Equality

[qebab]

The point I will try to make in this thread might not apply to other countries than Norway, but I'm interested in hearing wether it does.

In Norway, the labour party has won most elections the last 100 years, and have been in control of the government for maybe 85 of those years. I am not sure wether this is why things are as they are, or if it is norwegian mentality that makes it so. Maybe it's even something else, that I didn't think about.

You see, over here, equality has always meant very much. This might sound good at first, but it isn't always so. Now, this spring was my last in norwegian school system, and I'm going to the university to study after I have had my military service now. Since it was our last spring, there have been a lot of people asking us questions, and giving us paper forms to fill out. The goal of these surveys were to find out how what we thought about school after being there for twelve years. The questions we were asked eventually got me thinking, and I remember a lot of situations those past twelve years where I'd rather equality was not the goal.

Gymnastics would be a good example, seeing as it's one of the subjects where people are very different in many senses. It would nearly always be teamgames, and if some individuals excelled - then they were told to be more of a teamplayer. "Don't be egocentric, let X have the ball!". Individuals who were good, were often taken off the pitch, so those who were mediocre would have a chance to feel like they were doing good. As a result of this, the gymnastics were never about excelling, it was about keeping yourself on the pitch. I'm sure people can see why this isn't necessarely good (You would see the same on football teams in the region, everyone were supposed to play where they wanted to, and noone would play any longer than others).

Maths is another example. When I was younger, maths was my favorite subject, and my homework was always done in time, and I did well on all tests. If I got 85%, or 90% points on a test, I would be given a pat on the back, and the teacher would proceed to tell me I was doing good. He was obviously satisfied - wether I was or not, was irrelevant. He would then go on to help pupils who didn't have any talent or interest of the subject - to get the average up. The educational system in Norway measures the success of schools in average grades. The grade system is 1-6, where 1 is failed, and 6 is the best. The average would be perhaps 3.5, for a school, usually. Seeing as it is easier to get a student from 2, to 4, than from 5 to 6, teachers are usually forced to prioritise pupils with lower grades, who either just don't care, or have problems that stems from other sources. This leads to "top notch" pupils not getting any help, and largely losing interest. I was lucky enough to have a teacher who had other methods the last two years, and managed to extend to my limits, but mostly if you do good, you'll be given a pat on the back and told you're doing good.

Why would this be a problem? Well, when you're concealed in school the teachers control your environment to a large extent - this is not how it works in "real life". Because of this way of working, a lot of sharp and talented individuals lose interest, and become merely average. The average grades are improving, but we see fewer, and fewer really talented people each year. Football is an example of a sport that is suffering because of this. We have a lot of well organised teams, but all the players that are creative, and can settle a match on their own on a good day are foreigners (With the exception of 3 players, from the top of my head). I think this an effect of how the system treats people in their youth.

But people aren't identical - of course you should put the team first, but you aren't the team. You're an outstanding individual, noone is quite like you. When the government sets themselves a goal such as; Maths students should average 4. Will they be happy if everyone eventually gets 4, and there are no longer any 5's and 6's?* If this continues, I think the society here will become dull and boring eventually.

Thoughts about this? Is this so other places also, are there any positive effects that outweights the negative one? What should be done to solve this problem? Or is there no problem at all?






* I don't think it could ever go that far, but due to people who either don't have any interest, or people who don't have any talent for subjects being prioritised 100% some places, the real talents will go lost when they lose interest when trying to learn next years curiculum alone. I know I did, until I picked it up again two years ago.