Education and traditions in Europe

Students in the Netherlands are taking their relatively prosperous life for granted. All the opportunities the Youth is having in Western Europe are more abundant than the ones in other parts in Europe. On the other hand, students from Southern parts of Europe do have a coloured picture from the life and opportunities Youth in Western Europe have. They think that a future in their own country is full of obstacles and they think that a future in the west is preferable to their own native country. The motivation of this project to enlarge the knowledge of each other countries and to give a more realistic picture for all the participating countries. In this project students are studying the social and economic differences and similarities between the countries involved in the exchange. This implicates studies for position of male and female students and workers, loans, social security, gender neutrality, level and costs of education, nutrition, child care, youth work and school opportunities, elderly care etc. Apart from this, there will be a cultural exchange between the cooperating schools by an cultural festival in which all the school will perform an traditional or modern act from their country. The project should be funded because of limited funds that schools and parents do have in the participating countries, to sent their children abroad. An financial aid from the EU is very much welcomed by all the participating schools. The objectives of the project and partnership will be: Students can explain the differences and similarities regarding the social system and Youth opportunities in various regions in Europe; North-West, North-East, South-West and South East. Throughout the project students will interview each other on this theme's and their partner students' parents. Furthermore they will start a study on the internet for further knowledge. This wil lead to a presentation of the outcomes in a presentation in each school that participates. The students could also see some cultural differences and similarities between the participating countries. The younger students from all the schools (12-15 years old) will be involved in the project by workshops performed by the exchange students with the given themes. A large group of teachers will also take part in the workshops, so they get better knowledge of the ideas behind the partnerships.