! Come on, Mr. Brooks... and then you go on and OVER intellectualize:
"It [Bildung] means the complete moral, emotional, intellectual and civic transformation of the person." 'Complete moral and civic transformation'? What a load of literary or philosophical nonsense. There IS pretty much a common english word for Bildung, "education". Ausbildung (and Bildung for short) and Erziehung are more like "training" and "upbringing". In the Ozarks, we'd call Mr. Brooks an educated fool.
And he goes on,
"It [Bildung] was based on the idea that if people were going to be able to handle and contribute to an emerging industrial society, they would need more complex inner lives." 'Needing complex inner lives'? This guy's unbelievable.... The word and concept of Bildung have been in similar use together well before the industrial revolution.
If Mr.Brooks ever went through a Germanic education he would know that his lofty, abstract ideas about developing an individual's capacity to understand their place within society and to think independently is about as ridiculous as Joe Biden's "No Malarkey Tour". Social responsibility, duty, principles, laws of nature, methods, procedures and authority... this is Germanic education.
Mr. Brooks may have a great appreciation for education, but he makes for a poor example of it.
3
Yeah, sure David - but they haven’t got very many billionaires for all the resources they have. “Tut tut.” said Nietsche. “What’s left for Superman?”
Thank you.....for another example of how religion has completely destroyed our education system with its nod to the ridged rules of each secular sect.
In David Brooks’ fantasy America, everyone will spontaneously generate value in their hearts for the education and the well being of all citizens while we continue to regulate nothing, legally funnel all of our wealth to the very wealthiest and turn a blind Republican eye as a fraudulent, criminal, ignoramus bigot places himself above the law and foments hatred for the disadvantaged.
3
We should NOT be so knee-jerk afraid of what "socialism" portends for democratic society.
3
Right wing supporters hated Obama Care until they finally found out what was in it. And now they want it no matter how heterogeneous our country is!
1
Greta Thunberg is Swedish. An exemplary member of society.
She and other young women of the 21st Century struggle to save Mother Earth and her creatures from the obscene hands of the psychopaths of of the 0.1 %.
1
Well free public education for all is the first form of welfare system.
2
Or perhaps it is an investment in The Nation.
(Comment added in case you weren’t being sarcastic)
So I guess you could call Scandinavia the Trump-alternative.
2
The Secret is that Scandinavia has very few Republican types. If it were not for the Republican Party the U.S. would be the greatest nation in the world. I wish we could send all of the Republicans to Moscow. Russia has lots of empty land to fill.
4
Quality comment.
1
The GOP today has more in common with Putin’s worldview than the traditional American view. In addition, Rossiya is more ethnically homogeneous and religiously driven which would make a large part of the GOP happy.
Of course the weather might be an issue.......
David Brooks, I agree!
Amazing...I've never said that before.
so nordic approach was a national strategy ... gee whiz mr brooks what is going to take for you to endorse a NATIONAL strategy for educating american children regardless of race, gender, religion, state, county, muicipality, neighborhood ... Whoops! goes against conservative ideals, GOP policies, mr brooks associates
3
Not sure what the point is here. Mr Brooks republican teaches only that wealth for self and family are the most important things no matter how corruptly they are attained. As for nation....pfahhhhh.
2
so when Garrison Keillor spoke of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility church, he was on to something....
3
To put it simply, they educate their citizens to be liberals.
3
Wow agree to much of a David Brooks column.
But, come on man -- the "moral" party/"family party" just let let the President commit treason.
2
You can buy a lot of free education, free health services, and just plain freedom. All you need is a lot of free North Sea oil. You can also have a lot of nature lovers as long as they ignore what their free oil is doing to everybody's environment. And how about all those complex brains created by all that free North Sea oil education? In the heads of real individualists? Maybe not so much as portrayed in "The Bothersome Man," by Jens Lien. In my favorite film he portrays his fellow Scandinavians as living in a very comfortable, modern hell. Most are made into conformists and refined barbarians by their welfare state. Those who don't conform are, well, bothersome. Some even escape to the U.S.
1
I'm trying to reconcile how someone writes a column along these lines and then can't bring themselves to support Bernie Sanders campaign - the only plausible path we have towards this kind of real world utopia.
The fact is each year > ten trillion of dollars of US GNP flow to the <1%. To arrive at this social contract they have constructed a perverse media and thought syndicate to argue on its behalf. David Brooks is a textbook pundit arguing on behalf of the triumph of the <1%.
What comes next then is mental contortions to reconcile the cognitive dissonance & diachotomies of Mr. Brooks mind - a retreat from his thesis on Nordic virtue to be replaced by Neocon virtue which is the control of the masses by the few, using religion*, ignorance & faux media and manipulation.
*note: I don't mean to tarnish religion, getting closer with the deity is a good thing. Its just that religions have been hijacked by the big$money elite on the right to serve their purpose of controling the masses, thus they tarnish religion. (See the book: Leo Strauss and the American Right)
3
But, David, the Scandinavians are Socialists with and give their citizens too much free stuff. How can you like a county that has free healthcare and college for all?
3
I wonder if being homogeneous helped them do this?
2
Interesting issue ."Bildung" really means personal development. formation, or molding. Remember the onetime Jesuit aphorism: if we have a child for 7 years, we will control him for the rest of his life. Before you all get too admiring of life in schools here, think about how you are able to distinguish the concept of "bildung" from those of "conformity", "dominance", "authoritarian" "brainwashing" and "propaganda". Consider further that "bildung" seems also to have been a key concept in its home country, in the Nazi educational system.
Maybe the attention should be on a different concept---"critical thinking".
4
This NYTimes story forever colored my view of the cosy Scandinavian society. They are a homogeneous society that cannot accept cultural differences, evidenced by this Danish policy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/europe/denmark-immigrant-ghettos.html?searchResultPosition=1
1
Watch Michael Moore’s “Where to Invade Next?” The US could learn a LOT from other countries.
1
An article based on an ideological book driven by a misunderstood survey of happiness.
Let’s start with happiness. In most surveys, Scandinavians are among the world’s least happy people. Their societies function well, but the people themselves are lonely and depressed, statistically speaking, so that really is a strike against this way of organizing society.
Then Bildung (and no we do not use the German word): well, apart from Finland, Scandinavian schools are not especially good at educating. As for encouraging “responsibility toward family, friends, fellow citizens”, this is a figment of the authors’ imagination—none of this forms a part of education, and in fact Scandinavians have very weak social ties. The sole way responsibility is expressed is through paying taxes. But yes, schools do teach an unquestioning nationalism, if you think that is good.
There are many other problems plaguing the region, not least of which is racism, but of course there are some very good things, too. But why would you turn to local hucksters for an insight?
5
How long have you lived in Denmark?
1
@WoodyTX I'm a Dane, and I know the system from the inside out.
@Guglielmo di Lampedusa
Thanks for sharing a bit of reality with us! Mr. Brooks is probably already writing his next article.
1
Wonderful and positive article. So good to read this at a time when the news about our society is so NEGATIVE all the time.
Well written, David!
2
Great article. simplicity to define it:
Bildung leads you sooner to Second mountain!
