Studentexamen – what’s that?!?

Every kid knows that “school’s out for summer” – after that very LAST day of school they can do what they want, at least for a while…

For some, last day of school means that they now are considered “practically adults”…

At the end of May and two weeks into June (still not real summer weather in some parts of the country, but getting closer), the Swedish version of the Prom takes place at the schools around the country. The graduates are 17-18 years old, and the school they graduate from is called “gymnasium”.

From the end of May and two weeks into June? “That’s SOME PARTY”, you’re thinking… Well, now – it really is just one day, but that day varies, depending on where in Sweden you live and what school you go to.As an example, here are the graduation dates and times for the gymnasiums in Gothenburg:

Angeredsgymnasiet: May 31st, 2 pm
Bräckegymnasiet: May 31st, noon
Burgårdens utbildningscentrum HR, Hv, AK: May 30th, noon
Burgårdens utbildnings centrum BF, Nv, Sp: May 30th, 3 pm
Ester Mosessons gymnasium: June 1st, 1.30 pm
Frölundagymnasiet: May 30th, 1 pm
Hvitfeldtska gymnasiet: May 31st, 12.30 pm
IHGR: June 1st, kl 2 pm
Katrinelundsgymnasiet: May 31st, 2 pm
Lindholmens gymnasium: June 1st, noon
MTG: May 31st, 1 pm
Munkebäcksgymnasiet: May 29th, 1.45 pm
Polhemsgymnasiet: May 30th, kl 1 pm
Schillerska gymnasiet: May 29th, 12.30 pm
Slottsbergsgymnasiet: June 14th, 11.00 am

So, if you are a family member or a friend, and you know of TWO or even MORE graduates this year, and they are not at the same school, you still might make it to both graduations!

Now, what do they DO on graduation day?

Well, in good time before the actual day, they have all gotten their student caps, bought suits (the guys) and dresses (the girls) for the graduation ceremony and the upcoming student ball.

In good time before the actual day, their families have been dodging their graduate’s questions regarding what it is that they are all doing in the garage or the basement – it is time to make the student picket signs and the student ride decorations!

The rides… This is where people either turn an old beat up pile of junk into something that looks like a 4^th of July parade float, with papier mache decorations, and a gigantic student cap on top – or they find someone with an old Cadillac or other fancy car, or a motorcycle, or even a big open truck where the graduate can ride.

“Student picket signs”? They demonstrate?!? Boy – those Swedes SURE are strange..

No – not really… The picket signs are meant to show the graduate where his/her family and friends are standing, ready to congratulate on the big day. A really good sign is home made, of course, with a very embarrassing childhood picture of the graduate on it, with balloons and garlands waving in the wind from it. There are ready made student signs that you can order as well, if you don’t have that artistic skill. Photo stores have special “student sign” photo copy offers this time of year, because you need that little baby picture to be really BIG, so it SHOWS who the graduate is!

Most of the time the student doesn’t know what things look like until the class come out from the school house… It can be quite a shock sometimes, real embarrassment and utter humiliation (for about 5 minutes, there’s always someone else who’s worse off than you…) depending on what kind of ride they got (or DIDN’T get) and which childhood picture is up on that picket sign (we ALL have that ONE picture that we beg our parents NOT to show to anybody, right?), but most of the time it is an all in all GREAT day for everyone involved!

(Go to the Swenglish Rantings Weekend Radio and click on the player there to listen to how the Monkey Princess’ brother was a bit embarrassed at HIS graduation – detailed description of the sign AND the car…)

What about the Swedish version of the Prom dance, you wonder?

Well – that would be the “studentbal”…

Now, the Student’s Ball is usually held BEFORE the graduation, sometimes even on a school night!

I don’t know too much about the goings on at these events – I never DID graduate… But a dance is a dance is a dance, no matter where in the world you are!

There is also almost always a dinner a day or so before graduation, for the graduates and their teachers, good food and entertainment – and very often the teachers do a little performance, a specially made song about the students, about what little pests they were to teach, that type of thing!

On the day of the graduation it is also very common to have a “champagne breakfast” – nothing like strawberries and champagne early in the morning, right?

