Open letter to the Minister of Education, Norway

Шystein Kеre Djupedal
Minister of Education and Research
The Office of the Prime Minister
P.O. Box 8001 dep.
(NO-)0030 Oslo

I am a Norwegian American teacher, and medical professional working in a high school in Norway. Though I enjoy teaching immensely and have little interest in politics I feel compelled to bring the following important matter to your attention.

I am frustrated by the large number of unprepared and incompetent students and teachers who are directly inflicting a heavy toll on Norwegian society. In 2001, Norwegian high school students ranked 13th in the world in basic science knowledge. Today, four years later, they rank 28th.

Laziness, low standards, low expectations, and a lack of discipline at the high school level appear to be the main reasons students never develop proper study habits. Simply stated, students do not develop proper study habits because they are never expected to. For example, students are allowed to bring many pages of notes copied directly from their notebooks and texts to their examinations. Students do not have to study or think because they know they can simply copy answers to an examination. This harmful practice is promoted and not questioned by most teachers and administrators.

Teachers assign little or no homework. Classes are interrupted by frequent ten-minute "free" periods because teachers are afraid students will become "too stressed." This ridiculous attitude of not "stressing" the students promotes a total disregard for structured learning, and makes a mockery of Norwegian education.

Instead of actively promoting reading and writing, students are allowed to waste countless hours serving the Internet. Achieving, brighter students are short changed because class time is wasted. A considerable majority of students in my classes do not have even the most basic mathematical or science competence. At least two-thirds of the students I question cannot handle such basics as fractions, percentages, or simple science facts. Only a few students in a one class knew that it takes a full year for the earth to revolve around the sun.

We, the undersigned, in an effort to improve the quality of education in Norway, urge policy makers everywhereat all levels of governmentto take the following steps:

Make education a national priority commensurate with its supreme national importance, affirmed through a significantly greater commitment of financial and human resources,

Promote greater teacher accountability thru regular written examinations of teachers basic science and math knowledge.