Meeting the Danes

Meeting the Danes

 Today, we had the opportunity to talk to some of the Danes that Jonatan brought in to help us understand cultural differences. For the first part of the day, we made a poster of what we thought wellbeing meant in regards to the Danes - for ours we focused on the biking culture, as well as the prevalence of alcohol in the culture - as well as rating the US and Denmark on the five dimensions of Hofstede's theory. Following this, we did an activity with a group of students and a Dane in which we were given different scenarios related to being on an island. The Dane that was in our group was a guy named Nils. He was very interesting to talk to as he told us of how he did a lot of activities related to surviving in the wilderness, as well as teaching kids to be able to survive in the wilderness, so he had a lot of good input on the activity. For instance, for the first round, we had to pick five items off a list of about 15 based on what would be most useful for us. We then talked through different scenarios that related to Hofstede's five dimensions. For instance, we came up with a scenario for the Power Distance dimension relating to someone in the group on the island declaring that they were going to be in charge and how we would deal with that. During this time we also got to talk to Nils about different aspects of Danish culture. One thing that I found very interesting was his take on the tax system. He described how he totally supports the tax system, as it gives everyone the opportunity to live without the stress of having to deal with different unknown factors in life - illness, education, etc. He told us of how he had friends who have dealt with a lot of different illnesses - ranging from a bum knee to brain tumors. He said that even though he was happy, he liked being able to help out people that needed it. I asked him what he thought of the idea that high taxes hinders people's ambition for achievement. He said that he did not think this was true at all, that the average income for the Danish people has collectively increased - not just for those at the top but for everyone in general. He also said that he doesn't believe that the tax system hinders productivity or innovation, and gave different examples of things that are coming from Denmark - he referenced the quote from Bill Gates: “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” He said that the Danes can be innovative because they don't need to be excessive in what they make.

For the last part of class, the Danes rotates groups and we got a chance to ask questions. We were able to talk to a medical student named Anna. We also asked her about her thoughts on the tax system, and she also said that she totally agrees with it, saying that she really likes the security that the tax system gives. She also talked about her schooling as a medical student, which was interesting to me as I'm pre-medical student now. She told us of how after high school she applies to a medical school and there she did three years of the equivalent of undergraduate and then she has three more years of actual medical school. After that she said she has more years of specialty before she can start practicing. We also talked about the political system and the political candidates.

I really enjoyed having the opportunity to interact with more Danes and find out more about their take on the Danish culture. I wouldn't doubt that it was a little intimidating for them to come in and have to answer so many questions, but I feel that I got a lot out of it.