They hold the actual graduation ceremony inside the school, the handing out of final grades and hugging and/or handshaking. It’s not really that big a deal, family and friends don’t get to see this part of the graduation, they only see them come out once it’s all over!

So after all the ceremonial stuff has been taken care of, it is time to get ready to meet the world, put on the student caps and run out through the school entrance for the last time!!!

“Where’s MY picket sign, do you see one that has MY name on it? Where ARE they?!?”

Then the congratulations, the hugs and kisses, the hundred million different flower bouquets and other items that are hung around your neck in a blue and yellow ribbon – the more things you’ve got around your neck, the more loved you are – the tears and choked up people from the class, “I’ll miss you guys so much”, all of that… and THEN – time to get into the RIDE and join all the other various vehicles, slowly cruising up and down the streets, people waving, horns honking…

After that, it’s time to go home for the student reception – everybody and their grandmother shows up with flowers and presents. Then it’s time for the eating, drinking and the usual singing – no Swedish “get-togethers” without a bit of singing! Usually the guests stay very late, and the student leaves the reception – it is time to go out, one last night together with the old class mates.

All around the city this day, you will see them walking around in their white caps, singing (chanting) from the top of their lungs:

“För vi har tagit studenten – för vi har tagit studenten – för vi har tagit studeeeeeeenten – fyfan va vi är braaa!“

(Translation: “For we have graduated – for we have graduated – for we have graduaaaaaaated – dammit we are good!”)

The next morning, the student will be more dead than alive, and the white cap is going to be a bit dusty… The cap just HAS to have everybody’s signature inside it (here we don’t sign any year books, we sign the cap!) and at least one stain from a glass of red wine on it – now, that’s a typical Swedish STUDENTEXAMEN!!!

In case you STILL don’t understand, here are two videos for you – enjoy the spectacle!

[youtube width="600" height="501"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH057poywTg[/youtube]

“Graduation” – a class comes out chanting…

[youtube width="600" height="501"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oJA9fpN7X0[/youtube]

“Dogge Student 2006” – He made it, follow him on his big day – this video really was better than I thought, it explains everything very well in images…

And for those of you who are interested in a bit more historical facts, here you go:

Studentexamen (Swedish for “students’ examination” or “students’ degree”) was in the beginning the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden, from the 17th century until 1968, during the period 1862-1968 taken as a final written and oral exam on graduation from gymnasium (secondary school).

It traces its origin to the academic statutes from 1655 requiring the dean to examine students arriving at university before allowing matriculation. According to the school reglement of 1693, a prospective student was to have gone through both a final examination at school and an entrance examination at university. The school reglement of 1724 allowed students without a final examination from school to enroll at university, provided a person known at the university would guarantee their behaviour, which led to it becoming common for students (called sponsionsstudenter or kautionsstudenter) from wealthy families to be matriculated at a very young age, accompanied by a private tutor. Although these were not actually supposed to be allowed to graduate, this rule was not always strictly upheld.

Attempts at a reform of the system led to the proposition in 1828 of the so-called Large Commission on Education, allowing students who had not completed a studentexamen to matriculate but disallowing them both from taking a degree or receiving any form of scholarship. The proposition also defined nine disciplines: Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Modern languages, Theology, Philosophy, Mathematics, History with Geography and Natural history, of which the prospective student had to have a grade of approbatur (Latin; in Swedish godkänd) in six and admittitur (a lower grade, in Swedish called försvarlig) in the three other to be allowed to enter university. These examinations were all oral, but a few years later, written examinations were introduced in Swedish and Latin.

In 1864, the studentexamen was moved from the universities to the secondary schools. It was thus changed from being primarily an entrance examination to academic studies to being a graduation diploma from the gymnasium or läroverk. In order to retain some academic control over the standard, a system was conceived where the Crown would appoint “censors” from the universities to take part in the examinations, and, if necessary, to fail a student passed by the teachers. The name of the examination was changed to mogenhetsprövning or mogenhetsexamen (“maturity examination”), and was known under this name until 1905, when the name studentexamen was restored.