2
I love this article and the responses. I served on the NYS Board of Regents for 17 years, the oldest (236 years) and most comprehensive education policy board in the nation. We had oversight of all private and public schools, colleges, libraries, archives, chartered educational and cultural institutions and more. The purpose of our efforts was to preserve and make available New York's vast educational and cultural resources so that all New Yorkers could pursue life long education and improve society. The secret is this: All of us have to help others whenever we can to take advantage of opportunities to use what our government has so generously provided for the pursuit of our happiness, personal freedom and "bildung."
4
I have long been wondering if the political divide in this country comes from our lacking education system. From lack of funding to such programs as “no child left behind” which forces teachers to ignore the student and focus on the test, and finally the punishment of teachers who fail us under such arduous circumstances. But I couldn't quite see how these things might impact the health of our political system. David put into words what I couldn't quite pin down in my mind--exactly how increased support and a different focus could lead to greater social trust. Thanks for the clarity.
6
Maybe education focused on social responsibility naturally led to Democratic Socialism, which then reinforced the commitment to having a society that works for all.
4
Fellow Commenters--Please hear what David Brooks is saying. Yes, there are many reasons that Scandinavians enjoy such a high quality of life, and there are many sources for those reasons. But Brooks is asking us to focus on the fact that the Scandinavian educational model is about developing WHOLE people who, once developed, go on to develop and take part in whole and thriving societies where people care for one another, not just for "Number 1," making ALL boats rise. He calls out our educational system which more than anything promotes "rugged individualism" and "survival of the fittest," creating the fractured society of self-righteous individuals that America has so sadly devolved into. If only people with the power to make change in the ways we teach our children could hear and be moved by the truth that Brooks is speaking...if only.
8
Which approach makes America stronger---cutting spending on education, on rearing our youth (e.g., Head Start) while increasing spending on building up military weapons--e.g., nuclear and space force ---or, doing just the reverse: more money on building ("bildung', as in Brooks" article) the individual from early youth onward, at the same cutting the weapons. If the decision is to be made by an uneducated boor, would the result be a stronger America? (certainly not a happier, more contented America, with a better educated citizenry.)
4
I think we need to encourage an appreciation for community and particularly a recognition of those "strangers" we meet in our daly lives; they are not really strangers, in fact, we share most everything in common. If we think about it, no one is really "a self made" person; we are the product of many persons who helped us along the way as we traveled the (sometimes difficult) road to adulthood. I say, "Don't let this day go by without showing sympathy and good humor to a passing stranger--it will enrich both of you and nourish a sense of community--which is what we so desperately yearn for in America today.
4
An important attribute missing in this opinion piece is the role of wealth. Living in Norway before the discovery of oil was difficult, like living in a third world country. Wages were low, food was very expensive, and a common topic of conversation was where to go to get affordable protein. Alcoholism was also a significant problem.
9
But where do you think the idea of free and equal education came from? From an active labour movement! You can't understand any of the advantages in the Nordic countries without acknowledging the central role of the labour movement.
4
Mr Brooks states, 'If you have a thin educational system that does not help students see the webs of significance between people, does not even help students see how they see, you’re going to wind up with a society in which people can’t see through each other’s lenses."
It's more than the educational system, US culture continues to promote the myth of the individual hero - Horatio Alger stories. Thus, captains of industries do actually believe that they 'did it all' by themselves - never mind the family wealth, connections, access to elite schools, etc. So they feel justified in demanding 100 times the compensations of average workers - even though there are likely tens of thousands of other talents who can do just as good a job.
Web of mutual significance cannot be seen until we first recognize the hollowness of the myth of John Galt.
11
Ah, those Nordic Aryans, so great to romanticize for the Republicans in an election year. Let not forget that they easily lock out minorities from the job market and Denmark even shows strong resentment. They completely believe is these social whole person stuff, I’m sure, but their dreams and their realities are further apart than our race gap. Don’t get lost in these myths. The wealth is evenly distributed there from taxes to all schools fairly and here it is not and won’t be.
3
Social trust has not just been "declining" in the U.S., it has been under constant assault for decades, from the GOP and the conservative movement in general. An obvious example of this assault has been the school voucher movement, sold as "choice" but actually serving to destroy confidence in public schools rather than to support and improve them.. Ronald Reagan embodied this assault, "The nine scariest words, I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Or, "the government IS the problem". Why degrade social trust, particularly trust in government? Well, the government was forcing social justice, fighting racial discrimination, regulating business, protecting the environment, taxing the powerful and wealthy, all of which actions have powerful enemies.
10
.... and a country of about 6,000,000 pop. as a huge chunk of North Slope oil revenue.
4
What really launched the Nordic nations was the creation of a high minimum wage.
The high minimum wage forced employers to make use of capital to be competitive, thus impelling industrialization.
Hoo Choon Chang, Cambridge developmental economist (or used to be, btw, not sure I got the name exactly correct).
1
@Tim Kane Uh, no.
Bernie says college tuition free, I say, quality education from Preschool through 12 first. Yes , our public schools are free but the quality of education in every school is dependent on your five digit zip code. Before we jump into tuition free college, let's strengthen our K-12. Let us make sure the teachers are paid well, the children are fed well regardless of their income level, lets make sure our 5 year olds are not burdened with standardized tests, lets make sure the teachers are teaching to enrich the minds of the youngs and not to pass the test. A wholesome approach to education is missing in America. The pressure to be college bound is enormous. Not every child has the interest or aptitude to commit to a four year college, give him/her the option of going to a good trade school. Maybe they will become an entrepreneur and generate employment someday. Most kids will graduate from college with a huge loan and a degree that will not even pay them enough for rent and groceries.
7
It is somewhat curious that Mr. Brooks uses the word "Bildung" which is more centered in German language than Swedish certainly (as a University of Chicago alumnus, and Trustee, he knows that out of a handful of words or phrases that you are saturated with there, Bildung is one, but he somewhat misinterprets its cultural basis, and deontological character). It is true that Scandinavia has a systematic, structural discipline toward all forms of education, through higher forms up through university. But like many of its social behavior routines, or its cultural anthropology if you wish, they stem from their particular, singular "DNA" molded from several factors, including environmental. There are still some significant differences among them however: Sweden is no Norway (but increasingly wishes it was vis-a-vis the EU and immigration), and Finland is an outlier in many dimensions. Moreover, he somewhat conveniently leaves out Scandinavia's Teutonic heritage, and Germany is no less advanced across its economy and society than its Northern neighbors (isn't de regueur, of course to praise Germans). Russia is also a fascinating independent variable in pan-Nordic expansion (praising Russians, even less PC). Scandinavia is indeed great in many dimensions because it is precisely Scandinavia. It will stay great if it stays Scandinavian. Sweden, like Germany (and Israel) is learning that lesson the hard way. Not all things can be learned in the classroom, even there. Regards.
3
@Matt Andersson
The Lutheran religion has left deep roots in the northern Europe. Now no longer tied to the Lutheran church, the values, morays and morals are identical and rooted in the revolution against the catholic church, its gold, corruption and unnatural practices like celibate clergy. It's not the DNA that's shared among northern Europeans but their moral believes. The Scandinavians have internalized it more then the rest, because of their rural life in small communities in a vast land.
1
The Swedish word for education is “utbildning” and comes directly from the German Bildung. The Danish word is “uddannelse” which combines “ud” for movement/action, and “dannelse” for formation/formative.
