School

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Most pupils don't like school... I'm not so sure. The whole idea of school and education fascinates me quite a lot -- people have dedicated their entire lives finding out what a pupil (or any other person, for that matter) can learn quite well in just a week... Now, don't get me wrong, I too drag myself to university Monday morning, and I definitely don't think every class is interesting. But I happen to find at least some of the subjects we're taught quite interesting, so even though the lectures are optional now that I'm at university level, I find myself in quite a few of them. :-) (The ones early in the morning are not always so easy, though ;-) )

At the moment, I study communication technology (third year) at Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet (NTNU) (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) -- so far, I find myself quite at home there, even though Trondheim sucks weather-wise compared to Oslo. :-)

For what Americans would probably would call high school, I attended Kristelig Gymnasium, a Christian [see religion] private school in Oslo. I spent six years of my life there (well, of course, I was quite a bit at home as well ;-) ), and I'm content with it. Of course, there are always things that are not quite as they should be in every place -- my school was no exception, but at least I didn't find myself constantly wishing I were somewhere else...

One thing I don't really like about school in Norway (and perhaps in the entire Norwegian society [see society] as well), is that everybody are supposed to be about as good (or should I say `as bad'). There's almost no room for somebody being better or more interested than others -- thankfully, this gets a bit better the older you get, but especially when you're in the beginning of your school years (and remember -- those are perhaps the most important years when it comes to shaping your attitude towards school), there's this "oh, how nice that you're finally doing a mistake" attitude (yes, I've experienced it personally). Fortunately, such things get a lot better when you get higher up in the school system, ultimately at university level, where such attitudes are almost completely gone. :-)

Last year of high school (ie. 2002) I managed to get to the finals of the Abel mathematical contest (a nation-wide mathematical contest for school pupils). Perhaps for the first time, I suddenly found myself in the middle of a group of people in about the same situation and level as myself (and as important -- a lot of people better than me), and it was quite fun. What perhaps surprised me, was that a big part of the group was in the exact same situation as me [see me] -- not having an opportunity to meet like-minded people [see society]. I mean, the most stimulating environment has to be one where you can meet and work together with your peers, and unfortunately, the school system in Norway isn't able to give that opportunity to those who want and need it. (There is a page with more information on this topic (although I do not agree with the author in all aspects), but it's in Norwegian only, sorry.)