About Egå Ungdoms-Højskole

Dear reader

One of the great challenges today is choosing. There are so many things to do, which is why you need a solid grounding in order to make your choice. We hope to make our school an active choice for our students and those who advise them.
With this background information, the school’s governing body and its teacher’s offer students, parents, business partners and others interested the chance to learn what we do.
The tradition of the folk high school reaches back to the 1830s with Grundvig’s thoughts on education, and the establishing of the first folk high school in Rødding in 1844. Since then, the folk high schools have developed, and continuation schools and free schools, also based on the ideas of Grundtivg, have been added.
General education and life education are in a way universal terms, but it would be a fatal mistake if we as a folk high school were out of touch with present time and its challenges.

Background
The first buildings are from 1899. The farmer on the neighbouring farm built another farm, so that his daughter could marry and still live close by. That was the beginning.
In 1921, the farm was purchased by a group of locals who wished to establish a continuation school.
The continuation school was created basically because it was necessary. The young people from the area needed to take a break from farming in order to learn more, and maybe also to take a break from a life which was varied in its own way, but basically the same every year. It is quite funny to read what was important to students back then, and also interesting to consider whether there are more differences or similarities compared to what is important to today’s students.
The school was a massive success. Students from the area kept coming in, and soon the school had to be expanded to make room for approximately 70 students. Today, these original buildings contain but two classrooms, office facilities and two small flats.
When the school’s first headmaster Ejnar Petersen retired, the governing body contacted Vallekilde folk high school to ask one of its teachers, Tage Dybkjær, to take on the job of headmaster for the continuation school in Egå. Tage and Karin Dybkjær were headmasters of the school for more than 30 years, a period in which the school kept expanding. A sports centre became the first priority and was built back in Petersen’s days. Today, it is a theatre. Later, a hallway, which combined the main building with the sports centre, was added, making the facilities more up to date.
Two episodes from Dybkjær’s time of leadership stand out as very important.
During World War Two, the Germans often used schools to accommodate their troops, and many East Jutland schools were forced to take them in. Egå, however, was not one of them. Tage Dybkjær arranged for his wife, Karin, to be formally listed as the owner of the school, and as she was in fact Swedish, the Germans did not want any diplomatic trouble in their relationship with the neutral Swedish government and gave up their claim of the school for their soldiers.
The other episode involves the phasing out of the continuation school. This type of school was under pressure, as it became increasingly difficult to run continuation school on a traditional basis.
Most schools introduced exams controlled by the State. Dybkjær was opposed to this and fought it as chairman of the Continuation School Association. Eventually, resistance became impossible. Most students wanted the option of taking exams, and accession to the exam free schools became minimal. Dybkjær then argued that the school had to be changed into a folk high school, inspired by changes made in Vester Vedsted. A school for young people had to be free of exams, and in 1970, Egå was approved as a folk high school, for students aged 16-19. Dybkjær continued as a teacher, claiming that new leadership was needed to continue the school.
This task was given to Kjeld Krarup, and it was a considerable task; it was during these years that the traditional school basis collided with youth rebellion. The rebellion and the political attention that followed became a deciding factor without eliminating the original ideas. A school with many creative subjects was founded.
The expansion of the school continued. To student houses were built. The idea was for students to live in a binding house group much resembling a hall of residence. Initial experiences were so positive that four other houses were quickly built, so that all students lived in a campus-like area.
Next headmaster in line was Elo Madsen. He worked to make the school as versatile as possible. In 1988, a new kitchen and dining room was built along with a living room and a sports centre. This placed Egå among the schools with more square metres per student.
In the 1980s, the school was extremely popular. All courses were fully booked way in advance, and long waiting lists existed. Nevertheless, the policy of 72 students per semester was maintained.
In 1992, Louis Mogensen took over the job of headmaster and in 2008 the new headmaster is Ulla Knudgaard Fisker. The school now holds room for 83 students.

Some of the teachers lives in the area. For this purpose, the school has houses and appartments inhabited by teachers.
The students can use the swimming pool and the gym at the primary school in Egå. Being situated close to Århus gives us the opportunity to make use of the options of the city, not least its culture possibilities.

