Mortensens Blog

My oldest son Jakob isn't even 7 yet and he already has loads of home work every day.

Like all kids here he started school at 4-5 years old. I strongly disagree with the school system on that one. I'm from a country where school doesn't start until the child is 7. Let me explain...

The kids in Denmark, when they leave school, are every bit as good at reading, math, physics, etc. The are every bit as clever as the kids are here, and that's with three years less in school. Why is that, simple, they start school at an age where the kids are mentally ready, and mature enough, to take in what is being taught. Here, my son is already tired of school simply because his reading age is 6 years and 4 months, rather than 6 years and 9 months. That means he needs support in school, we need to spend more time reading at home, when all he wants is to play, like any kid his age.

The kids here go straight from school, to A levels, to university, even though university is an entirely different world, and at 18 years of age, they are simply not ready. School is all about repetition, university is all about forming your own opinion, creating your own research... And so on.

This is a little like the tortoise and the hare, the English educational system being the hare.

So why is the system like this, because it's not for the best of the kids? Well, who benefits, society benefits because parents are able to return to work sooner, as the kids are off to school. Parents benefit for the same reasons and because school, for the most part, is paid for by the state. Society also benefits because the youngsters join the working populace sooner and is paying tax much sooner than in Denmark.

I just don't agree...