Process versus Product

What makes danish education different?

Long answer:  see below
Short answer: Denmark is about Process, The US is about Product

It's a pretty common scheme in the US, especially when talking to young adults and professionals.  Ask around--"WHY did you go to college?" Why do we push youth to finish high school??  What is the motivation behind college and school? Answer: So I could get a better job, [duh].

At the end of the day, our goal process is almost always linked to career and job--the end result, or product of school and education.

Ok, so there ARE exceptions to that rule--(technically, I'm one of them).  But it's generally true, and certainly a major feature of the US education and culture.  There are about a hundred subtle nuances that go with the statement that we go to college in order to get a good job, but the idea is that the US requires education so that its citizens are able to be productive members of society.  The Danish education system is under the foundation that education is required in order to promote the building of the individual--in order to be CONTRIBUTING members of society.

Woah--wait a minute--let's go back to that.
Productive versus contributing: are they really THAT DIFFERENT??  Maybe not in the english language--but in a cultural and operational context they contain completely different modes of motivation, purpose, teaching, and policy.