Enhanced Education

There’s rarely a weekday that goes by, when I’m in Norway, that I don’t encounter a group of children out and about, going somewhere.  Outdoor field trips are a huge part of the Norwegian educational system and each year every class takes at least three or four of them.

It’s a given that in the winter the entire class will take a ski trip.  They are sent home with notes reminding the parents to send their kids to school on a particular day with their cross-country skis.  The fact that every kid in Norway owns a pair of cross-country skis says something right there.

Every kid also owns a bicycle, and there’s always a bicycle trip once or twice a year as well.  My son’s class took an all day bicycle trip in order to go fishing.  Canoe trips are also common.

Mountain trips are essential and they start in preschool when the kids are old enough to walk.  They go up in the mountains to pick blueberries or just to enjoy the view.  It’s a day trip, until they reach the 6^th grade, then sleeping overnight in cabins or tents becomes the norm.  The older they are, the longer they stay.

These outings are used as an enhanced way of learning outside the classroom.  The kids are taught to bait a hook, clean fish, make fires, and read maps.  Norwegians don’t want their traditional lifestyle to totally disappear.  They are taught which mushrooms they can eat and which they can’t.  They learn about nature while out in nature, much as the Boy Scouts of America do.  But these trips are not optional and they count towards their final grade.  A 9^th grade friend of ours was graded on how quickly he made it to the top of a particular peak. 

Difficult weather never cancels an outdoor trip because every kid in Norway also owns a pair of boots, a raincoat and rain pants.  I presume these regular encounters with nature are what instill in the Norwegians a love of the outdoors.  As adults, it’s the main way they spend their free time – outside, rain or shine.

My son’s education in Norway was quite different from his father’s.  My husband was born during World War II and in the years that followed the war, there was great emphasis put on public safety and evacuating buildings.  In those days, the fire drills were the biggest thing that got the kids out of the classroom. The teachers randomly set off smoke bombs and placed red flares in the hallways for a realistic effect to help remind the children to crawl on their hands and knees until they got out of the building.

I’m sure climbing up a mountain beats crawling out of a building any day.