We have received reports about a case where a 17 year old girl had her stay as exchange student in Gay Mills, Wisconsin terminated because she had consensual sex with a boy of the same age.
In Denmark it is legal for two persons aged above 15 to have sex with each other. It is a Romeo and Juliet law because a person aged above 18 can be punished if the partner is below 18. But the fact is that the laws in Wisconsin are very similar to laws seen in the Middle East. Short to say: It is not a safe place for Danish Exchange Students to study.
Beside the middle age laws about relationships the state has no proper schools. Having asked the Danish department of education the answer is that credits earned in any school in Wisconsin cannot be transferred to Denmark to the huge difference in the quality of education. The Danish school system is simply too advanced compared to the so-called schools they operate in Wisconsin.
The exchange student agencies who arrange these stays in Wisconsin should stop their traffic because it puts our students in a dangerous position. In fact it also endangers the local youth because they risk registration as sex offender the rest of their lives just because they had sex with a partner aged the same as themselves on a consensual basis.
The two companies which are involved in this case are the US-based CETUSA and the Danish company Explorius. Please stop using them until they have made a press-release where they announce that they would no longer send Danish Exchange Student to state where the age of the exchange student is below the age limit for consensual sex.
The two firms must either comply or we will start a campaign to ensure the safety of our students. This case must never be repeated.
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It's ironic that the Danish school system will not accept credits from any school in Denmark considering American school students rank higher in math, reading and science compared to Danish students.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-reading
Regardless of popular stereotypes, the U.S. has one of the most university educated populations in the world with around 42% of the population having a Bachelors, Masters or Doctoral Degree. Our universities are also constantly ranked the best year-by-year with more than half of the top 100 world ranked universities continuously are American.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/09/27/and-the-worlds-most-educated-country-is/
any school in Wisconsin* Sorry, I was up late last night! =)
ReplyDeleteThe reason is that the Danish education tries to create a whole person having realized that teamwork is a key component in modern research and industry.
ReplyDeleteUS high schools have no Friday bar because the age limit for alcohol consumption is 21. Due to the importance of the Friday bars in Danish schools which prevent things like bullying and the formation of stereotypic cliques the Danish department of education does not believe that a Danish student who choose to take a gap year as an exchange student will be able to return to the Danish High School environment with the same levels as if he had remained in Denmark just like his classmates.
We have two school systems based on different cultures and the goal is not the same. Do you want to have a socialized individual being innovative or do you want the regular guy being able to pass a test?
Hello, it’s me again! I have to say that what you said made some sense...we do have school systems in two very different cultures with different goals, however, I do not see how getting drunk with friends on a Friday night helps prevent bulling, "cliques" and is related to creating a "whole" person, teamwork building as well as modern research and industry. I'm very interested in different cultures and what people from other countries think of my country and what their experiences were like in my country...I have had 3 foreign exchange students stay in my home with my family over the years, 1 from Russia and 2 from Germany, and I have had great experiences and memories with them...There were several things that they learned about our school system that they said that they liked and would like to have in Europe. We have something called school "clubs", and no, not a bar or disco but student-run high school organizations that primarily focus on fundraising, community service, career interest and group dynamics. School clubs, as well as school sports and teams, are extremely popular across the country and anyone can join. Almost all high schools have them and there are usually at least a dozen of them per high school. I personally think this is a far more beneficial and positive feature of American school life that can offer far greater insight into students’ future careers, their interests and future goals, learning to help improve their communities, learn how to work with others in different settings and expand a new perspective and knowledge of the world, rather than beer and bars. School clubs and sports are also very important for university applications because American universities not only look at grades but they focus greatly on extracurricular activities, such as