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Exchange Student Information

Check the backup plan

8/13/2010

1 Comment

 
The economy is hard and the governments have been forced to cut back on schooling too.

For a girl like Chilli Mollerup it meant that she properly lost any other chance of other than a McJob career when the exchange student travel agency turned her down just before she was supposed to have spent a year in France as exchange student.

She had paid the fee and was set to leave Denmark august when she in June received a single poor grade which made the travel agency turn her down.

She then had to look at options in Denmark. Instead of a gap year she did choose to focus on her education. It was then that she discovered that her backup plan was not a valid option.

The town of Odense did only have one option of schooling left. A school for students who have grown tired of education where she would receive education 2 days per week and has to work for free 3 years at firms who are special benefitted by their close ties to the local authorities.

It wasn’t really an offer she could use for anything. She has a paid job which she got when she learned of the rejection.

Can you blame the school administration? Hardly! The local school administration is under enormous pressure from the department of Education in Copenhagen. The population in Denmark suffers more than people in any other country because they have to pay for dissolute lifestyle the Greek people had maintained since 1967 when she kicked their king out. 

What could she have done in order to prevent her from ending up in this dead end? First there is the question if it is smart to apply for status as an exchange student at all when it is all or nothing. Second she could have chosen a more mainstream language instead on a minor lesser and lesser used dialect.

It is a lesson hard learned for Miss Mollerup but we all need to learn from her ordeal. Do not apply for an exchange student where speaking in a non-english language is needed. Avoid states in the United States where people need to speak servant too.

Double book a Danish school and the exchange papers so you have something to fall back on if the exchange project doesn’t turn out good.

We must hope that this case will be the last case of its kind.


Reference:
For sent til 10. klasse (Fyens Stiftstidende)
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Trafic accident became teaching tool

8/10/2010

3 Comments

 
Recently we learned that The Institute for dissemintation of Danish culture and Information took the trafic accident on Soledad Canyon Road in Santa Clarita up in their monthly blog.

Most Danes havn't heard about this accident which involved a 18 year old Dane who had immigrated to the United States as little boy. One day when he was driving home some Mexican gang members followed his car so they could rob the passengers. The Dane tried to drive away from them but because he hadn't taken his driving education in Denmark where time of race tracks are mandatory, he couldn't handle the high speed as any other driver in Denmark are able to.

He crashed because he hadn't received education which would have provided him with superior driving skills and it resulted in 4 deaths. The Mexican gang members did quickly flee the scene and the police did only see a foreigner so they used this case as deterrant for other foreigners so they would not drive and take away jobs from U.S. citizens.

The poor Dane received a very hard sentence. In Denmark known for its severe sentences regarding trafic related deaths he would properly have got about 4 years, but in fact he got 8 and a order of deportation.

The good news was that he later was able to fight the deportation based on poor advice from his lawyer during the original trial.

It was a case we all learned from. It is not for fun that exchange students are banned from driving. It is one of the three D's (date,drink,drugs). Xenophobia exist in every country, especially during times where the economy is suffering and people tend to give the remaining jobs to countrymen.

Here is the link to the blog entry made by the Institute for dissemintation of Danish culture and Information and here is a link to a local radios station which made a piece about the accident also.
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    International culture exchange is a small NGO in Denmark working to protect Danish youth and preserve our unique culture.

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