Outdoor preschool in rain and shine

Interesting. …

This is so wonderful. I wish they had this idea here in the States it would be better for the children to learn and respect the outdoors more.

When i recall my experience from kindergarten, we went quite regularly outside in nature, walking or by bus, of course only when it was sunny. However, it seems with age and higer level of educational institution, going out in nature as well as fisical activity of sport and recreational type somehow diminishes.

On one occassion during my final years of studing all the classes were occupied. It was very beautifull sunny day of spring, and i looked outside the window on the very green grass and trees bathed with sun and calm wind. I’ve asked myself: Why do we need to search for a classroom when we have a most perfect one right under our noses ? I’ve proposed very seriously that idea to my professor and colleagues, but it seemed no one shared the enthusiasm whatsoever. What a horrible waste. …

That is probably one of a reason why my comments may sound a little bit pesimistic. Sorry for that, i still hope one day the enthusiasm will come back again. …

A mentioned theacher was younger and more innovative then average one, and considering the subject it was doable to have class in nature, so i felt a really big disappointment.

My experience going through the educational system from the earliest is very diverse. It seems this also depends on the quality of each particular school or educational institution one becomes a part. There are of course some unique critical moments, like when someone goes from one level or school to another.

For me personaly the most difficult and least appealing was moving from lower to upper elementary (morover i changed also the school) and from highschool to university. The biggest problem in upper elementary is that you get more teachers that are much more demanding, and sometimes even quite cold and unnatural in dealing with children, which is a schocking experience.

The university system i didn’t like at all, right from the start. First of all everything looked quite unstructured and unorganised. Of course, more responsibility is demanded from the student, but often this serves only as an excusse for irresponsibility of the university, morover they like to call themselves on their right for autonomy. The professors often lack pedagogical approach and they put too much weight on quantity, as the student will get imediately an PhD. In the end this of course leads to nowhere, just creates an immense stress for the students.

The biggest problem of course creates itself on the big days of final exames. After exhausting year one should take a summer break (like in highschool and elementary) but no, this is when real “fun” starts. The heaviest problem was that many students had problems with some particular exames for years (or even decades), but there where no authority one who would inspect this professors and their methods what is really wrong. Some students even appealed to courts of justice, but these professors where still there working.

Some of the problems is that often universities don’t have enough professors to switch when someone should be replaced, some have too much authority and last year it has been discovered that some of them where even corrupt, expecting from students to pay money if they want to finish the exam. The other apparent problem is that Croatian economy can not employ lots of educated people so it seems there is a quiet consensus how many students should pass. So only about 30 % of people that enrolls to university manages to finish it. Of course they accuse students for that, but we know asked them.

Of course, one of the problem that was more outside of university responsibilites was a fact that Croatia was going from one economic and political system to another so many types of knowledge and experiences didn’t previously existed and were to be acquired and developed. Many books where in fact directly translated american litterature and there was still many unknows. …

I am personaly very sad about it, how many enthusiastic and perspective young people are being broken there. So it is no wonder that even my colleagues have not been very supportive to my enthusiastic idea of class in nature, i guess. …

Interesting! And yes, I think distancing ourselves more and more from nature has certainly given some bad effects. Some people even talk about ecophobia…

I’ve lived in Sweden for a year. Well, I’ve heard, too, that Swedes care more about their food, but the truth is not quite this.

First of all, the candy thing is one of the most appalling aspects of Sweden. In the US, you only find that kind of smelly, sticky, jelly-like, stretches of colored rubber-like stuff, in movie theaters. Not in every supermarket and corner store.
Second, the choice of food, in my experience from Uppsala University, is one of the most limited I’ve seen in the world. To eat hot food may be a good choice, but you have to wait half an hour in line. So, forget that. To eat at the cafeteria means eating a sandwich in a horrible kind of soft bread with a slice of cheece and/or ham. And then you pay something like 7 dollars for this! If you want a drink, add 3-4 dollars and the choices are coke, fanta or “vitamin drink”, also a misleading cocal-cola product: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/cocacolas-vitamin-drink-ad-misleading-1798719.html
Other than that, there is candy, lots of it, huge quantities, and chewing gum. The amount of chewing gum available is enormous. Add to that the fact that the cafeteria is open only for 2-3 hours (and there is nothing to eat after that), and you’ll see that you’d better have a slice of pizza any time.

Come on guys, don’t give me that nonsense. Sweden is full of second-rate restaurants, filthy cafes (many of them never clean their tables or toilets), and all that come at a high price tag.

So, Monica-USA, don’t believe what they tell you about Sweden. Take it from someone who’s had first-hand experience, but also likes to be honest about things.

From my experience most of the cafeterias and restaurants are a huge step up from anywhere else I have studied. With no good restaurants on campus you were forced to eat in the cafeteria, which was full of fried and processed foods, lacking any sort of nutrition. Even the lettuce for salads was processed and packaged. In Sweden, you have the option to have home-made lunches that cover all food groups and are freshly made. While it’s true that you have to wait in line, sometimes for half an hour, for me it is still worth it. It may be expensive for a students budget, that I don’t argue. I even said that if I could afford it I would pay to eat at school everyday. I still prefer one of these meals over buying a sandwich or piece of pizza any day!