1
Patriotism, or love of the US, seems to be declining. Older generations, especially those that fought in WWII, believed in the values of the US and were not ashamed of it. Today I feel that people are quick to criticize it. Kids hear about the bad things that happen, or that our immigration laws are racist, and they don’t realize how great the US is. Why else would so many people want to come here?
5
@JM
No it is as strong as ever. The expression and roots have changed. Today it revolves around the military and hero worship. Insecurities of old clinically disabled men clutching to their guns because they sense an inferiority to the black man. Remove the flag, the gun, and many American 'patriots' have lost their patriotism. Not many actually know their Constitution and what it means. On the other hand, real patriots like Mr Schiff are not recognized as such by the 'other' patriots. It's like the Confederate Army won the civil war.
I agree with your observations, David. As a frequent visitor of Sweden and being married to a Swedish woman, I have seen the differences you reference up close. One of the comments mentioned how Scandinavians are truly free. Free from lack of healthcare, random gun violence in schools, quality education for all, childcare, etc. The USA has a lot to learn from the Scandinavian countries. We have the wealth and resources, we just lack the will. It's unfortunate that this country has the history of isolating many to the benefit of the few. Until we reconcile that story, there's not much else we can do to truly live up to our potential.
12
I too often criticize religion as a divisive rather than unifying force. But the Nordic religious tradition emphasizes obligation to community and modesty and has greatly affected the culture of these countries.
13
@Thinking out loud
The Lutheran tradition also emphasizes literacy and access to education for all. One of Martin Luther's most radical reformations wasn't just in theology or church structure, but was his "Small Catechism" and the revolutionary idea that all lay people should have access to the basics of their faith and should be personally responsible for that faith to their own conscience.
This laid a foundation across the Nordic countries for the importance of educating the whole person in all people.
4
@A F
Martin Luther translated the Bible from Latin to German so that the clergy was no longer the only source of religious 'truth'. Coupled with the Gutenberg printing press, the Bible could be read by non-clergy, although at the time almost nobody could read, except the clergy.
1
i believe you have not made a comment about the scandivanians' willingness to continue to contribute to that Bildung through effective taxation. America also had a Bildung. The conservative movement was built on an unwillingness to further contribute to the Bildung - believing that doing so would include people of color and new immigrants. The pillaging of the trust fund for a Bildung is the real story of Reagan/Bush/Trump and the so-called conservative movement.
14
Great conversation starting point with additions from fellow readers. Please, read and share. I went to school in Germany until 5th grade. As a teacher now in WA, it is frustrating to have to educate to the test - my kids are not data points. Yes, knowledge is important, but self awareness and understanding of the roles we play in the world are more so. In the US even tests are made for profit. Pearson et al are in it for the money. Take money out of the equation - in education, politics, etc, maybe we'll have a more equitable world after all.
7
Leave it to David Brooks to use a Germanic concept to explain Nordic values! While clearly there are some qualities in common (as many cultures across the world do share similarities with their neighbors), there are plenty of differences, none of which I expect Brooks to understand or fully explain.
3
While the Nordics are often painted as the Walhalla in American liberal circles, the truth is that living in those societies can also feel overbearing and suffocating. Their cultures are very homogeneous without much tolerance for deviation and they can't deal very well with immigrants who have different lifestyles and religions. Denmark especially has been notoriously unwelcoming to immigrants, their practice of seizing jewelry and cash from asylum seekers to help pay for their stay made worldwide news a few years ago.
There is a reason why most of the unemployed youth of southern Europe doesn't travel north in search of education and a job, which they legally are completely allowed to do. It's the last place anyone who was raised in a more latin, non-judgmental culture wants to live.
6
@Anne
Well, among immigrants themselves the Syrians do not socialize with the Somalis or Afghans, etc. Discrimination among refugees is much stronger then their hosts in general. It is simply human nature, but the Scandinavians have freed themselves largely from it, when looked at all peoples of the world. I think it stems from their Lutheran religion, which they no longer practice en masse, but incorporated in their culture and world view. Scandinavians and Germans are the largest contributors to international charitable orgs, by far, compared to the middle east, asia and africa one could say the northern Europeans have the largest part besides Americans. They are not xenophobic.
1
I don't even usually read Brooks's columns, but this one rings true. I've been saying it for years, in truly civilized nations people believe that "we're all in this together," while in the U.S. our collective belief seems to be "every man for himself."
We can delude ourselves that a nation can take the latter approach and remain a great place to live, but the fact is that it's great only for the few who can afford a high qualify of life here. Everyone else here is basically living hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck, and is one cancer diagnosis or natural disaster away from poverty or worse. Most of us live in fear, since the social safety net here is riddled with holes. It's difficult to be happy and optimistic here. And we are all pitted against each other in the struggle to get by, so we're too busy to notice the fundamental reasons we live this way and very unlikely to attempt to change them.
7
So is education in the Nordic countries paid for by local districts or does the nation give equal education to all?
@Glenn W.
The education system is national. In Denmark primary schools are partly paid by local districts but with national funds to secure even standards nationwide. Universities are state funded, high schools are regional, but again with national funds to even out the burden.
6
The Scandinavian obsession with education started with the Danish "folkeskole" (Peoples school) established in 1814 with the aim to teach everyone to read, write and master some basic math. It has developed from there ever since.
For many generations we have looked across the Atlantic for inspirations and promises of a better future.
in 1814 the Danish kingdom was bankrupt and the rural population dirt poor. Denmark was a backwards oppressive kingdom ruled and plundered by a class of greedy feudal landowners supported by the church. The rural population were little more than starving slaves for the landlords.
Though the Danish kingdom tried to stay neutral in the Napoleon wars the English stole our fleet and we lost the Union with Norway. Later we had a devastating civil war in 1848 with a German inspired uprising in the southern parts of the kingdom, followed by a German/Austrian attack in 1864 that Denmark barely survived as an independent nation. That was rock bottom and the only resources left were the minds and ingenuity of the population.
Hunger and malnutrition was widespread. It had been bad for centuries to a degree that the average height of Danes fell by about 10" from 1400 to 1870, and only from about 1950 and later generations we again matched the average height from former times.
The Danish education, health and social efforts is a promise, that never again shall we fall prey to greedy bullies plundering our nation and enslave us with huge debts.
15
Loved this. One way to look at education is through the body. What are the challenges and possibilities for the physical person at each age, and how does the education system address them. Middle School, where puberty occurs, is often seen as a stumbling block. The colorful Alan Greenspan, in one of his last testimonies before Congress, wondered why children did well in primary school and then badly in Middle School. His blind spot was that he did not see puberty as a pivotal event in the life of a child. Pivotal because it means saying good-bye to the child and hello to the newly minted adult. This transition is honored and recognized in many religions and cultures. Modern US culture should pay attention to the need to accept, guide and dignify the transition we call puberty. To reduce it all to "raging hormones" and shrug it off with a wink, is a cop-out. And the worst cop-out of all is to enclose children for ten years in the no-man's-land of "adolescence", a fictive state that exists to deny puberty. The body of a child shifts into adult mode in the space of one or two years. To prolong that state for ten years is the source of the alienation of youth. Young people should not have to spend years in a purgatory of denial, they should be able to apply their energy and creativity to life as soon as they are able, and to the extent they are able. The tolerant (though not at all chaotic) sexual mores of Scandinavia underpin their success in education.
