Portrait of Swedish youth culture

1
Portrait of Swedish youth culture

• a life of our own

2
Education

• After nine years of compulsury school, at the age
  of 16, everyone in Sweden has the possibility to
  study for another three years in the upper
  secondary schools, but this is volontary. Here
  you can choose between programs that prepare you
  for a profession or for further studies at a
  university or college.
• The labour market is very tough in Sweden today
  and you need a good education, lots of experience
  and fine qualifications to be attractive to
  employers.
• Since this is the case, more and more young
  Swedes continue their education at universities.
  It is important to point out that it is free to
  study at a university or college in Sweden and
  everyone can take study loans.

3
Family

• There are a lot of different types of families in
  Sweden nowadays. It is just as common to be
  married as being divorced. Many divorcees remarry
  later in life and have children. It is therfore
  normal to have stepmothers, fathers, sisters or
  brothers. But it is also common to live with just
  one of the parents. But of course there are a lot
  of families that consist of just a mother, father
  and children.
• Normally one moves from home approximately at
  the age of twenty.

4
Spare time

• After school most Swedish students have at least
  one kind of activity. It is common with sports
  mostly soccer but devoting time to music and
  takeing part in organizations is also popular.
• It is common among young Swedes to have a summer
  job or spare time job but these are not easy to
  find. Many fight for the few jobs there are and
  one often has to agree to bad conditions and a
  low salaries.
• Preparty, party and after party, that is very
  often the normal Friday or Saturday maybe both
  for young Swedes. After the preparty with your
  friends you leave for the pub or disco or, if it
  is a private party, to someones house.
• You are allowed to buy alcohol at a pub when you
  are 18 and that is what most people do but
  unfortunately there are those who start to drink
  much earlier.
• To have a girlfriend or boyfriend is also very
  common.

5
Social problems

• Sweden is a very well-developed country but as
  everyone else we have our own problems.
• As in any other country Sweden has its problems
  with drugs among the young population, almost
  anyone who wants it can find it. But compared to
  other countries our problems with drugs are
  relatively small.
• Sweden is comparatively open-minded to homo- and
  bisexuality, sex at a fairly young age, sex
  before marriage and abortion. Homosexuals can be
  married and we have generous abortion laws. But
  homosexual couples are not allowed to adopt
  children and there are many who consider our
  sexuality and abortion laws too lax.
• Sweden is, or claims to be, one of the most
  equal countries in the world but we still have a
  lot of problems to deal with. Both men and women
  can of course have the same jobs but it is not
  certain that they will have the same salary. Most
  of the directors and committee members of larger
  companies are men.

6
Future

• Like I said, most of the young Swedes choose to
  continue their studies but first they take a
  sabbatical. Which means that you take a break
  from studies or what you are doing at the time
  and just do whatever you want to for about a
  year.
• Many spend their time working and traveling in
  other parts of the world backpacking and getting
  new experiences.
• Others also want to study something in a foreign
  country, learn the language and therefore live
  abroad for about a year.
• Many who want to go to a foreign country choose
  to work as au pair, since it is fairly easy to
  find jobs, you often have a lot of spare time and
  you can learn the language in its natural
  environment.
• For those who stay in Sweden the military
  service is an option both for men and women.
• Common for almost every young Swedes and their
  vision about the future is that they want to see
  beyond the boarders and become international
  citizens.