Three differences between Sweden and Cuba

Three differences between Sweden and Cuba

Sweden is a country in Europe and also one of the Scandinavian countries. Sweden has around 10 million people and the language is Swedish. Meanwhile, Cuba is one of the largest islands in the Caribbean and has around 11 million people, the official language is Spanish.

School system, Religion & Climate/Seasons

In Sweden the school system is tax-financed and it means that the students don't have to pay for the education. The school system has preschool, compulsory school, upper secondary school, and then universities. The preschool is for children of the ages of one to five, the compulsory schooling is divided into four stages, it has one preschool years, year 1-3, year 4-6, and years 7-9. The upper secondary school/high school is during the years 10-12 and they are optional for all students. The upper secondary school has eighteen regular national programs, it has twelve programs that are vocational and six that are for higher education. The requirements to enter the programs depends on the students that apply for the programs if it is students that have higher grades it will be harder to apply. 

In Cuba the school system is 100% subsidized by the government, it means that all of the Cuban students can attend school for free. The school system is divided into primary education, basic secondary, pre-university secondary, and then higher education. The students have to use school uniforms and the uniforms are different depending on the grade, meanwhile, in Sweden, the schools don't have any uniform policy, the students can use the clothes they want. In Cuba the students have to take all the subjects, they can not choose what programs to take and which one not to take like in Sweden. For example, in Sweden, the student can choose to have and do not have English 6 or math 3 meanwhile in Cuba everyone has to take the same classes, in fact, they can only choose what they want in a university.

In Sweden we have different religions because of the variety of nationalities, also its because we have a law that is called ‘’religionsfrihet’’. The law lets the swedes believe in whatever they like, without being judged or criticized. Some of the religions that exist in Sweden are Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The religion in Cuba is a bit different, it still has Christianity and some of the followers have modified the religion with some influences from syncretism, it means that it has different roots. One of the most common syncretism religions in Cuba is Santeria and it is a combination of the Yoruba religion and catholicism. The religion santeria came to Cuba when the African slaves were displaced by the Spaniards and the Africans weren't able to practice the religion as they used to so they had to lie about the religion, that’s why the religion is syncretism. Even though a lot of students have different religions there are a lot of people that discriminate and hate for example the religion Santeria and otherwise.

The climate/season in Sweden is known for being white and being cold, but Sweden has all seasons and is well defined, it has winter, spring, summer, and autumn. Compared to Sweden, Cuba has only two ‘‘seasons’’, it’s one rainy and one dry period. The rainy period is between May and October and the dry period is between November and April. Sweden and Cuba are two very different places and its because of where they are located. It's nice to have sun and warm weather but sometimes it can be really tough for the Cubans and for agriculture just like in Sweden. Here in Sweden, we have to import a lot of fruits and veggies for other countries and it's only because of the seasons.

Maybe the school system in Cuba is better than the one in Sweden because the students in Cuba have more respect for the teachers, they have to work more and they don't take things for granted. Compared to Sweden the students here are freer and schools aren't so strict. The Cubans don't earn enough money for all the needs they have and having school uniforms in Cuba removes pressures from them having to buy clothes like here in Sweden, I think that's good since the...