Menlo Atherton vs Viby Gymnasium

So we have almost reached the end of our visit here at Menlo Atherton High School. Together with Emil we have been following Peter for almost all his classes, of which some of them we have in Denmark too, like physics and english but also subjects we have never encountered in our country, classes like computer animation and latin! It varies from class to class how much we could actually interact with the lessons, but the teachers have been really good at making sure to put us to work, when it was possible. It has been really interesting to see how their classes work, how the teachers do and also what kind of relationship the teachers and the students have. In comparison to Denmark there is actually a lot of similarities but obviously also things that are different. First of all, in Denmark, the students will raise their hand if they have something to say or if they want to answer the teacher's question. In The US, or at MA atleast, the teachers will pick the students out at random, so in that way, you can't just come unprepared to class and expect to make it through class without the teacher realising it. I think this is really something the danish teachers could learn of, since it is most often only 50% or less of the danish students who actually involve themselves in the lessons on a regular basis. Another big difference is that the American students have to have classes whether it is High School or home schooling which is also very Commons over here. In Denmark, primary School is the only thing that is mandatory, education-wise, so Danish students can technically drop out any time they want to, of course it is not well seen but still. For this reason, the American students will get detention if they leave class without a proper cause. I think it is nice that you have responsibility for your own education in Denmark, but i think it sometimes encourages students to stay away.
For the most part, this post has been about very serious and somewhat bigger questions about the school system, so I'd like to end up talking about the students here at MA. Already the first day, Peter introduced me to his best friends. They were all really kind and welcoming and thought it was really cool that we came here. In addition to just Peters friends being very cool, all the students we met for different classes were also just really interested in our trip, and no matter if we hadn't spoken with them earlier they would just come up to us and ask us different things and there was surprisingly many people who came up to me and complimented my new jacket which made me really happy! I am not used to have "strangers" so to speak give me compliments, it is just an unusual thing to do in Denmark so that was really sweet!
When i get the chance to borrow a computer i will update the post with some pictures!

Written by Arne Emil

Math Class - graphs. We had the same topic last year so i can follow most of it.

Another picture from class, this time we had latin!