4
This type of education shows why the so-called "reform" movement in the US has been such a failure. We have focused on test scores as the sole measure of how students are learning. To increase test scores, many schools have eliminated history, art, music, gym, and play--all subjects which add richness to a student's experience. We have taken the fun out of learning.
10
Thanks for this great essay. I was going to praise and agree with you, but I see so many respondents conveying my positive thoughts that I just gave them a "recommend"!! Thanks.
1
Yes and this well educated population is able to boost the economy and ensure that the entire population has its basic needs met.
No doubt, if we were a better educated nation, we might make the same choices.
1
I have often wondered why northern countries are the most gender equal. Perhaps it’s because they held on to paganism longer and were the least affected by the garden of eden story.
5
It seems that the Nordic model depends in part on taking pride in the nation. Here, we're subjected to constant, floridly tendentious harangues about how thoroughly evil we are, going all the way back to 1619.
3
How would you propose quantifying your hypothesis?
Scandinavia has generally had a lower level of educational attainment than many other countries. This page provides a list of nations by post-secondary educational attainment:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_education_attainment
#2 in the world, for instance, is Russia. Even the United States has a substantially higher educational attainment than Scandinavia. For instance on the extreme end 44% of Americans have a tertiary educational degree while only 36% of Danes do; 54% of Russians do.
I appreciate that educational attainment itself may not properly represent what you're trying to express. Yet if there is no way to quantify or measure your hypothesis, how could one assess it?
1
@Jaymes
Just because someone in the USA graduates high school and even is accepted into a college is not exactly a sign of "educational attainment". In college i had classes in which sometimes multiple students could barely read. many schools will pass students for showing up not actually learning anything.
As another reader said, comparing two distinct and disparate populations is ludicrous. Add to that fact, funding for education has fallen by the wayside. Brooks ignores the reality that the family is the core for instilling morals, ethics, pride, and respect for all.
1
Despite Tom Friedman's unsupported critique of the self-evident, high levels of "social trust" track well with essentially homogeneous populations with a strong sense of a common culture. "Diversity" is something we have been rightly educated to "celebrate" -- because we have no choice. We are a nation of immigrants (thankfully mostly the legal sort) and those brought here against their will, and we have to do the best we can with a very heterogeneous population. But "diversity" is a problem -- it is not a necessary benefit. It requires education in tolerance and an ability to appreciate the "other" that doesn't come naturally. It's also critical to balance that "celebration" with the development of strong binding cultural norms and allegiances -- so that we recognize a shared sense of national belonging that is greater than any of our tribal identifies.
4
Also they are not burdened with a huge military expense and an international imperialism attitude
11
"I feel that the American Dream can be achieved best in the Nordic countries, where every child no matter their background or the background of their families can become anything, because we have a very good education system... We [also] have a good healthcare and social-welfare system that allows anybody to become anything. This is probably one of the reasons why Finland gets ranked the happiest country in the world." — Sanna Marin, Finland’s 34-yr-old Social Democratic Prime Minister
4
@Zareen
Anyone become anything in the US. The means in Denmark hold that back. Not so much in the US. Not any Dane can study medicine, in the free University system, but many more Americans of all heritages can in the US.
I visited my grandson's Kindergarten class in Stavanger,Norway. when the children were peeling off their snowsuits, after time playing outside on a cold,snowy morning. They were playing together. Seeing toys, and not books, I asked the teacher when they started class.. reading, writing. She replied, we know that they'll catch up with their "A,B,Cs"", but first they need to learn how to socialize and respect each other.
I 'm not surprised that it's the Norwegian diplomats who are called upon to be the negotiators . or that at the last Olympics, it was the Norwegians who came down the slopes and shared the route with their teams, while most of the others skiers were interested in their own medals.
12
Sorry , hate to be pessimistic but the US is too far gone . I can’t see the millions of Americans who work multiple jobs and are perpetually behind on bills to be concerned with emulating a Scandinavian model.
Or how about the gun toting conservatives ? Or how about the Manhattan lawyer who pulls in millions a year winning liability cases? It’s too easy to go on .
I live in the Netherlands which has major elements of the Nordic model.
I can go out and would have to search for people who do not have an appreciation for the common good ( higher wealth taxes , fair medical and educational system , good infrastructure ).
When I go to the States it would take me five minutes to find people who after a brief conversation would indicate to me that a concept of Bildung is far from a reality in the U.S. Right or wrong it’s a different mentality .
The U.S is also not a homogeneous country as is the case in Scandinavia . Different cultures are on different pages when it comes to social policies .
A massive transformation in US government and its system would need to occur for any concept of a holistic view of improvement in personal character. Maybe 50 years of creating a fair playing field would at least get the country to first base.
Call me a pessimist, but I just don’t see it . It is a nice thought Mr Brooks .
3
@Larry That's a good observation.
Let's not forget that the people who came to the New World were looking for freedom they didn't have in Europe and in the beginning not in a good way (slavery, seizing land) but that's what shaped the beginning of our country and foundation of its first economy. The weapon culture and leanings towards libertarianism in the heartland states still reflects that living free culture today.
After World War II, the Scandinavians had the foresight to start teaching English in grade school and many citizens have become bilingual. With these language skills, Scandinavians were better able to integrate and participate in sharing their culture and sense of equality with the world as a model.
3
It would take a generation or two, but if we create and build a similar education system now, we would never have to worry about another Trumper in the future. Shared responsibility, complex thinking, and awareness of the inner self - the pillars of a sustainable and worthwhile world. As usual, David gets right to the core issues driving our dysfunction.
3
@Tim
Oh, the Swedes and Danes, have the natives first slogan too. They just call it 'folk' roots, but the same conservatives. However, Trump's personal expressions and behavior is not acceptable in Europe. Chauvinism, racism, crude accusations, the whole Trump gammut, is not practiced by any European.
Sanders has been focused for decades on educating and inspiring enough of us to increase participation in democracy and create the public will to envision and then vote into existence an American form of a just, sustainable and civilized country. Join us in creating a better future.
4
I think David fails to mention that a lot of their success also relies on limited immigration. Immigration really bogs up the system with thousands of unemployed people that are not paying any taxes. Especially older immigrants that haven't paid enough in but want all the benefits of the society. The pop. difference is 20m in Scandinavia compared to 335m in the US. NYC has nearly half the population of all of Scandinavian. So, let's not say it's a apples to apples comparison. They don't have or pay for the military that we do, so yes they are safe because it's us protecting them from the Russians. It's just insane to me that we even compare ourselves to Scandinavians. I'm sure if we took a couple states and plowed billions in resources into them we could achieve Scandinavian levels of happiness. We can call it the Disneyland experiment.
But, all that being said, their primary educational system is far superior to ours. The tragedy is that our primary education is so out of touch with reality that is effectively useless. That's right, 12 years of free education and the result is incomplete graduates who can barely get a job. Our system is built on failure their system is built on success. Our system there use to be two options college or factory. Factories now require higher level skills then high schools are teaching. If we want a robust middle class it begins and ends in primary school. So let's stop it with the free college stuff and fix what we are already paying for.
3
@Johnson : Sweden has a slightly higher percentage of immigrants in its population than the U.S. does.
A good education is important, but what is the biggest influence in a child's life? School is not the correct answer.
3
As a teacher, what struck me was the picture.
The students are paired, but so very far apart.
