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umm aren't there something like latin "root words" in english?
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<p>That doesn't make Latin a root language of English. It just makes it a substratum. There are Yiddish root words in English, and Cantonese ones too, and Greek ones. That doesn't make them the genetic ancestors of English.</p>
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Well I don't know much about the Swedish education system, but i never thought of them as slackers...a swedish girl came to my high school for 1 year, she was pretty average, in all regular classes, the typical B student. Her English was amazing though, she said they teach it at an early age so I guess it helps.
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I don't mean that we are slackers like that, I mean that we are almost as far from the rigid Asian school system as possible and that the reason we have a quite hard course load where I study is because it is one of the highest regarded universities in Sweden so its not something you can see as a good picture of Swedish education in general. </p>
<p>Also we start teaching English in our school from the first grade, you will be hard pressed to find any swede who don't speak at least basic English. And we don't dub any movies, the internet is mostly in English since there are very few interesting Swedish sites and a lot of our university textbooks are actually in English since we lack good higher end Swedish course literature. I stopped noticing a difference between reading English/Swedish a long time ago, same with writing and hearing but Speaking is a bit problematic sometimes since you so rarely speak English you get stuck on the words a bit now and then.
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They don't want a student to graduate after studying only Physics for 4 straight years and not be able to write or know any history
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I know quite a lot of history, mainly due to us going through all of history in our first 3 years, then going through all of history again but a bit more in depth the next three years, then a bit more indepth again for the next three years and then again we go through most in highschool a last time.</p>
<p>I mean, you have already had 12 years of broad education, those courses won't do much really and I am not sure that I could muster the willpower to do such courses at a college level since I am basically just floating of my talent in math/physics currently so for me being required to do such courses would ruin it for me. (I have a very hard time to get myself to read the textbooks which is needed for such courses but in science courses you just have to understand the subject to get the grades).</p>
<p>You'd be surprised how little people learn after 12 years of general education. the writing courses i've taken in college are on a much different level than my high school ones. i'll be more than glad to get rid of my requirements though<img src="I%20have%20a%20very%20hard%20time%20to%20get%20myself%20to%20read%20the%20textbooks%20which%20is%20needed%20for%20such%20courses%20but%20in%20science%20courses%20you%20just%20have%20to%20understand%20the%20subject%20to%20get%20the%20grades" alt="quote">.
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Physics is a rare subject in that regard...I'm studying Neuroscience and it's sure not like that. You don't just understand the nervous system, you have to study it lol. </p>
<p>Regardless of the education system, Sweden has like the highest quality of life in the world (or at least it's gotta be top 3 or something). I associate swedes with being clean, organized, and efficient. they're quiet and reserved when you first meet them, but get a bit of drink in them and they go nuts! haha I'm blatantly stereotyping now =)</p>
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Regardless of the education system, Sweden has like the highest quality of life in the world (or at least it's gotta be top 3 or something). I associate swedes with being clean, organized, and efficient. they're quiet and reserved when you first meet them, but get a bit of drink in them and they go nuts! haha I'm blatantly stereotyping now =)
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But well, Sweden is quite extreme in a lot of ways. </p>
<p>We have the highest taxes in the world, we have the highest gender equality index in the world, our college/university is free of tuition fees for us and for foreigners who study here.</p>
<p>And of course almost free healthcare/medicine, also the concepts of the "Jante law" runs quite deep in the Scandinavian traditions which is quite opposite of how they do it in the US:
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The ten rules are:
Don't think that you are special.
Don't think that you are of the same standing as us.
Don't think that you are smarter than us.
Don't fancy yourself as being better than us.
Don't think that you know more than us.
Don't think that you are more important than us.
Don't think that you are good at anything.
Don't laugh at us.
Don't think that anyone cares about you.
Don't think that you can teach us anything.
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Jante</a> Law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</p>
<p>I think that is what makes us more quiet and reserved than most.</p>