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Denmark has found out a way to instill empathy in school kids and make them happier adults.
Denmark, considered to be the happiest place on the planet considers empathy seriously and has incorporated a weekly hour of empathy-building in the national curriculum for all kids between the age of 6 and 16. Klassen Tid or class time as the designated hour is called is a time when students talk
Recently the University of Michigan carried out a study with nearly 14,000 college students participating in it. The study found that students today have around 40% less empathy than college kids had in the 1980s and 1990s.
Michele Borba, an educational psychologist and author of Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our-All-About-Me World, correlates this loss of empathy with rising cases of depression and other mental health problems in almost 33% of college students today.
Denmark, a consistent winner of surveys to find the happiest people on earth, considers empathy seriously and has incorporated a weekly slot of an hour of empathy-building in the national curriculum for all kids between the age of 6 and 16.
Klassen Tid, or class time as the designated hour is called is a time when students talk through any individual or group-level problems.
“Together, the class tries to respect all aspects and angles and together find a solution,” says Iben Sandahlm, co-author of The Danish Way of Parenting—What the happiest people in the world know about raising confident, capable kids. Kids’ issues are acknowledged and heard as a part of a bigger community, she says. “When you are recognized, you become someone.”
Sandalhm, a former teacher says she used to always look forward to Klassen Tid . The objective of class time is to create a safe and cosy atmosphere—the Danes call it hygee—where it is safe for kids to air problems and put things in perspective. The hour also involves the group activity of baking a cake which is later eaten amongst themselves, it encourages the students to eat while talking, and more importantly, listen.
It is impressive to know that the Danes have been practicing this since the 1870s and yet it was codified only in a 1993 education law and added upon since then. Klassen Tid helps teachers as well as students. “You have the opportunity, as a teacher, to reflect on your own efforts to create an inclusive learning environment where students want to learn and join,” says Sandalhm. “It is a way to let the class community grow.”
However impressive this measure may seem today, however measuring its effectiveness is not easy. Danes are considered to be the happiest people on the planet due to the high levels of income equality and the generosity of its citizens towards each other, though some people attribute it to the citizens’ low expectations for happiness. The government of the country has put in place a brilliant social safety net which ensures people have good health care, education, and elder care, thus taking away even those concerns.
Something doesn’t quite add up, as even after living such a comfortable life, studies have shown that nearly 38% of Danish women and 32% of Danish men have been treated for a mental disorder at some point during their life. These percentages are much higher than global averages and definitely very high for supposedly happy people.
The success of Klassen Tid carries a lesson for people outside Denmark. If we want our children to exhibit empathy, it is absolutely possible all it needs is efforts to model that behaviour and teach it to our children.
* Read the original story by Jenny Anderson on www.qz.com