The camera caught 9 students. There is probably one behind the teacher and others to her right, but even if that is half the class, that totals 18 students in the classroom. How many American schools have 20 students in a classroom? Average class size in Sweden is 18.5. In 30+ years of teaching i rarely witnessed a mainstream classroom of less than 30 students.
This single crucial factor in a quality education is what many, many people miss. Do the students make a real connection with the teacher as a professional adult? Do they have the opportunity to talk about their needs and challenges in their academic, social and emotional development? Most importantly, does the teacher have the opportunity to discover each child's gifts and talents?
Children are an investment in the quality of your life.
10
In the German imagination, it seems the lofty old Bildung of Parzifal ended in the waking up of my grandfather, Gregor, to the realization that he's just a big bug. (Yes, that's a reference to Kafka.)
And that realization seems to shaking more Americans now. How we as bugs will react to that sad state of affairs, of being, will become our future. Do we simply go along with the leadership of a big bad belligerent, boastful bug, with shiny hair and orange scales, to do more big bad very buggy things? Or can we do better?
4
Mr. Brooks: Thank you for such a clear-eyed and succinct essay. It is exactly the kind of message our presidential candidates need to focus on! Great work.
1
Sanders has been focused for decades on educating and inspiring enough of us to increase participation in democracy and create the public will to envision and then vote into existence an American form of a just, sustainable and civilized country. Join us.
4
What Brooks describes here is [gasp!] socialism. "Nordic" countries properly fund education to the benefit of all at the expense of all. That requires taxation and we all know how the GOP feels about taxes.
Contemporary Scandinavian countries support students with tuition and universal healthcare and other benefits. They pay teachers adequately. They do not neglect and denigrate their public schools, deny science or attack STEM curricula as does Brooks' party and president.
The GOP loathes public education, trump's so-called "government" schools, and cuts funding whenever they can. trump's know-nothing cipher, DeVos heads the Department of Education and so it's no wonder that our system is failing. I suppose we should be glad that the GOP hasn't destroyed the Department altogether. Yet republicans love charter schools, where taxpayers support private businesses with less than stellar results.
So, yes, European democratic socialism helps and benefits people. Big wild discovery, Mr. Brooks.
14
Mr. Brooks missed the key point.
How did enlightened educational policies, pre-school, health care system, environmental preservation, etc etc come about?
Labor unions from the late 19th century, who fought for decent wages, worker rights, community rights, SOCIAL DEMOCRACY.
As the grandson of four Swedish immigrants (arrival through Ellis Island 1910-1919) who has benefited in many ways from being raised in the US, it pains me deeply to see where the US is at present.
So many people say, ah, the Scandinavian countries are small, the US is big, we cannot possibly do what they do.
Rubbish !!
One less US aircraft carrier and we would have pre-school for ALL children, public schools that flourish, university education for all students, an assured year abroad for all undergraduate students.
Oh yes, one last comment: all of my Swedish family in Sweden speak at least two languages, some speak three and four. Might this have something to do with Scandinavian worldview, diplomacy, capacity to grapple with complexity, social commitment, international respect?
We are down to perhaps below ten percent of US undergraduates, perhaps five percent, learning a second language.
12
I'm afraid you may have missed your own point here, Mr. Brooks. "Bildung" is part of the mental, emotional and spiritual gestalt lying at the heart of Scandinavian confidence in the generous welfare state. It shows the trust its adherents have in the power of education to overcome the ludicrous, almost mystically superstitious fears of those leaning toward fascism...in other words, those in the U.S. who insist on demonizing the left.
4
I’m afraid you’ve missed Mr Brooks’ point. This is a prescriptive piece that does what he is suggesting we all do. Your comment, on the other ha d, illustrates why we, in the US, suffer from a lack of belonging and have no shared values or sophisticated world view. Thank you, Mr Brooks for advocating for more open minds and hearts.
1
@Peter King I understand Brooks perfectly and have for many years. His is an almost congenital predisposition against progressive politics no matter how much sociological mumbo jumbo he uses to cloak his antipathy.
Republicans rail against the educated "elite". They work tirelessly to defund public education. They belittle teachers. They want bigger class sizes. Instead of looking toward Scandinavia and lamenting what might be, Mr. Brooks, why not look within your own craven political party and acknowledge what is? The Republican Party are anti-education of any stripe. Maybe that is because educated people inform themselves before they vote. They understand when they are being lied to, manipulated and cheated. Holistically educated people are an existential threat to those whose only passion in life is for more money at any cost.
10
As a rule, Americans have always been a people who believed their own thoughts were far more believable than the opinions or contributions of others. "If I believe it, it is real", has been a huge part of the American landscape. Of course, the sad thing is that this is total nonsense. Digging into the mud and refusing to look beyond the horizon has been a major stumbling block for many Americans. Education has always been looked on with suspicion, and anyone with an advanced degree - or in some cases any degree - are often thought of as elites with no connection to the common person. Of course, since education is kept to a bare minimum in most school districts around the country due to serious lack of funds, the schools do little more than pour "facts" into the kids. Rather than challenge them to think through classes that ask them to question,through the arts - which are also looked on with suspicion - single points of view are taught. To be blunt, it's stupid limited thinkers people teaching other people how to be stupid limited thinkers. So it any surprise that almost half the country buys into this Trump nonsense? It's like backing a high school football team and assuming if the team wins, the school must be good. However, where the schools are good, where kids are challenged, they blossom. If only this country could invest in the future of the children. What a place this would be.
4
I feel that unfortunately part of the reason we are educated the way we are in this country is to keep people in their place. It's easier to control a poorly educated populous. Bread and circuses will prevail.
10
@Max :In addition, lack of vacation time and low wages keep workers from traveling overseas and seeing how people in other OECD countries live.
4
We used to have a similar attitude towards public education in the US. I vaguely remember it from my youth. I even remember that my older siblings had to take a high school class called “civics”. Imagine that?!?!?
But the Conservatives didn’t like that their children were being taught about the way our government works. They didn’t like the the very idea of public education. Now there is no civics class and our public schools are underfunded and disrespected. Our kids are stupid and angry.
This is due to the GOP alone. Your party did this Brooks. And you cheered them on every step of the way.
13
"What really launched the Nordic nations was generations of phenomenal educational policy." America's current educational policy seems to be to undermine everything, to make the population more ignorant and more gullible to a more authoritarian government. Indeed, under trump 2 + 2 = 4 is a hoax, science, reasoning and facts are fake and prayer is the solution to all problems and happiness comes from selfish klepto-capitalism.
We even have an economy based on cons, lies, cheating and deception designed to manipulate a less educated population out of their money, their votes and their rights.
"The idea was to create in the mind of the student a sense of wider circles of belonging — from family to town to nation — and an eagerness to assume shared responsibility for the whole." No doubt Republicans would smear this concept as communism "communal responsibility" and socialism "shared responsibility."
3
Have any of the Scandinavian nations ever elected to a lofty office a gutter mouth, trash tongue? One comparable to the one the US currently has in the top political office?
What does having a gutter tongue up there for all to see and hear — and be impressed by — imply? A mouth evidently driven by what by many venerable traditions have deemed the lower emotions: envy, resentment, spite ... greed and lust and worldly power also close to very basic animal levels ...
As if somehow over here that fragile construct called civilization was dropped and is now lying down in the gutter broke, and who is going to fix it? We don't educate for that sort of fixing.