clubs, sports, community service and many other factors, not just grades. In fact, in order to attend an American university, it is almost always required to do a certain number of hours of community service such as helping the homeless, cleaning up your community and parks, spending time and helping the elderly in retirement homes, helping or joining charities and non-profit organizations, feeding the poor in other countries, joining the Red Cross or Make-A-Wish Foundation, helping disadvantaged children and many other things. I think having school sports and school clubs can be very positive in creating a "whole" individual that can also work with others and this can very much benefit modern research and any modern industry. America has many of these modern research facilities and industries that are very famous and popular world-wide that are constantly innovating and developing technologies that are benefiting our ever growing and expanding populations...Much of the technology that we use today, which connects us and everyone else to the rest of the world, which also wasn't seen as possible only a few years ago, was developed in Silicon Valley, California and other places in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteThe following is a list of clubs, sports clubs and school organizations from the large high school I recently graduated from here in California:
ReplyDeleteAcademic Decathlon
A Cappella Club
ACE
ACS Chem Club
Ambassadors
American Red Cross
American Sign Language
The Anglers Club
Anglophile Club
APEC (AP English & Chemistry)
Aquatics
Art Club
ASB Associated Student Body
Autism Ambassadors
Badminton Club
Ballet Folklorico
Band
Baseball
Basketball Stats
Black Interracial Student Union
The Book Club
California Scholarship Federation (CSF)
Campus Light Christian Club
Car Club (Conejo Classics)
The Catholic Club
Cheerleading
Chess Club
Choir & Choral Organizations
Color Guard
Cross Country
Dance Club
Drama
Dugout Club
Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA)
Fielder’s Choice (Softball)
French Club
Gay-Straight Alliance
Global Diversity Club
Golf (Boys & Girls)
Gridiron Club (Football)
Guitar Club
The Happiness Club
Higher Hope Homeless Helpers
Hope Around the World
Interact
I-Zone
Japanese Club
Jewish Student Union (JSU)
Journalism
Junior Statesman of America (JSA)
Key Club
Knowledge Bowl
Lady Spikers Volleyball
Lancer Editors' Club
Lancer Sparkles
Latino Connection Club
Link Crew
Link Crew Tutoring
Majors Program/EThOS
Mass Media
Mock Trial
National Honor Society
The Nerd Herd
Newspaper (The Lancer)
Operation Donation
Patriot Club
Pay It Forward
Philosophy Club
Ping Pong Club
Pokemon Club
Project Concern
PTSA Parent Teacher Student Association
Quidditch Club
Robotics Vex Club
Science Club
Sharp Shooters (Girls Basketball)
Soccer (Boys)
Soccer (Girls)
Spanish Club
Style Alliance Fashion Club
Symphony Orchestra/Strings
Takedown Club
Tea Club
Tennis Club (Girls)
Track & Field
The Tricycle Club
UEV United Environmental Voice
Video Game Club
Visual Arts Club
Volleyball
Warm the Poor
World Village Club
Yearbook (Lancer Legend)
New this year
Mind you that my former high school is a highly ranked, largely diverse and well-funded high school in California with a student body of around 2,600 students...I’m sure the small town of Gays Mills, with its population of 500 people, had significantly less clubs and organizations. However, Gays Mills is a small town and doesn’t represent the millions of Wisconsin state residents as the overwhelming majority of Wisconsin’s population lives in cities and suburbs and not in small towns…I’m sure you’re smart enough to realize that the Westboro Baptist Church, with it’s 30 or so members, does not represent America’s huge and ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse population as a whole just because they get all the media attention, don’t you? All of America’s Age of Consent laws were written in a different time and varies differently per state…for example, the Age of Consent for sex is 14 in South Carolina. But keep in mind that although these laws still exist, they are largely ignored because they are very draconian and out of date, but unfortunately, this specific judge didn’t think so. Back in the early 1900’s, the city of Carmel, California passed a law making it illegal to sell ice cream in the city because people were stealing the town’s horses by putting ice cream cones in their back pockets to lure horses and then steal them….that law still exists today and is completely ignored by the mayor and residents because it is outdated…Today, Carmel sells ice cream and there is an ice cream shoppe virtually on every corner...Although Wisconsin has outdated laws on teenage sex, an overwhelming majority of these cases are ignored because it is completely normal and expected for teens to have sex and experiment with their bodies and sending them to jail does no good and can ruin their lives. This judge should have thrown this case out of court as “frivolous” but for some reason, this judge decided to do what he did, which was extreme. But justice isn’t always just and all countries have strange laws and problem judges who abuse their power and make bad decisions.
