Youth defy Trump - volunteers educate about the EU

Fifty young Danish students are now starting their work to educate schoolchildren about EU cooperation.

All of them are members of the Danish European Movement’s EU Task Force, which works on a voluntary basis to teach schoolchildren how to distinguish fact from fiction regarding the European Union.

The Danish youth is thereby countering the recent years of crisis and bad publicity for the EU, with growing scepticism among European populations, the financial crisis, the refugee crisis, Grexit, Brexit and now President Trump, who has, among other things, spoken in favour of the British withdrawal from the EU.

The young people volunteer their free time to plan lessons and travel to classrooms across the country to talk about the EU.

One of the students involved is Kevin Arnold Jensen.

“I want to help teach others about the EU. I myself am a bit of a Eurosceptic, but I support the union and our cooperation,” he says.

See also: The future belongs to Europe

Take on the challenge

At an EU Task Force meeting at the Danish parliament, the young members received encouragement in a fiery speech about European cooperation from EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who urged the group to push forward with their efforts to educate about the EU.

“In light of everything the media claims is currently threatening the world and the EU, I understand if you find it difficult to get out bed in the morning. But the EU has, in fact, done plenty of good to create jobs and prosperity in Europe. If you consider that, perhaps it won’t be so hard to take on the challenge,” said Margrethe Vestager.

The Danish European Movement has produced educational material that the young people in the task force can use at schools - for example, a dilemma game. 

The method employed is youth to youth encounters – slightly older students who can relate to the schoolchildren help enable them to take a stance on an informed basis and backed by facts.

“The task force, in which young people talk to other young people about the EU, is a good idea because the personal meeting is always much better than any pamphlet or book or YouTube video,” says Margrethe Vestager.

See also: Video - Young people fight for the EU

FACTS
The EU Task Force has been created by the Danish European Movement to put focus on EU-education in primary schools and to inspire both students and teachers to make the EU an exciting part of general education.

The Task Force can be contacted at eubeveubev.dk or 3314 1141.