with her supervisor at Touchstone. (photo BA)
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Norwegian exchange student Randi Albertsen (right) meets
with her supervisor at Touchstone. (photo BA) |
It is the different ways of meeting needs that is the heart of the learning for the four social work students in the exchange program between Chico State and Bodo College in Norway. Pam Brown, Sociology and Social Work, coordinates the program. She said, "I have wanted them to understand how politics and political philosophies are important. What problems, what obligations do people feel as a society?"
Albertsen, interning at Touchstone, a recovery center for women with drug addictions, commented on the ways social systems and culture are linked. Americans emphasize individualism, she said. There is "not such a big career drive in Norway to make achievements for yourself."
Both Albertsen and Ove Dagsland, also from Norway, commented on the impact this emphasis on individualism has on social problems and their solutions. Dagsland observed that if you have a family problem here, "It's up to you and it's up to your family to handle your own kids and to take care of them." In Norway, there is more of an emphasis on "what is common," said Albertsen. This difference is reflected in all aspects of Norwegian life and social policy, such as child care, medical care, and treatment of drug addiction. For example, drug addiction and serious family problems are treated residentially in Norway, at times moving entire families into a publicly run facility for observation and treatment.
The differences in approach to social policy are also obvious to Genessee Salamon and Carey Shaw, Chico students with placements in Norway. Soon after she arrived in Norway, Salamon gave a presentation on American welfare reform and California's CalWORKs program, in which she explained the time limits for public assistance.The Norwegian faculty members, "thought this situation was pathetic, yet funny, because it seemed so absurd to them."
Norway's policy of taking care of everyone extends to refugees. Carey Shaw works with refugees at the regional International Center and the Immigration Center in Bodo. Her work with a Kurdish client included making appointments for him at the welfare office, the refugee school, and the reception center. She helped furnish his apartment and showed him where to shop. Norwegian refugees are treated with kindness and many comforts.
Chico has greeted Albertsen and Dagsland with warmth. Albertsen said, "It's a very open culture and people are curious, and I find that a warm thing—I like that, and how enthusiastic people can get about little things." The exchange experience has deeply affected all the students. As Salamon wrote, "I knew that this exchange would be a life experience; however, I had no idea that it would impact me in the way that it has."
BA