Cultivation - Life education - General education
These are central terms for the high school. However, it might be difficult to attach modern values to these terms.
Here, we try and explain our ideas.

Cultivation
Cultivation is about development. This makes “That’s just the way I am” a very uneducated statement. That basically means that you are not willing to be influenced by anything.
Cultivation is moving towards the unknown. Therefore, it is important to know our own background, both individually and the background we all share. You can only really try new things if you are aware of your own values.

Life education
We keep ways of interpretation open. Life education is mainly about noticing life and then about having the courage and the joy to embark on it.
Insight can, of course, come from theories on life, from arts, and from the experiences you achieve from the classes, but inspiration and interpretations can also happen through being together, and through dialogue.
You learn with all your senses: Your brain, your body and your heart.

General education
This also aims for several things. First of all, we as humans are always part of something, and secondly, it is a task to try and take part in something common. It takes courage and insight. The high school illustrates this connection very well and offers rich opportunities to practise taking part in joint decisions and tasks. Specifically, we try to involve the students in various decisions on life at the school. We want them to feel that it does matter whether or not you take part and take on responsibilities.

The universal
We define the universal, which is mentioned in the high school law, as that which lies between the personal, the common and the professional.
Therefore, students discover that the subjects revolve around what is important to them, but also that which is common and that which could be common. Besides that, we aim for the highest professional level possible in classes.
On our website you can learn more about the individual subjects and subject groups.

Real competence
It is obviously an almost invariable demand for a young person to get an education. A stay at the high school is not as often an alternative to this as it is a supplement. We aim to develop the following competences:
• To be able to work individually, as well as co-operate with others
• To be in charge of your own life as well as being a good player for others
• To evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses and turn them into assets
• To be able to express thoughts and feelings
• To be able to see yourself as part of a bigger whole

Living together in a community
The purpose of Egå High School is for the students to be able to develop in a versatile and independent way, while understanding the importance of working together.
We have only very few rules and we expect them to be followed.
This expectation must seem reasonable to most people. However, in the close environment of the school, you feel importance of appropriate behaviour very strongly.
This will hopefully mean that our students will gain experience in preparation for maybe living in a dormitory someday.

Youth
Much is being said about the youth of today.
Grundtvig established that you never achieve more than you dreamed of when you were young. This is why we need to create the space for young people to fantasise and plan and then change everything again.
Youth is special because is it dominated by the need to learn how to stand on your own two feet. This means that you often need to evaluate your foundation and baggage. A stay at a folk high school is often the first time the student is living away from home, and therefore a good opportunity to break free.
These years, young people are marked by the many options available to them, and most are very ambitious. They want a life focused on a career, and often they want a career which allows them to expose themselves. At the same time, family and a large circle of friends are priorities. For many young people, possibilities become impossibilities. This is clearly demonstrated by the number of times young Danes change course. If things are not good enough, many young people consider themselves a failure and drop out of school. This is a large responsibility to carry, and unfortunately many young people develop an excessive degree of self-criticism and become very unhappy.
One of the school’s purposes is to help young people achieve the clarification necessary to have a well-balanced life.

The grown-ups at Egå
The teachers at Egå Folk High School have all chosen to work with this particular age group. We consider it our mission to listen and show solidarity with the young people and their dreams; however, we feel that it is important to be clear.
This allows us to be the adults with no emotions at stake, showing solidarity. We are happy to stimulate their ideas, but we reserve the right to be critical friends.

Who is our target group?
It has always been our priority that the school remains attractive to most young people, in order for the meeting of different human beings to result in the more inspiration possible. Still, Egå students have certain characteristics:
About half of our students have signed up because of recommendations from family or friends.
• A large part of our students are constructively confused and use their stay as a clarification period.
• Many students use the school to test their creative ambitions
• Some students need a break from traditional education. They either want to become absorbed in one particular area or get inspired by many different subjects.
• Most students want to expand their circle of friends, often with a view to creating a network for the future.
• The main part of our students moves on to upper secondary school education, a smaller part to vocational training.