3
Weeeeell, yes, well, partly. But please allow a Swede to comment:
1. Yes, education and ’bildning’ has been hugely important in developing the welfare states of Scandinavia. But equally important were the Social Democrat policies of progressive taxation and universal healthcare and, later, the grand bargain struck between the trade unions and the country’s business leaders in 1938. All three were of equal importance.
2. The free and still world-class education in my country is still hugely important, and has been a pivotal factor in social mobility. Our Prime Minister was a welder and nobody bats an eyelid and a huge percentage of the very rich in Sweden started with nothing. Yes, we still have a small clique of (often ridiculed) aristocracy who are nowadays mainly glorified caretakers of very large houses, but they are an insignificant, rather charming, relic. The social mobility is far greater in Sweden than in the US; we Swedes think it’s hilarious that you lot keep banging on about ’The American Dream’. As the Finnish PM said just the other day; if you want to make it in life, you’re far more likely to succeed in Scandinavia than in America.
19
@Nils Wetterlind
Can you also describe the emancipation of women, and girls in Sweden? This is another aspect that Americans would find interesting.
1
@Nils Wetterlind as I wrote earlier on this thread, I'm a dual U.S., European citizen and my European passport bestows far more social benefits and privileges than my U.S. passport. Indeed, there's nothing "free" about it. I pay taxes along with millions of others who, I believe, feel that it's worth having affordable health care and education for citizens.
The U.S. is certainly not the country I remember as a boy. Today, it's all about the size of your wallet rather than the content of your character.
1
Well hey, at least American students are undergoing drills to prepare for mass shootings, which definitely qualifies as a lifelong skill in this country.
9
The Nordic model will never be superimposed on the U.S. The support of ignorance and stupidity, along with wanton brutality and self-aggrandizement is too great.
Step back and see what America has become: a land of sentimentality, propaganda, and pornography.
6
As an expat i have to say the ciriculum here is not challenging and concerns me that it only prepares my children for a life in spoonfed Denmark. It will not prepare them for life in other societies that do not spoonfeed citizens for life.
1
@Mark P Get your kids into a good private school.
It's easier to manipulate and control an uneducated populous. Bread and circuses.
4
Scandinavian bildung produces Greta Thunberg. American hyper-individualism produces Donald Trump. Need we go any further?
4
In Norway, if you're an avid reader, you're called a 'lese-hest.' (very positive reference, as in thoroughbred racehorse)
In the US, if you're an avid reader, you're called a bookworm.
Reading is one of many starting points in education, and in the US, almost every student starts off on the wrong foot. As long as an appreciation of knowledge, and using it to form wisdom, is 'uncool,' a great society is no longer possible.
5
“It is devised to help them ... see the relations between ... a community of relationships in a family and a town.”
After reading a 11/12/19 BBC article on Sweden’s growing crime, I wonder if its education system has been able to reach the children of some immigrant families. Titled "Sweden's 100 explosions this year: What's going on?”, it said:
The bomb squad was called to deal with 97 explosions in the first nine months of this year.
This category of crime was not even logged prior to 2017.
Most attacks have taken place in low-income, vulnerable suburbs in the biggest cities: Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. But more affluent places are now being targeted too.
Police say the criminals involved are part of the same gangs behind an increase in gun crime, often connected to the drugs trade.
Swedish police do not record or release the ethnicity of suspects or convicted criminals, but intelligence chief Linda H Straaf says many do share a similar profile. They have grown up in Sweden and they are from socio-economically weak groups, socio-economically weak areas, and many are perhaps second- or third-generation immigrants," she says.
Since the U.S. does not have enough unskilled or low skilled jobs for our own citizens, I wonder if we should continue to accept poorly educated, unskilled immigrants. The latter’s children might have trouble integrating regardless of the educational program.
9
You’re making it too complicated. The major difference between the Scandies and the USA: Greed. The already Rich want to keep every penny, and the delusional are willing to let them.
Seriously.
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@Phyliss Dalmatian Right on!
Wow! Mr. Brooks wrote something incredibly informative and useful. I'm curious if there are some similarities with schooling in some places of East Asia.
While on a British Airways flight to London, England with my American cousin in late May of 1994 we struck up a conversation in the aisle with some Brits. Nelson Mandela had just become President of South Africa and the talk was about his life and his amazing story.
When we got back to our seats, my cousin said she did not know who we were talking about and I said, “you know, Nelson Mandela he fought against apartheid”. She said, and I will never forget this; “when you live in the most powerful country on earth, you don't need to know this stuff”.
And, if you wonder why Trump is so popular, this is the reason. He trades on the idea there is only America is worth knowing or caring about and the rest of us are just wannabes.
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Not only the whole person, but all the people of the country - equally.
"Progressives say it’s because they have generous welfare states."
Progressives say no such thing. They use words like humane, natural rights, common sense, satisfaction.
David's word games are an attack.
And it comes from the whole person.
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Funny how this all comes back to a sense of community and a future
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And that's where we are in CA w/our housing crisis... The AirBnB phenomenon where a small group of individuals/entities feel they can take off the rent able/saleable market 10,000 of rooms, apartments and homes because there is no longer a sense of community in the US; only "me", what I'm entitled too; extra cash.. Then they cry and wring their hands about homeless housing in their neighborhoods...
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I love how they teach respect for the individual and individual agency from a very young age to build a society where consent is easy to determine and rape is not a problem. Religion isn’t messing up anyone either...
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Anyone else find Brooks’ hypocrisy supporting the Nordic model one week and blasting Bernie Sanders and his ideas for our country (Nordic model) the next. Can’t make this stuff up!
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Any thoughts on how ppl pay for lifelong learning...oh thats right they dont pay 70k per year to get an undergraduate degree (forget about lifelong learning), no sir, society pays through taxes, with opportunities available to all.. they Also have lifelong healthcare...paid for by taxes.
Whos advocating for this? Mr Sanders! God speed to him
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Because each of us are not islands, right?
We have a lot to do here.
Remarkable. And a 'conservative' too. A mensch-no less. A Republican! I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
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But doesn’t the sense of communal responsibility lead to the welfare state?
I actually agree with a lot of what David is saying. But if you tried to implement all this in American schools, Fox News would run weeks of specials about how "the Liberal Democrat party is trying to indoctrinate your kids". How do we move past that?
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It sounds a little heavy handed to me. Top down, one size fits all education like this is anthema to Americans We have traditionally valued freedom of thought and an independent attitude which wouldn't play in a place like Germany for sure. Home schooling is illegal in Germany. There is only one way to socialize their youth and it is government mandated.
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This essay doesn’t close; it just ends, in what can only be called the embarrassing silence of a man who realizes he has brushed a bit too closely against uncomfortable truths. The obvious yet unanswered question is why the US has no similarly holistic philosophy of education. The short answer—not to put it too crudely—is that the US is a corporate technocracy that views even the education of children in terms of dollars and cents. If there is any party that flies the banner of business more proudly it’s Mr. Brooks’ Republicans. Hence the abrupt and embarrassing void at the heart of this column.
Cue the Dickens, Mr. Brooks. Chapter 1 of Hard Times, for a summary of your party’s philosophy of education: “Now what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them.” Old Gradgrind is your party’s man, whatever your columns protest to the contrary.
