Gymnasium (Denmark) - History

History

The studentereksamen was an entrance exam carried out by the University until 1850 where gymnasiums (then called lærde skoler ("learned schools") or latinskoler ("Latin schools")) started examining the students. In 1871, the gymnasium education was divided into the mathematical-scientific and lingual-historical lines of study. At the same time, the entrance exam at university for self-taught people was abolished. Women were not allowed to take the studentereksamen until 1875.

In 1903, the lines of study were changed to mathematical-scientific, modern-lingual, and classical-lingual, and the name of the schools was officially changed to gymnasium. From 1958 there were two lines of study, mathematical-scientific and lingual, and after first year, the students had to choose between different branches (e.g. modern languages or classical languages). This system was however changed in 1988, where the students in their second year were able to choose more freely between a variety of subjects (a student could for instance have both a language and a scientific subject at the highest level, even if he had originally chosen the mathematical line of study).

The two line system was abolished in 2005 and the gymnasium was completely re-formed. More lines of study, decided by each gymnasium itself, were offered, and it was generally perceived to give a greater amount of customisability to the students. Instead of choosing a line of study when enrolling, the students now only let the school know what line they intend to choose, and the final decision is made after half a year of introduction to the different faculties (primarily the arts, languages and natural science). Furthermore, a wide range of general subjects, like for instance social studies, were made mandatory.