Given how close Madison is to our Capital, Washington D.C., it’s no surprise that there are dozens of students at Madison who have lived abroad. They have experienced first-hand how daily life in another country differs from that in the US; these stories provide Madison with unique perspectives shaped by their experiences living overseas. 

One thing that stood out to Nicki Bitner (’26), who’s studied in Israel, Greece and Denmark, was the difference of programs in foreign schools versus the United States. To prove mastery, in Bitner’s experience, schools relied significantly less on testing and more on essays and project based learning. 

“My older sister graduated at our last school [in Denmark], which is an IB [International Baccalaureate] school, and it’s pretty intensive,” Bitner said. “It’s a lot of project based stuff, you don’t do a lot of tests.” 

Another student, Bauer Michaud (’24), had a similar experience living in the Philippines during his freshman year in high school.

“They [The International School of Manila] were an IB focused school.” Michaud said, “Which meant that, when it came to junior and senior year, all the classes were more structured for the IB diploma, very rigorous types of classes.”

Bitner also reflects how schools in other countries weren’t exclusively focused on academic perfection; student’s didn’t even receive report cards until the end of the year. Schools in Denmark, specifically, focused more on a student’s learning experience.

“The way they graded us [in Denmark] was from one to eight, and over here it translates as an ‘A’ is an ‘eight’. You could do everything and get a seven, because an eight was you went above and beyond,” Bitner said. “The grades were not what defined you, at all […] If you do poorly on a test, you’re not like, dang it, now my entire grade is thrown off.”

While both students felt that the grading systems were very different to those in the United States, Michaud also felt that other aspects of his academic experiences, such as his classes, were more similar. He highlights how the history classes he’s taken have all believed that it’s important for students to understand local and regional history.

“There’s a lot of nationality when it comes to going to foreign schools, they want to get you to learn about their region.” Michaud said. “So in every school that I’ve been to there has always been some sort of class or segment, especially in a history class, where they will teach you more about the local history and the local conflicts and those aspects.”

Bitner, however, felt the opposite regarding nationality in their schools. They said that their history classes had more of a global focus.

“Everyone was taking Greek or Danish classes, regardless of whether or not it was your mother tongue, and those were the classes where you learned about the culture and history of the country you’re in.” Bitner said. “History classes were about world history.”

While Bitner felt that history had a larger focus, they felt that literature and math had less of an emphasis than in the United States. They brought up how literary analyses were much less common, and that students in the same grade level would never be split to be put in a more advanced math class.

“Everyone took the same math class, everyone took the same English class, there wasn’t honors stuff. When you got into high school you didn’t go to the ‘higher level’ of math, you just took another math class,” Bitner said. “You just all learn together.”

They said the way classes were split up put less stress on students’ mental health, highling the ways in which foreign schools treat student mental health compared to the U.S. Michaud talks in-depth about these differences, mentioning how, in Indonesia, mental health has a dedicated class.

“They [Indonesia] made required classes where you would do a health class, much like we do here, but it was, instead of doing it during PE, it was a dedicated class and an environment designed to be comfortable, with couches and cushions, trying to create a safe space to be more open. We were encouraged to speak openly and about anything on your mind,” Michaud said.

Both students said they felt like hot button issues, such as mental health and current events, were openly discussed in their international schools. Bitner mentions that “it didn’t feel like there were any topics that were really taboo” in their Danish school, and Michaud highlights how foreign schools were very open to talk about the world and all the important events happening day to day, using platforms like CNN-10 to access their information, similar to AP Government classes at Madison. 

“I have some very fond memories in my social studies class in middle school,” Michaud said. “We would start the lessons off with CNN-10 and discuss global issues. Being a part of an international school it is very important for the teachers and students to share all of the current events going on and getting people’s opinions on it because everyone there was of a different background, so we all wanted to know more about each other.”

In all, we can learn a lot by comparing and contrasting our school culture to the structure of foreign schools. It is also important to recognize the stark differences in the hyper-fixation of grades and success in the United States versus places like Indonesia and Denmark. Maybe we all can learn something from our peers’ experiences living abroad.