Danish Folk High Schools: A place to breathe but not for everybody

You study there, you eat there, you sleep there. There are no exams and no grades.

Often regarded as “schools for everyone”, Danish folk high schools offer people a “break from normal life”.

The question is, however, if they are as inclusive as they claim to be.

About ten people, most of them in their early twenties, gather at the door opening, waiting while some of them start singing “I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it”.

Their teacher, Trine Nybroe, opens the ceramics oven and reveals the result of the student’s latest works.

Ceramics is one of the 27 subjects you can choose to study at Grundtvigs Højskole, located in Hillerød, about 40 km from Copenhagen. These classes, like all classes within Danish folk high schools, require no previous knowledge, have no fixed curriculum and are not graded.

“You're really just here for your own good. Whereas in high school, you're there to achieve something academically. It's like a break from normal life,” Asta Hansen, a student at Grundtvigs Højskole, says.

Apart from studying they, for example, sing Danish songs every morning, have discussions about different topics and simply hang out with each other. 

The original idea of folk high schools developed in the mid- 19th century. The philosopher Nikolaj Grundtvig thought that Danish inhabitants needed something to bring them together as a people.

According to Peter Hornbæk Frostholm, education researcher at VIA University College, the idea was to teach farmers in their own language with singing and storytelling. The schools were supposed to be an environment of character building, community, discussions and sharing of beliefs - aims that are still present today.

“The students are there to become someone, to challenge themselves as persons. They are not there to obtain some kind of degree. Oftentimes we see them develop autonomy, some kind of belonging within a place, clarity or confusion, confidence, community and friends. Many people describe the folk high school times as a turning point in their lives. They are there to be free and to experience what it means to be a citizen in the world,” Peter Hornbæk Frostholm says.

Asta Hansen and her classmate Mathias Olsen also highlight the possibility of challenging themselves. Mathias Olsen studies “Love Psychology”, where they talk about everything from sex to love and friendships.

“It's really something where you have to go out of your comfort zone and where you have to talk about deep and meaningful things with someone you've just met,” he says.

The around 70 existing folk high schools have become a part of Danish culture. Every year an average of 40 000 people attend the schools, according to The Association of Folk High Schools in Denmark.

Today’s folk high schools often act as a transfer from high school to university, Pia Cort, education researcher at Aarhus University, says. Primarily young people go there and according to students and researchers, they are all quite similar.

“I also went to folk high school in the 80s, and there the age range would be from 18 until 65, so it would really be a diverse group. Today it’s more - my daughter has just been to folk high school, and my impression was a bit like ‘oh they all look the same and they’re all the same age’,” Pia Cort says.

According to her, the state subsidized the schools more during that time and they, to a greater extent, helped the unemployed to get into the labour market. The age, ethnic and class diversity of the students were then higher.

Now the students have to pay more themselves. In the case of Grundtvigs Højskole it’s around 50 000 Danish kronor for one semester, including school fee, food and accommodation. Even if most students work, save up and pay themselves, Peter Hornbæk Frostholm says that the folk high schools are not for everyone.

“They claim to be highly democratic for everyone, highly inclusive and social, but it’s for the people who have the money, who have the tradition of going there,” he says.

He also thinks that there is generally a high degree of left-wing, open, spiritually capable people attending those schools.

Pia Cort says that the homogenous group of people can stunt the democratic discussions that are at the core of the folk high schools operation.

“Nothing is more important for a democratic dialogue than people who are different from yourself. So in that sense, if you just meet people who are very much like you, it can become like an echo chamber.”

Whether Grundtvigs Højskole is an echo chamber was something they recently discussed at the school.

“We kind of came to the conclusion that asking that question makes us less echo chambering. But also every club and society could be an echo chamber,” Helle Østerby says.

February 5th the students celebrated their first month together. The only thing Mathias Olsen dislikes so far is the bedtimes.

“People are really bad at going to bed at a normal time. We keep each other up too late at night. Mostly we just talk and then time just passes really fast,” he says.

This story is intended for a European audience. It could be run by the Dutch media outlet Nieuwsuur.