Folkhögskola

It is easy for me to come up with adjectives to describe Skeriol, but difficult for me to come up with a simple definition.  It is one of the “Folk High Schools” located through out Sweden.  It is very different from anything called a “high school” in the U.S.  First of all, the students are 18 or older.  Some are significantly older, what we might think of as “non-traditional” students.  The overall objective of all the Swedish Folk High Schools is to provide “general civic education.”  In other words, to provide not only knowledge and skills, but also to provide experiences which raise social awareness and ideally lead to broader participation in the democracy. 

Created in 1907, credit for the development of this particular Folk School is given to Anders Zorn (1860 - 1920), perhaps Sweden’s most famous artist.  He had a vision of a school for adults where students could “take advantage of old skills and learn new things.”  Some of the “old skills” that students can study are loom weaving, birch bark weaving, ceramics, painting, carpentry and blacksmithing. The “new things” include studying ecology and conservation.

At Skeriol there are also distinguished programs in Design and Cross-Country Skiing.  The other morning at breakfast I started hearing the music from West Side Story play in my head as I observed the individualistic artists gather on one side of the cafeteria, and the spandex-clad athletes gather at an opposite end.  But this community is far more complex than that.  A portion of the student body is made up of immigrants to Sweden.  Today at my lunch table were students originally from Spain, Turkey and the Philippines.  One of these students informed me, “when there is soup for lunch, there will be dessert!”  And just as she had predicted, a delicious apple crisp appeared soon after the main meal had been served. 

Something about that moment just sparkled for me.  As much as this is a warm and welcoming community, I am clearly a bit lost trying to make sense of all I do not understand.  I love that this young woman showed me how to connect two dots that I might not have put together.  I am quite sure I will remember her smile, and most likely be on the lookout for dessert whenever I have soup for lunch.