ReplyDeleteI don’t know if you were implying that there is more bullying in America than in Europe as well as the “stereotypical cliques” in high schools that you see in Hollywood movies…I can tell you, as well as virtually every foreigner who has visited an American high school, that “cliques” are an outdated Hollywood myth that truly doesn’t exist in America…American high school life is NOT like the movie “Mean Girls”…Hollywood does that to make American school life seem far more dramatic and interesting than it really is...The truth is, although people may look and act differently and have a certain style and they may sometimes hang out with like-minded people during lunch hours, kids, especially teens in America, honestly don’t care how you act, what you look like, or how you dress...everyone gets along really fine and everyone speaks to everyone and hangs out with everyone else…It’s 2013, not 1953...For example, it’s completely normal to see a kid who looks “emo” and wears all black hanging out with a “football jock and cheerleaders” or “preppy” smart “nerds” to hangout with potheads just like a religious Christian hangs out with his gay, bisexual, Muslim and atheist/agnostic friends without a problem on a Saturday night at a movie theater or a party…everyone gets along with each other just as long as you are friendly and are not afraid to be yourself…This is also common in all parts of the country, not just where I’m from in California.
ReplyDeleteBullying…There is no more or less bullying in America than in other countries…it’s just focused on a lot more here due to media interest and high profile bullying incidents that received national and international attention…When the Germans were here, they went places with groups of Germans kids staying with host families as well and I saw some very disturbing actions by some very arrogant German kids bullying a girl because she was from former East Germany and I also experienced some bullying and borderline racism by one of the German kids that I have never experienced in my life living here and growing up in California. However, the main difference that I observed between the bullying by the Germans and Americans was that none of the German kids stood up to defend themselves or stood up against the bullies, nor did any of the adults or kids try to stop the bullies or defend the girl getting bullied. The German adult chaperone assigned to watch the kids clearly knew what was going on with the bullying as they were torturing this poor East German girl and I mentioned it to the chaperone and she just casually mentioned to me that she didn’t like it at all. The adult chaperone should have interfered by preventing the bullying and she should have scolded the bullies…it was her job. I didn’t do anything about it because I was rather shy at the time and had trouble gaining the courage to defend myself and speak up for myself during this time in my life...But at least I spoke to the German chaperone with the expectation that she would do something about it. But I was actually disappointed and slightly annoyed when she didn’t do anything about it. If she was an American chaperone and these were American bullies, the adult chaperone would have stopped the bullying and at least some of the kids would have stood up to defend the poor girl against the bullies even if the kids didn’t know her. This is expected and very typical and common sense behavior. I think this passive aggressive non-confrontational attitude is due primarily to the psychological after effects of WWII, in which Germans try to avoid interfering with other people’s affairs even when it has to do with bullying, fighting, standing up for themselves in public and speaking up in public when they feel someone it being wronged or hurt. Of course I could be wrong. I’m not judging an entire people based upon a few bad experiences, but these are just my observations and opinions. Remember, there is a fine line between a judgment and an opinion…a judgment is a confirmed belief in something and a criticism is its expression, however, an opinion is not a confirmed belief but rather an observation you make and a suggestion is its expression.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I think that the Danish school system will not take American school credits might possibly be due to outdated statistics that put American schools behind Danish schools because there is no reason today for Denmark to view American schools as behind Denmark, unless, of course, it was a school in a bad area…It also might be due to a biased prejudice against the American school system based upon misguided stereotypes and a lack of understanding…I think the Danish schools should look at the specific American school that the Danish student went to and compare it to national or international rankings and performance in order to determine whether or not the school performs well and then they can decide if they should accept that specific school’s credits. To deny all credit from all high schools in Wisconsin or America is a very bad and biased policy decision based upon prejudice and reflects negatively upon Danish society and the Danish school system and it would be completely unfair… but this is just my opinion. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this...
ReplyDeleteFarvel!