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Tribalism is the source of many of our problems in the US. Bilgund is easy when countries essentially regulate their society to have a single tribe, and the Nordic countries know this well:
“In December 2018, the law on Danish citizenship was changed so that a handshake was mandatory during the ceremony. The regulation would, among other things, prevent members of islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir from receiving Danish citizenship as they would never shake hands.”
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Emotional immaturity drives American politics, news, entertainment. Bildung would initiate a systems collapse in this country.
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Yes but — watch “Rita” for a more complicated view.
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The percentage of single mothers in USA is double the rate found in Sweden. Senator Moynihan warned us about the track we were on 25+ years ago.
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@Hozeking : Wrong--the figure is 40% in the U.S., 55% in Sweden. Both figures include cases in which couples live together but have not been formally married.
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mr brooks seems to ignore that it all leads to one world guvmint.
better to have rugged, free thinking individualists--like all americans--able to make their own decisions and judgments and then.....
vote for donald trump.
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Much shorter, accurate Brooks: The Scandies are great, why can’t we be like them ?
Answer : GREED. The Rich desperately want to keep every single penny, and the delusional are willing to let them.
Seriously.
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Calling Mr. Brooks...your buddies the GOP hate education. Their Secretary of Education makes millions out of punishing education loans and has used her position to protect inadequate if not outright fraudulent for profit “schools”. This article is so disingenuous I want to scream. We used to teach what Brooks is praising but we ditched civics because it educated people about their rights and we ditched science for bible based piffle thanks to GOP supported evangelicals.
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Individualism is about taking risks. Scandinavia is great if you prefer others, and mostly not in Scandinavia, to take these risks and share the benefits. Here is the list of Swedish billionaires:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Swedish_billionaires_by_net_worth
Besides creators of Spotify and Minecraft, almost all of them are old money, inherited their wealth, or are in business with Russian oligarchs.
I am not sure the number of billionaires a country has reflects the opportunity a new born citizen has for a productive and fulfilling life. A very American comparison if this Norwegian may say so.
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Sorry David, but “social trust has been on the decline for decades” is simply a false narrative. What “social trust” was there in the years of slavery, the years of the Jim Crow laws, the years of ads about “welfare queens” and all the years before and after? “Social trust” only existed among very specific and limited communities. This is a nonsensical narrative
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And these countries have universal health care. Also they don’t have Fox News. Just saying.
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One reason why America is great is vast emigration from the Scandinavian and other socialist countries in the late 19th and early 20th century to the U. S.
If you are a socialist you belong in Europe.
If you are a capitalist your home is the U. S.
Note that there is no emigration from the U. S. to anywhere.
Rey Olsen
@WSGNY : Wrong. I know at least ten people who have emigrated to other countries, and most have taken out citizenship in these other countries.
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Scandinavia comprises of 3 countries. Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Finland is not part of Scandinavia.
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FINALLY A GOOD APPROACH
I am really happy that Mr. Brooks is finally drifting away in his analysis from the cultural positions influenced by market fundamentalism that used to make his columns so predictable. Keep it up and spread the good news.
So you're saying we need tuition-free college? Feel the Bern, David.
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Thank you for supporting the Democrats' ideas on free or near free affordable college Mr Brooks - glad to see you finally coming around!
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There is no doubt that the Scandinavian countries are very interesting and quaint. Tiny countries by the Arctic Circle full of blond blue-eyed people. No wonder Americans want to be like them. They are the Caucasian snow village fantasy come true.
But these tiny countries have very, very little in common with the United States. It is a waste of time to try and emulate them because we are nothing like them. We are a huge, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, republic composed of no less than fifty separate states all with their own identities. The American model is unique and we are not going to find any answers in the lovely snow globe world of Scandinavia.
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There is a line in the Danes version of a "constitution" that goes something like this.
I'm greatly paraphrasing here...
As a Dane I'm here for you and you are here for me as we work together to make each others life better.
In the USA we don't have anything really close to that.
We do have a loose understanding that getting all you can for yourself is what's important and whatever happens to others along the way doesn't really matter.
I got mine...not worried about him.
The person with the most money is the "best"!!!!!!!
All countries were dirt poor before 1800! Come on, Mr. Brooks... and then you go on and OVER intellectualize:
"It [Bildung] means the complete moral, emotional, intellectual and civic transformation of the person." 'Complete moral and civic transformation'? What a load of literary or philosophical nonsense. There IS pretty much a common english word for Bildung, "education". Ausbildung (and Bildung for short) and Erziehung are more like "training" and "upbringing". In the Ozarks, we'd call Mr. Brooks an educated fool.
And he goes on,
"It [Bildung] was based on the idea that if people were going to be able to handle and contribute to an emerging industrial society, they would need more complex inner lives." 'Needing complex inner lives'? This guy's unbelievable.... The word and concept of Bildung have been in similar use together well before the industrial revolution.
If Mr.Brooks ever went through a Germanic education he would know that his lofty, abstract ideas about developing an individual's capacity to understand their place within society and to think independently is about as ridiculous as Joe Biden's "No Malarkey Tour". Social responsibility, duty, principles, laws of nature, methods, procedures and authority... this is Germanic education.
Mr. Brooks may have a great appreciation for education, but he makes for a poor example of it.
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@carl bumba Someone who did go through a German grade-school education and then finished secondary schooling in the US put it this way: German school was often unpleasant, difficult. But nonetheless there was always the sense or feeling that something important, very valuable was going on. That feeling was missing in American schools. There, the emphasis was on quick fun, sort-of like the tacky entertainment of Branson.
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@Mr. Samsa
Very true - and there are many other differences. But this is not what Mr. Brooks was saying. (I was an undergraduate and graduate student over there; our kids did Kindergarten, Volksschule and Gymnasium.)
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@Mr. Samsa
By the way, that "Branson" jab is unhelpful. That "quick fun" aspect of our public schools isn't restricted to rural Missouri/Arkansas. (This might even approach racist since you probably think of hillbillies as another race.) I understand that Silver Dollar City is actually pretty tasteful by non-hillbilly standards.
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There are also no Republicans in Scandanavia.
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Maybe there's an ethnic homogeneity in Scandinavia that far more diverse nations like the US lack.
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For once I agree with David Brooks. I saw this first hand visiting Finnish schools. The difference in the culture was an emphasis on self-reliance which I saw everywhere: students getting themselves to school via bikes and on foot in all manner of weather at all ages, crossing busy streets in Helsinki quite capably from a very young age.
I see our litigious culture as a barrier. We hover over our children managing their every move and taking decision making out of their hands. Rather than making children happier, our children are anxious and depressed. The message sent when we don’t mentor them into independence is that the world is both scary and unmanageable. Finland looked like my childhood. I walked to school at age 5. Alone. I knew not to talk to strangers. I knew the neighbors. My first social studies lessons were about the community not Ancient Egypt like they teach in the early grades now in this ridiculous standards based world hell bent on getting everyone ready for college (and stressed beyond measure while they vie for limited, high priced seats. Brooks fails to mention that the students in Scandinavia do not face this hurdle) We are growing HUMANS and are currently forgetting what it means to be whole and confident.
And before readers say “Yes, but...”. Finland has had two school shootings (the country is about the size of my state of Virginia) and a school visited was 40% immigrant minorities. The difference is the national philosophy.
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All of South America, Central America and Africa should
adopt the Scandinavian model. Cuba should have, long ago.
