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Paper short abstract:

Illuminating the pedagogical work in Danish schools to make children 'social', teach Muslim pupils to be 'relaxed Muslims' and invite privileged young people into a civilized 'we', this paper discusses the toning down of differences in a school that present diversity as essential to social cohesion.

Paper long abstract:

Schools and the cultural lessons they teach children through policies, institutional structures, and everyday interactions, offer anthropologists unique insight into state projects, cultural processes, societal histories and conflicts, and thus into larger society. They also reveal the everyday molding of subjectivies and morality, as schools not only inculcate knowledge and skills but introduce children to a social and moral landscape of social categories and subjectivities that they may negotiate or resist, but which have significant consequences for their perceptions of self, others, and society.

This paper, drawing on ethnographic fieldworks in three diverse Danish schools, examines the moral lessons taught to children about difference and sameness in Danish society. The Danish public school - attended by 78% of 6-15 year-olds - plays a central role in Denmark's welfare society. The Danish 'unity school' originally aimed to unite children across differences in social backgrounds and abilities, providing a common basic education. This remains a strong narrative, presenting the school as pivotal for the fostering equality, social cohesion, and cultural continuity in Danish society. Looking at the pedagogical work to make young school children “social”, how Muslim pupils learn to be “relaxed Muslims”, and how teachers include privileged young people into a civilized 'we', I discuss how differences between children, despite this ideal, are generally toned down, while similarities are celebrated, and teachers employ differences between social categories in the local and broader world to teach children important moral lessons.