Law-Forums.org

[charlot22]

My father was born in Oslo, my Mom in Copenhagen. They were kids during the war and wanted OUT of Europe. But we always traveled back for Christmas and Midsummer Vacation. I spent my teen summer vacations in Norway with my cousins.

Northern Europe is simply DRAMATICALLY better than America in every way, shape, and form. Less crime, better schools, better health care, not as many disgustingly FAT people, the police aren't all paramilitary,(Cops in Norway don't carry guns, and spend most of their time helping people, not hassling them like American cops) In Norway for example, there is no such thing as private property regarding camping or hiking. You have the right as a Norwegian to walk or hike or camp ANYWHERE, there are no private beaches or forests. Norway, in particular, has all this money from the North Sea Oil, and all the hospitals are new, the roads have no potholes, the schools are big and beautiful.

People don't hate each other in Norway, like they do in America. You should see school lunch in Norway. It's free for everyone. A delivery drops off catered hot food in a large foil container and drinks in an insulated cooler. The teacher passes out plates, and serves food to all the children and the teacher and students eat together and talk together. They call their teacher by his first name in High School, because there are no discipline problems, and the students don't take advantage. Being a teacher myself, I see that Scandinavia is light years ahead of America. Their society works.

[shen86]

Personal preference is exactly that....personal preference....LOL!

"Life is better" is a subjective conclusion draw by individuals and has nothing to do with so-called "facts" about statistics.

[lintun]

I have a friend from Denmark who became a naturalized US citizen....he'd call you a bald face liar.

[kalvin71]

Where's the uhhhhhh liberty and economic freedom?

[gofraidh34]

Ok, lets kick out all the browns and blacks, lower our population substantially, drill for oil and then we can be like Scandinavia.

[gall]

Most have never been North of Mississippi, much less out of the Country.

[thacher]

You have some stuff wrong, and really are missing quite a lot when it comes to Norwegian society.

There aren't free lunches in school in Norway (milk isn't even free). Nor are warm lunches veryu common in schools in Norway. One of the schools trying warm lunches: http://sandeavis.no/nyheter/varm-lunsj-ja-takk-1.7157179

And just to show you I'm not lying about it costing, here's the form parents must fill out: http://www.heltberg.no/media/PDF/VarmlunsjNovember.PDF

That's about $10 a luch they're paying or $200 for the year.

Calling teachers by their first names has nothing to do with discipline or lack thereof. It's about Norway being an eglatarian society. You also call doctors, bosses, ect by their first names.

Nor can you really say there's no discipline problems in schools, but it would be fair to say kids and teens act better. This would most likely be due to how serious bullying is treated (yes, it happens, and sometimes badly) and how much parents are involved in school life. Parents keep in conact with teachers, they help their children with their homework, parent teacher meetings are well attended.

You are nearly right about hiking and camping. You can hike, camp, ect on utmark land, but not on innmark land.
http://www.dinside.no/24996/hva-er-innmark-og-utmark

The lack of obesity is explained by both the lack of poverty and access to healthcare.

If you want better insight into Norwegian society, you should understand how the society works. Understanding janteloven is a key to doing that. It's the root of the good and the bad parts of this society.

But basically, the reason Scandinavian countries have a higher standard of living is because people have made improving society a priority over improving one's individual status. That's a huge change of thinking that the majority of the people in a country will have to make.

Boo Radley: And yes, of course Norway has liberty and economic freedom. Where on earth did you get the silly notion we didnt? O.o

Also, there is a rather large population of dark skinned people in Norway. In general, however, people are less racist.

[zacchaeus21]

You have some stuff wrong, and really are missing quite a lot when it comes to Norwegian society.

There aren't free lunches in school in Norway (milk isn't even free). Nor are warm lunches veryu common in schools in Norway. One of the schools trying warm lunches: http://sandeavis.no/nyheter/varm-lunsj-ja-takk-1.7157179

And just to show you I'm not lying about it costing, here's the form parents must fill out: http://www.heltberg.no/media/PDF/VarmlunsjNovember.PDF

That's about $10 a luch they're paying or $200 for the year.

Calling teachers by their first names has nothing to do with discipline or lack thereof. It's about Norway being an eglatarian society. You also call doctors, bosses, ect by their first names.

Nor can you really say there's no discipline problems in schools, but it would be fair to say kids and teens act better. This would most likely be due to how serious bullying is treated (yes, it happens, and sometimes badly) and how much parents are involved in school life. Parents keep in conact with teachers, they help their children with their homework, parent teacher meetings are well attended.

You are nearly right about hiking and camping. You can hike, camp, ect on utmark land, but not on innmark land.
http://www.dinside.no/24996/hva-er-innmark-og-utmark

The lack of obesity is explained by both the lack of poverty and access to healthcare.

If you want better insight into Norwegian society, you should understand how the society works. Understanding janteloven is a key to doing that. It's the root of the good and the bad parts of this society.

But basically, the reason Scandinavian countries have a higher standard of living is because people have made improving society a priority over improving one's individual status. That's a huge change of thinking that the majority of the people in a country will have to make.

Boo Radley: And yes, of course Norway has liberty and economic freedom. Where on earth did you get the silly notion we didnt? O.o

Also, there is a rather large population of dark skinned people in Norway. In general, however, people are less racist.

I don't know where on earth you got all those ideas from. I wish they were true, but mostly- your statements are wrong. The schools are not that great, and certainly not "big and beautiful", actually many of them are absolutely terrible, and children avoid going to the bathroom while at school...(some are of course new, but I'd say most are not). As has been said, there is no free lunch, and even though you can buy warm food at cantinas (they are more like a kiosk, though...if they have one at all...), there is not much of a food selection.
There is a problem with discipline at Norwegian schools in general, especially at high school level..the students do take advantage of this and the freedom they have!

Cops don't have the time to just go around "helping people", they actually lack the financial means and staff to be able to respond to every call. This has actually been a problem for a long time.
As has been mentioned, the camping part is partly true, as there are places where camping is not allowed.

The hospitals are not that great either, and the roads are not according to the standard one would expect when paying taxes (including road taxes) like crazy like we do. Norway is a great country in many ways, but I have to tell you, if you would live here, I think you would be quite shocked regarding many of those things. Oh, and by the way, people, including children and youth are getting fatter each day - another big problem in the Norwegian society. We are 5 million people, I have much higher expectations from the Norwegian government, since "the country" is loaded with money. In my opinion, when it comes to the roads, healthcare and school system it seems like your describing Switzerland instead...