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I have no idea if Scandinavians are required to perform some kind of national service, but I believe that the US lost a lot when it eliminated the draft after the Vietnam debacle.
We have no sense of citizenship anymore or its obligations. We don't teach civics, many states teach distorted history based on ideology not fact, and we have created a false god of the marketplace being the be all and end all of our society.
But other commenters are correct. The reason Scandinavian country have a broad social safety net and education system is that they care about each other. That was the cart before the horse.
In the US, we don't care about anybody but ourselves. And don't tell me about the "good" work that religious organizations perform. That is all about pushing beliefs so you feel good about yourself and not universal social values.
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Mr. Brooks, who among us wants a public school system centered on bildung as its philosophy?
Would Betsy DeVoss be appointed and confirmed Secretary of Education by a conservative, Republican majority that values bildung?
I agree that our public schools ought to put greater emphasis on teaching our children to value, and therefore think critically about, our society, our government, our politics and our economy.
Unfortunately, such an educational philosophy has always been the minority view.
I would guess they don’t spend $750 billion each year on the military. I would also guess that secretaries don’t have a higher tax rate than their boss. It amazes me on how we always talk about what we can’t afford. We can’t afford infrastructure spending, fair pay for educators, lower cost college, a living wage for all Americans, and universal healthcare. A question in macro economics 101 is do you want guns or butter? We always choose guns and tax cuts.
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Some good insights in this recounting by Mr. Brooks. Education should be for all and for all of the person, not just aimed at providing the tools to make money.
Helping people to understand that we are all human beings with the same needs and wants, that a rising tide does lift all boats, that my winning doesn’t have to mean you lose is definitely a noble thought. I’m afraid this complex array of shades of gray thinking however, will be taken as so much “left wing psycobabble” and “social engineering” by the many with a black and white “nobody tells me what to do or how to be” worldview in our country. It just doesn’t seem to be part of our collective societal DNA. We worship the individual and individual accomplishments. We thrive on competition above co-operation. I can’t be just as good as you, I have to be better.
These facts along with the increasing isolation encouraged by our social media digital world are tending to make us drift away from the Nordic societal model than towards it I’m afraid. I hope I’m wrong. The darkest hour is just before dawn some say.
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You are right that education is at the base of successful countries, and the attitude of many in this country towards education, school, teachers, knowledge and science. I have especially seen this in the form of children not wanting to be in school, making a raucus that prevents the other students from learning, too. Their parents don't care or aren't available.
This is how we got Trump. many of our voters disdain knowledge, embracing anger.
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To the degree that a coherent notion of national identity is inculcated in Nordic youth, even apart from all their social programs, you can be sure it is not due to pushing a notion of their country having a particular religious identity. Look here to see how counterproductive that is.
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I love this article. The education system is overdue for an overhaul. It would be wonderful to begin with teaching life skills on civic mindedness, self awareness and brotherhood along with the 3 Rs.
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I grew up in post-war New York and there was a sense of trust. At 8, I travelled the subways as a white female, taught to be fully aware, but I was not afraid. I knew what to be afraid of in my neighborhood. It was not other people, brown, white, black, or language different. My school was diverse. I was not afraid or distrusting of my fellow human companions living around me. Now, I’m afraid we are being trained to BE afraid.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Familiar?
Last night on Rachael Maddow, Timothy Snyder, author of ON TYRANNY recommended we all do something new each day, read something we don’t agree with, step out of our comfort zone. Be open. Daring. For me, this breaks open my fear.
To grow up without much fear is a gift. But to learn how to loosen it within oneself is an is effort. I realized reading piece that it’s this I needed to work harder at
We must not be afraid. That is step one in being an American.
I’m reminded of a young white supremacist I heard speak out against hatred; how much I admired this young man and wondered if I could do this. Then I remembered my Swedish grandmother who died at 100, still carrying on her work as a former farmer now a city living Gray Panther, fighting for the rights and care of the elderly, and going to Washington. Maybe our time has come to be Americans and help each other open up “make eye contact.” (Snyder)
Dare not to be afraid; new mantra for me.
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So conservative Mr. Brooks is actually advocating for a strong, well-funded federalized public education system?
I’m all for it. Is he also for raising taxes on corporations and the rich in order to achieve a wholly educated population (regardless of SES, ethnicity, geographic location, influence from Christian fundamentalists waiving creationism flags, etc.)?
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Oh David, I wish human's would love all like this and not leave anyone behind. But since we have pro-birth people in this country who stop there and don't look beyond raising the whole child through their lifespan including old age. I will keep being a mentor for the young, I want my legacy that I myself did my best to leave "no one behind."
Perhaps we can channel the $150,000 per child per year that we are currently spending on the system juvenile prisons that tear families apart and more often than not lead children onto paths that lead to a lifetime in and out of prison, and use it to support schools that instill children with a sense of civic pride, belonging, a belief in their own abilities and worth. Imagine living in a country where our children were regarded as valuable resources rather than as problems to be dealt with!
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The difference that I see is that in the US, our only definition of freedom is the freedom to line your pocket. That's it. Radical finance capitalism has no room for any other consideration.
Nordic societies love capitalism too. The just recognize a need for social balance also.
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“Progressives say it’s because they have generous welfare states. “
No that’s not what progressives say.
Social democracies offer their citizens basic but essential public services such as health, housing, education and food security so that everyone has the equal opportunity to live a decent life.
This is not about welfare, nor is it generous. It’s about providing equality.
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The last thing America's wealthiest one percent and the politicians they fund want is a well-educated citizenry.
The great fear of the rich and powerful is that ordinary people will be taught to think critically and thus have the tools to examine the current system and understand how it works against their own best interests.
It is so much easier and more convenient for the elites who benefit from the status quo to have citizens who choose their leaders from paid political advertisements rather than actually studying the candidates and their platforms.
That way, those in power just need to spend the most money and they can be assured of electoral success. The billionaires win and the rest of us lose.
Perfect!
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Of course, one must remember that the Nordic countries since the 1920's have been mostly governed by social democrats. That explains a great deal of why they are prosperous, stable, committed to equality, and -it seems especially Denmark- happy.
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@Michael Skadden
True enough. But it's equally important to remember that social democrats are not democratic socialists.
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@TMS I'm not sure what hair you are splitting. All the Nordic socialist parties belong to the Socialist International, along with for example the SPD in Germany, Labour in the UK, PSOE in Spain and PSF in France, and arise out of the Second international.
So, in order make a country great, you need to work to make the citizens great. You do that by treating them respect as a multi-faceted person, not just as input to an algorithm about economic efficiency. You nurture them as a member of society, as opposed to promote them struggling against each other in a survival of the fittest. And then equality flows as a result of the good will and ties that the members of society have to each other. That theory sounds like a lesson from kindergarten but with longer words, so there's probably a lot of truth to it.
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David Brooks, paraphrasing once again someone else's thoughts, conveniently overlooks a few key historical facts. Scandinavia in the 19th century was not a pleasant place to live for most people. One third of the Swedish population emigrated, as economic migrants or political refugees (sound familiar?) Scandinavia was ruled by a powerful combination of hereditary monarchs, landed aristocrats, and industrial oligarchs. A enlightened, educated, and equitable society didn't just happen by itself. It was only through a long and sustained struggle by organizations of working people that their societies came to enjoy the benefits they now have.
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