Krogerup.dk

What is a Folkehoejskole and life at Krogerup

Fantasy and preoccupation

The finest purpose of the folk high school movement is to let inspiration blossom. Free from exams, it is possible to work voluntarily. As a student, you are only controlled by your eagerness and the passion to the collective goal, which gives you the opportunity to discover new personal qualities – to go places, you have never gone before. You can take your time to explore your passion for life and other people. You enter a dialogue with and about the unknown and the unexpected. Values and ideals are examined and weighed. You learn to differentiate and appreciate through exchange. Values and conflicts of society become clearer. Desire and will, preoccupation and reflection, fantasy and creativity – these are qualities Krogerup cherishes and substitutes for shallowness, undue haste and indifference. Your opinion matters

Dialogue and debate

You will encounter many different attitudes and opinions at school. You must accept that your opinions will be confronted and challenged by other students. The right to speak freely is granted. All points of view are allowed to be shared. Everyone will give their peers the respect by listening to their thoughts on the issues at hand. Step out, speak up and be open to other views simultaneously. Use your sympathy and ability to be attentive. We all must improve our linguistic skills – and accept constructive criticism and disagreement without viewing critique as personal attack. The unrestrained conversation is a precious commodity in a hasty developing information society. Discussion and argumentation bring us forward. Democracy rests in freedom of opinion and in respect of the individual’s right to have an independent perspective on any given situation. However, Krogerup is much more than conversation.

Krogerup is an active folk high school. We take great joy in participating in the public debate regarding culture, democracy and representative government. This means that as a student at Krogerup, you have the chance to get an insight of the public debate in Denmark as an active participant. As a student at Krogerup, it is part of daily life to greet - and speak with – the minister for education, a poet or a journalist from national television or BBC World.

A large Variety

We offer a large variety of courses taught in Danish; numerous creative courses from writing and photography to music and drama allows you to express yourself freely. Krogerup is not a “specialised folk high school”. We do not aim for having one single determined political view, one single particular faith or one single special line of courses. If you prefer to study one specific area, you can naturally engage in this, but we do our best to present unknown possibilities to you and show that it indeed can be beneficial to play on several horses.

What is a Folk High School?

The Folk High School (or hoejskole) is a special non-formal adult education which originated in Denmark in 1844. For a Dane, Folkehøjskole signifies both a historical movement and a modern institution for life-long popular education and learning. It is residential school system which offers a range of subjects including social sciences, philosophy, sports, arts etc. The folk high school is probably the single most original contribution Denmark has made to international thinking about popular education. The folk high school gives you choice and motivation to explore and discover yourself and the world around you. As a non-formal education system, you have neither exams to worries about nor academic credits to take back home. Instead, the folk high school provides a special environment for personal development, socio-cultural competences and communication skills. For more info look here.

Krogerup folk high school

Krogerup was founded by Hal Koch in 1946 in the wake of World War II to promote democracy. Hal Koch wanted to create a Folk High School based on discussions on citizenship and democracy. Ever since, Krogerup has been the hotbed of democratic discussion through which students and staff actively participate the public debate. The question Krogerup has been debating since its establishment in 1946 is what is Democracy?

Krogerup is a residential college (Folk high school) with the aim and capacity to provide a unique learning environment to students from all sections of society. The school has room for up to 90 students. The main building is a beautiful mansion from the 1770s, but the thoughts in the school are modern. The college offers different subjects and good experiences together with fellow Danish students and international active group of students.

Daily life at Krogerup - a "24 hours a day experience"!

A day at Krogerup is a stimulating hybrid of the practical and the dynamic interaction and exchange of different ideas, opinions, cultures and generations. Each day has its own rhythm between timetables and discussion, duty and delight, freedom and collective commitment with room to the unexpected and surprising. Teachers and students are doing cleaning work every morning right after breakfast at 8.45. Study groups begin at 9.20 to 11.20 a.m. with a tea break. On Fridays at 11.30 we meet in the democratic forum of Krogerup. Here we have free speech and we bring up the programme of the week at our joint meeting. At 12.30 we enjoy our warm midday meal. We give priority to the food we eat as we want it to be nutritious and wholesome. We want it to give us experiences and to challenge what we are accustomed to as long as quality is the guiding principle. Every afternoon you will have a break for reflection, for reading, walks, to go out cycling or to rest. Between 2 and 5 p.m. there will be another study group.

Plenty of possibilities for learning around the clock

As night falls when you have had your evening meal you will have time for other activities: You can do ceramics, play music, table tennis, billiard table, and chess, make use of the computer-room. On Monday evenings you can sing in the school chorus. Thursday evening is sport evening where you can do sports in the local sports hall. Friday evening we will show a film on our master screen. Saturday offers “Culture Saturday”, where you can meet visitors with special interest. The visitors are mostly musicians. Saturday nights – probably parties!