Following up: Justice for the Disturbing Duckling and more
Educational gap widens, non-binary athletes recognized, smartphones demonized, immigrant workers still face hurdles
New developments in some stories I’ve covered previously.
Schools for nerds
I wrote recently about pressure on educational standards from immigrant populations and an increase in private school attendance. Now another school for high-IQ kids (DK) has opened in Aarhus, the Leonardo School, the fifth of its type in the country. Earlier this year, the government appointed an expert panel to determine how to identify gifted pupils and offer them educational opportunities that fit their needs and let them thrive.
Parents of the brainy kids are pleased (DK): “[Simon] felt that he was different and wrong because the other kids couldn’t follow him,” said Simon’s mother, Dorthe Lydum Senning. But with the rising demand for such schools, educational researcher Andreas Rash-Christensen thinks the trend compromises the schools’ diversity: “This development worries me. It creates cracks in the schools’ foundation.”
There might have been some cracks there already. In the latest PIRLS survey of reading skills (DK) in 60 countries, which is conducted every five years, Danish fourth-graders scored lower than ever. The result was attributed to an increase in weaker students. The wealthy and “happy” nations of Denmark and Norway actually reported the fewest kids who liked to read.
Ibi-Pippi, you’re no Leonardo
Ibi-Pippi Orup Hedegaard, the transgender artist-provocateur who last year vandalized a major painting by Asgar Jorn, one of Denmark’s leading modernists, was sentenced to 18 months in prison (DK). Orup Hedegaard purportedly “took ownership” of the painting, which hung in the Jorn Museum in Silkeborg, by gluing a picture of himself themself on it and signing it with a magic marker.
The damage, including restoration costs, to the 1959 painting, The Disturbing Duckling, ran to DKK 1.9 million. The museum also complained that the painting can no longer be lent to other museums. Ibi-Pippi didn’t complain about the verdict: “It’s a hard sentence, but that’s the way it has to be. That was of course the risk I took. I knew it was a possibility.”
The “Other” team takes the field
Amidst the controversy about transgender participation in sports, the Danish Sports Confederation (DIF) and DGI have introduced a third gender category (DK) for people who don’t want to be registered as “man” or “woman.” It announced the change in connection with its annual report on membership by age, sex, and type of sport. “It is a very strong signal and an important tool for working with gender identity in club life generally,” said Christian Bigom, Chair of Pan Idræt, an organization focused on gender diversity in sports clubs.
Some 3,985 members (DK) selected the “other” category last year, but the organizations don’t know whether the number is representative because the implementation of the policy is up to the local sports clubs. Overall, membership hit a record high, with soccer (fodbold), gymnastics, and swimming topping the list.
Bureaucratic bottlenecks
Despite the government’s efforts to redress labor shortages by loosening immigration restrictions, hospitals are complaining that they are prevented from hiring qualified candidates (DK) because of unnecessary red tape. For example, the application of an American nurse with more than 10,000 hours of professional experience who speaks Danish fluently was rejected because her foreign training entailed a shorter internship than in Danish programs.
She and her husband, a Danish doctor, are considering returning to the US. Nursing is a field with one of the most urgent shortages. Health Minister Sophie Løhde offered the usual response to such concerns: A task force is working on measures to expedite work permits in such cases.
Digital dangers
We have seen that concerns about the harmful effects of smartphones and social media on young people shown in international surveys—increases in anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts—have been echoed in Denmark. Now Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has sounded the alarm (DK). Her statement came in response to a citizens’ proposal to Parliament to “protect children’s and young people’s private lives, welfare, and safety from tech companies’ exploitation by means of algorithms, digital manipulation, data collection, and behavioral design.”
“Should we regulate?” Frederiksen asked herself. “Yes. … Should we have screens much more out of schools? Yes. Should they never, ever have been in kindergartens and daycare? No. … Society needs to take much more responsibility.”
The government had earlier introduced a bill to criminalize “digital grooming” (DK) in virtual forums used by children and young people.