Beyond the Obvious: Decoding Swiss Cultural Values via Village Life
Everyone talks about cultural differences between the US and Switzerland. Typically they focus on things like 24 hours shopping versus stores closed on Sundays and holidays. Or, things like quiet hours and strict recycling rules that represent a collective approach to maintaining order versus an individualistic approach. But, there are more subtle things you start to notice when you immerse more deeply.
As we walk around our village, we notice the rhythms of life. We notice things that are interesting. As we ask questions and introspect them more deeply, we start to see encodings of cultural values. These things are subtle, but represent differences between where we are and where we come from.
The mysterious school outings, equity encoded
A couple times a week, we cross on foot to go to the gym, usually in the morning. Recently, we noticed large groups of school aged kids walking around with us when school should have been in session, so well after the commute to school and well before lunch. They all carried backpacks and a separate bag. Some had tandem backpacks. We were wondering what activity they were undertaking. Then, a local newspaper article shed light on what we were missing. An ultra-religious Catholic family had sued because they wanted their child to be exempt from the mandatory swimming lessons. The court denied their request noting that efforts had been made to separate the sexes during the lessons and allow for more modesty in bathing attire.
It turns out the local “Freibad” or public indoor pool is in the same area as our gym. We were seeing the school kids walking to their mandatory swimming lessons. Maybe my Swiss readers will find this unremarkable. But, in the US, a major dividing line between haves and have nots is the ability to swim. Swimming pools were a bit central to Jim Crow. Black kids simply didn’t have access. And, as a long-lasting legacy of that, many still don’t learn to swim. Pools are mostly in the domain of private property - either homes or expensive clubs. The idea that all kids should have access to a community pool and all kids are required to learn to swim is so…egalitarian.
What a privilege to have what costs so much in the US. Not only the access, but also the instruction. Swimming lessons in the US are also a privately funded affair requiring parents to pay and then schlep their kids around. They are costly in time and money. The fact that the community provides the access in every village and the school curriculum the instruction means that kids gain this skill with no special effort or financial ability of the parents. The ability to swim can be a matter of life or death - even more so in a country filled with rivers and lakes. The idea that all kids gain this ability simply by attending school is amazing. Now, I’m sure this also comes at a trade-off to some academic rigor and achievement, because those hours all come out of the same basket. But, it’s an interesting cultural difference and a reasonable trade-off.
A time for everything, and everything on time
My friend and I were out for a walk last week. It had just dumped about 10cm of snow in our village the day before. Finding a walking route that was not snowbound was interesting. We didn’t succeed, but had a nice walk anyway. On the way back through the village, we noticed they were turning on the fountain in the main square. It’s one of those ones where there are holes in the ground on a grid pattern that shoot up water randomly. Kids love to play in them on hot summer days. But, the workers turning on the fountain were confounded by the 10cm of snow laying on top of it. I commented on how I found it funny that things simply happen on the day they are scheduled whether or not it is practical.
In the US, things are more flexible. If there was 10cm of snow the night before a scheduled fountain turn on, the city workers would likely postpone until the next business day without snow. Similarly, if the ski resorts in California received a meter of snow in April, they would decide to extend the ski season until the end of May. The business owners and the skiers would be happy for this turn of events, but the seasonal workers might or might not - depending on whether they had a Summer job lined up. If they were only planning to work the winter season, then there would be significant upside to the extended schedule.
My friend explained that workers in Switzerland value more predictability and security. Seasonal workers almost always have alternating season jobs. For example, in a “Hallo Heidiland” podcast I listened to, there is a guy who grooms the slopes in the Winter and is a pilot for Swiss Air in the Summer. The workers want a specific contract with specific dates. They prefer a sure thing over a flexible thing with possible upside. While Switzerland has a pretty liberal labor market - likely the closest to the US in Europe - there is still a strong social contract around clear expectations and fair wages. In fact, Switzerland manages to have one of the highest wages in the world for any job without having an explicit minimum wage. It is accepted as a social norm that people are not paid less than around 50K CHF - even if they are dishwashers, cleaners or ski patrol. And, certainly ski patrol workers in the US are often under-employed and struggle to make ends meet even when they are working, due to high housing costs in the ski areas. I explained to my friend the phenomenon of “ski bum” and “couch surfing”. While the US values maximal flexibility, Switzerland values maximal security. Neither model is perfect, but it is worth seeking to understand the differences and why they exist.
God bless the metric system
Last but not least, you will notice I am writing about things in the metric system. On this point, I will be unambiguous. The metric system is vastly superior in every way, and the US should get with the program.