Rise of Scandinavia
- Thread starter danmand
- Start date
I know a family that came to Canada from Norway in the early 60s. The father is very old now and has returned to live in Norway. The son tells me that there are many advantages to living in Norway, but also many dis-advantages. Taxes are very high for the average person. You can say that Canada is the middle of the road. Just one aspect is the medical coverage. If you live in the US, you would pay less taxes but get less in services as well. ( No OHIP ) If you were to choose to live in Norway, you would pay more taxes but medical coverage would include things like a $3000 orthopedic seat installed in your car if you have back problems and if the doctors believe you are under stress you would get a trip to a spa paid for by the state.
In my opinion, and I think Fareed agrees, the most important difference between Canada and Scandinavia is not the welfare system, but the free access to education to the highest level. That is the big equalizer giving everybody a fair shot and ensuring that the people are well educated.
In Scandinavia the starting age is 6 or 7. They let kids be kid before going to school. This starting kids at 4 and 5 is nutts.
Actually, that is due to the teacher's union. Denmark provides a guarantee for a kindergarten spot for all children age 2 to 6. The teachers union made the compromise that the kindergartens would be run without teachers, but that the children would not be tought anything except counting to 10 and the letters. Notwithstanding that most children learn rudimentary reading skills before they enter school.
That may be the case in Denmark, but not how it was explained to me in Finland, nor anywhere i've read about the other northern countries. How's your latest reading of Jeremy Wolsmith Abelsworth coming along?