With the new secondary school system (the gymnasieskola or “gymnasium school”) introduced in 1968, the final examination or studentexamen was abolished, but the word is in colloquial use for the completion of secondary school, known as gymnasieexamen, based on grades from cumulative courses.

In various European countries, student caps of different types are or have been worn, either as a marker of a common identity, as is the case in the Nordic countries, or to identify the bearer as member of a smaller corporation within the larger group of students, as is the case with the caps worn by members of German Studentenverbindungen.

The Swedish student cap (studentmössa), used since the mid-19th century, normally has a white crown, a black or dark blue band and a black peak. At the front of the band is a cockade of blue and yellow, the colours of the Swedish flag.

In the Nordic countries, student caps were first adopted as a common mark of recognition by the students from Uppsala University on the occasion of a Scandinavian student meeting in Copenhagen in 1845. In the following years similar caps were adopted by the students at the other Swedish university (Lund) and by the students in Denmark, Norway and Finland. Caps of the same type are known to have been used by German students in the early 19th century, and it is possibly that the original impulse came from Germany.

Swedish student caps traditionally come in two main variants, named after the two universities in existence at the time of their original adoption. The Uppsala cap has a black band, blue and yellow lining and a somewhat soft crown, while the Lund cap has a dark blue band, red lining and a stiffer crown. The earliest student cap known to have been preserved, a mid-19th century Uppsala cap in the collections of the Nordic Museum but currently exhibited at the Uppland Provincial Museum (in Uppsala), is considerably softer and looser in style than the modern or even late 19th century caps.

The Uppsala cap is traditionally only worn only in summer, from Walpurgis Night until the end of September. In Lund, the white cap is also donned at Walpurgis and taken off in the fall, but students can exchange it for a winter variant with a dark blue crown during the rest of the year.

A major variation on the student cap is the one worn by engineering students, the teknologmössa, which has the same basic shape as the regular student cap but has a triangular flap hanging down on the right side ending in a tassel. The cap for engineering students usually come in dark winter and white summer versions. The tasseled cap originates at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, where it was first introduced in 1879, and is influenced by the Norwegian student cap, the duskelue, which from 1856 had a tassel; during the period of the Swedish-Norwegian union (until 1905) a large number of Norwegian students studied at Chalmers. It later spread to the Royal Institute of Technology and the other Swedish engineering schools.

Originally associated with completion of the studentexamen, the entrance examination to the universities, which was at the time of the original adoption of student caps always taken at the universities, the cap followed the studentexamen to the secondary schools when these took over the final examination of their students in 1864. After this point it was donned upon graduation by everybody who completed the studentexamen, whether they continued to university or not.

As the studentexamen in reality remained reserved for boys (and later girls) from the bourgeoisie, a very large proportion of whom did enroll at university, the conversion of the cap to a form of secondary school graduation cap did not in fact result in the cap losing its association with university students. To some extent this happened later, through the combination of two factors: firstly, the radicalism of the 1960s and 1970s, which influenced many students to stop using their caps (regarded as a sign of belonging to the bourgeoisie) or even burn them publicly. Secondly, the simultaneous (1968) democratisation of the secondary school system, through the abolition of the studentexamen and the introduction of a large number of secondary school programmes, many of which were vocational in character and not intended to prepare for higher studies but all frequently co-existing in the same schools.

The large number of new programmes introduced after 1970 also led to a proliferation of new types of student caps, such as the one with a red band (instead of the black or dark blue band of the traditional caps) used by students completing the two-year vocational programmes. With the caps now being used upon graduation by almost all secondary school students, and with many of the caps being more strongly associated with the secondary school attended than with the common identity as a Swedish student, as had originally been intended. Some of the graduates from vocational programme have variations in the colouring of the brim in accordance with their programme. Examples include burgundy for nursing, green for horticulture and blue for engineering (only on the Uppsala model). In addition, most hats also have a thin coloured hatband to signify the students programme. Colours include green for natural sciences, royal blue for social sciences and silver for construction. There are also schools that have their own variants of the Student cap with special insignia and or variations.