Living in Sweden may not be as dreamy as what many people around the world think.
Americans Sweden’s President Lauren Ell has been living near Gällivare, Sweden since 2016. Her oldest daughter is about to turn 7 and is in grade 1 in elementary school (grundskola).
Because of staff shortage, her daughter’s school had cancelled the annual school trip (skolresa) which was a highlight of the year. Ell tried to gather parents to organize the trip but they were not interested.
So next she went to a Gällivare Facebook group where she explained her situation and asked about opportunities for her daughter to attend a trip at a bigger school in the city. Instead of receiving sympathy and suggestions from group members, she was met with hostile comments with zero interest in helping her child. She was shocked to see so much negativity towards her effort to help her child.
Additionally, school staff had previously been a big part of planning the school trip which meant they had knowledge and experience in planning that parents themselves did not have. A parent asked the staff to provide guidance and advice about planning the school trip since they had so much knowledge but that staff refused to help at all.
This led Ell to produce a video explaining her experience and commenting on a mindset she has noticed many times in Gällivare that has made living there difficult. View the video below.