Some students are more difficult for us to satisfy
• The school’s buildings are not adapted to the needs of physically handicapped. Practical aspects should therefore be examined on a visit to the school.
• The school is characterized by joy. Most of our students are very happy and express their happiness. This can be stigmatising for young people who are sad and unhappy. On the other hand, joy can of course be contagious. We recommend that this be taken into consideration.
• At the school, we expect students to try and handle the daily life in a mature way. Young people, who, for whatever reason, have been excessively serviced, must go through a quick and sometimes difficult adjusting process.

Dealing with problems
If problems occur, we try to deal with them in the most professional way possible. We are aware of our own limitations.
Other problems, for instance if students do not keep to the school rules, we try to handle with each individual student. This is because we feel it is important that we can trust each other at the school. Some students are more than 18 years old and therefore of age, but we have chosen to deal with every student in the same way. Trust is also the deciding factor in the cases in which we do not wish to continue working with a student. If a student is given a warning of expulsion, we demand that the student in question informs his or her parents on the matter.
We are happy to discuss a student’s development with the parents, but only if the student is included in the matter and preferably present during discussion.
The following describes reasons for our rules and standards.

Attendance
Attendance to all classes is obligatory, as are the few practical duties a student is asked to do during their stay at the school. We keep a running track of student absence. An absence percentage of more than ten percent has consequences for the school diploma.
The daily life at the school depends on joint energy, and it is unacceptable if absence lowers the level and intensity.

Alcohol
We try to find a manner in which alcohol can be enjoyed at parties and social events without affecting daily life at the school. We are very aware of the fact that alcohol plays a destructive role in the lives of some people, while others are quite capable of handling it sensibly. We do not wish to make the school an alcohol free zone resulting in the young people going into town to have fun. This is why we always prepare an alcohol police. It is, however, debatable and can be changed depending on its success. School days and activity weekends are alcohol free, but on the average every second weekend, alcohol can be consumed in accordance with the guidelines decided.


Drugs
No kinds of euphoriants are allowed at the school - and that includes milder forms as well.
There are no easy solutions to this problem.
If we expel students we risk that everything takes place in secrecy.
If we do not expel, it might be mistaken for weakness. We have chosen to evaluate our reaction on a case-to-case basis.

Behaviour and language
It is important to us that all students and teachers are treated with respect. Because of this, our behaviour in the close environment must further this respect. The language of young people develops quickly, and sometimes adults do not understand its nuances. We would like to understand, and we seek to actively help the young people develop a nuanced language. Often it is the lacking of nuances that creates hurtful and harmful ways of addressing each other.

A learning environment
We constantly seek to establish a learning environment which efficiently stimulates all the things we want for our students. In teaching, we also aim for the students to be aware of their own learning process.
Besides that, we have also made sure that the students are involved in many of the discussions that remain relevant when people have influence on their own life. This means that the students are involved in numerous committees and joint assemblies.
It also means that we plan courses in order to help the students achieve the real competence we feel is important. In this context we are inspired by everything ranging from Grundtvig and Kierkegaard to modern principles of management and networking strategies.

The diploma
The students are entitled to a diploma, and they themselves choose which kind of diploma they want.
A minimum diploma contains a short description of the school, and lists the classes that the student has attended and the number of lessons involved.
The extended diploma is issued to the students who wants one, and who has attended a minimum of 90 percent of all classes. This diploma goes on to describe the real competences we believe that the student has achieved during the stay. This is expressed primarily through a description of the school’s foundation and the learning environment we create together with the students. Besides this, the students have the option of creating a joint statement together with their main teacher and the house teacher connected with the student.
We believe this diploma to be an absolute asset to the student’s cv.

The future
As mentioned before, by far most of our students continue into the education system. We often hear that they become good social elements in their respective institutions of education.
The students themselves believe they have received a greater understanding of the world and have learned to prioritise.
We also hope that they have gained enough courage and insight to happily take care of themselves, their surroundings and the community in which we live.

Best regards,
The teachers at EUH