Are Norwegians more independent?

It has often been suggested that Norwegians value independence, individualism, and self-reliance more than North Americans. Proponents of this idea point to the fact that Norwegian children take more responsibility for their education, are more self-sufficient in daily life, and exercise more control over life decisions. Below is a brief consideration of some of the research done contrasting Americans and Canadians with their Norwegian counterparts. The third North American nation, Mexico, is unfortunately not represented in the comparative literature of Norwegian culture and, as a consequence, will not be examined here.

Most of the comparative studies on independence come from the fields of education and child development, focusing on socialization practices and expectations. A Fulbright Lecturer in American Studies with the Norwegian Council for Upper Secondary Schools commented on differences between American and Norwegian educational systems in 1992, saying that, in Norway,

students attend high school by choice since mandatory schooling ends at the junior-high level. Many American students are in school because they must be, and this is obvious from their lack of interest.

Students in U.S. schools are bombarded with rules and regulations and treated like children, and they respond in kind. Norwegian students are treated with respect by teachers, and they reciprocate. In the more than 30 schools I visited, I saw only one "discipline problem" - two students talking too loudly to each other in class. Afterward, the teacher told me he was disappointed and embarrassed by this, yet they were not reprimanded because it was not a teacher's responsibility to police students but to teach.

There are no fights in Norwegian high schools, no garbage thrown on floors, no rude comments to teachers, and no restrictions on basic human demands. If students come late to class, they miss material but are still responsible for it. If they need to use the lavatory, they do so without asking permission (Nelson, pp. 25-27).

More support for these differences comes from a study done by Else Hjertholm while at the University of Chicago, in her comparison of independence training and behavior among nursery school children in the US and Norway (1968). She concludes that independence training is started at an earlier age by mothers in Norway and that Norwegian children were less help seeking when performing a range of tasks than their American counterparts. Another study (Skoe, Hansen, Willy-Tore Bakke, 1999) found that, regardless of gender, Norwegians were more likely to emphasize independence rather than interdependence in evaluations of moral dilemmas than Canadians.

Go To Page: 1 2 3

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic