Mandatory Swedish

The Secondary domestic language, Finnish: toinen kotimainen kieli, Swedish: det andra inhemska språket, is the official term for an impopular subject in the schools of Finland. In Finnish, pakkoruotsi is often used in reference to this imposed tuition of Swedish. The term pakkoruotsi may be regarded as derogatory, or maybe rather as revealing a some animosity. In Mainland Finland both domestic languages, Finnish and Swedish, are mandatory subjects for pupils in primary and secondary schools – and exams. The autonomous Åland Islands are considered having only one domestic language, Swedish, and are not included in this scheme. For the great 95% majority of ethnic Finns, this means they have to master the language of their Finland-Swedish fellow countrymen. Critics of the system claim that most people don't have, or have a limited, use for the learned language. The relations between Finland-Swedes and ethnic Finns were particularly problematic from the mid-19th century, with Finland's language strife, to the Winter War in 1939. The controversies were gradually solved by numerous provisions advantageous for the Finland-Swedish minority. Today, a major remaining source of adverse sentiments is the mandatory education and exams in the language of the relatively small minority. In many cases pupils have negative prejudice towards learning Swedish and this tends to reflect back from the teachers, whose mother tongue is often Swedish. This creates a negative learning environment, which in turn creates negative attitudes towards the Swedish language and the Swedish speaking minority in general. It's argued that such negative attitudes founded in the formative school years might contribute to negative attitudes in the adult population. \nThe status of Swedish as an official language in Finland is protected by Finland's Constitution and to some degree supported by international treaties according to which Åland is to remain exclusively Swedophone. The political party representing the Swedish speakers, the Swedish People's Party, has successfully been a minor partner in most Cabinets since Finland's independence. Swedish teaching for all pupils of the primary education was introduced in the 1970s, until then it had only been required in secondary and tertiary education. Governmental service is, since the end of the 19th century, offered in both domestic languages; therefore employees must be proficient in both Finnish and Swedish. The reform was based on a political ambition to strengthen the ties with the Western world through Scandinavia, and to show that Finland was still a part of the Nordic countries, and not an Eastern Bloc country; but also by a will to improve the social mobility by ensuring that a bad decision on language in the early school years shouldn't become an obstacle for applicants to the Civil Services. In the upper secondary general school all the students learn at least two foreign languages, one of which is the other domestic language (Swedish or Finnish). The Finnish speakers take Swedish, and vice versa. Practically all the students took English, either as a compulsory or an optional language; 44 per cent took German and 21 per cent French. [1] See also: poispakkoruotsi