random western nordic headcanon #21
DENMARK never really received much of an education in his youth. (Probably not surprising given that heās 2,000 years oldā¦) He did of course learn practical skills ā hunting, fighting, sailing, fishing, farming, etc. ā but didnāt learn to read or write until after his conversion to Christianity in the 10th century. His education since has been just as spotty; a boss decidesĀ ānow you must learn xā and he sets about trying or gets tutors. Due to the piecemeal way he was taught over the centuries, Denmark is honestly pretty lousy at learning out of books or by lecture: heās a hands-on learner, who has to figure it out by doing, not seeing. This is why heās good at for example languages (easy to practice with others!) and construction (you can see and test what you do), but cheerfully hopeless with many more cerebral fields like maths. He can do maths, obviously, but a) he prefers to let someone else and b) itās just kind of undefined and invisible to his mind. Heās pretty clever when he applies himself, and there are someĀ āout thereā subjects he enjoys ā he got along famously with Tycho Brahe and thinks astronomy is super cool, and generally can be a romantic when it comes to things like thatĀ ā but if he canāt see it, touch it, or use it in an immediate way, he tends to struggle with getting it to catch in his brain. He also, admittedly, lacks intellectual curiosity: heās not someone who wants to discover answers just for the sake of knowingĀ them. Thatās too much work! He only cares if itās immediately practical! He also doesnāt care for that kind of thinking when he doesnāt have to, preferring to spend his days doing other things.Ā After all, thatās what government aides are for, right? To do budgets on his behalf? Heās sure theyāll do it fine without him! Call him if you need him!Ā
NORWAY, like Denmark, wasnāt given any real formal education as a child. Unlike Denmark, he also wasnāt given kings and tutors trying to bully him into learning theory of law and religion throughout the middle ages, seeing as he was off by himself to the north and too busy living in the mountains. However, his pride and stubbornness meant that he went out of his way to give himself a formal education, even in subjects he really didnāt have an interest in at all. Itās the principle of the thing. He isnāt going to let anyone think theyāre better than him because heās a fisherman. He applied himself to any book he could find, would show up at the door of various philosophers, religious figures, writers, etc., and make them tutor him, he learned with a grim determination, on any subject he could find. That sort of stubbornĀ āIāll learn because I have toā feeling has faded with time (and with development of his house), but he retains that habit of wanting to know any and everything he can. If Germany mentions a new economic proposal at a world meeting, Norway will return to his hotel room and read every article about it he can find with google. He wonāt mention it or necessarily agree with it, but heāll know it. Heās not always the most forthcoming with his knowledge, unless thereās a reason to be (like, he enjoys waiting for Denmark/someone to say something uninformed and correcting them thoroughly), but he knows a little about almost everythingā¦ and if he doesnāt, heāll sit down and learn.Ā
ICELAND did, actually, have a formal education! Not when he was very young, but a little later, when he was living in Denmarkās house. Both Denmark and Norway provided him and the other territories with a variety of tutors, both thinking education was an important part of being taken seriously as a nation. Like most children, Iceland wasnāt always that enthusiastic about studying his bible and learning laws of succession, but the access to books from a young age did probably have a large influence on him ā especially as when he was young, books were rare and to be cherished. Nowadays, heās a huge reader with a huge library, and still treats books as though theyāre hugely important. AsĀ āIceland,ā he of course learned practical skills and fishing (always fishing), but as a child who spent half his childhood in a pretty lavish country estate (Denmark likes to go all out on his houses), he actually is a little lacking in practical knowledge compared to hisĀ ālearn as I goā brothers. He always had servants and tutors! He lacks any real ability to build or repair objects, and doesnāt have either Denmarkās ability to absorb skills or Norwayās drive to sit down and compulsively learn: heās more an accidental student, who loves to read and loves interesting things and learns a lot in passing, but gets a little bored if told to study this economic report. (Lately heās really been cramming economics though.) Compared to his brothers, Iceland does come off asĀ ābetter educatedā, but he lacks the drive to teach himself, as heās never really needed to. Heās very smart and knows a lot of random things, but is a little jealous of people with that moreĀ āworldlyā knowledge!
