The winner takes it all! The loser´s standing small....

I have come up with two great ways of dealing with my anger (that pops up now and again), one way is to go to my Sunday kick boxing class to kick and hit it out of the system, the other way is to write to get my anger out of my system! Being in bed since Thursday with the swine flu, option one was not really an option, so here we go:

Recently the media (news, papers, web pages, magazines etc) have been packed with the latest on the "Mueller case", you know, the skating coach that (finally) got fired. It is no well hidden secret that he was quite a character even before he was hired, and that he had a history of being "the coach from hell". Not just in his ways of coaching, but also in his way of speaking to people and his way of treating them as human beings (if he thought some of them deserved to be called human beings, that is).

After many "unfortunate" incidents, he was sacked and then all hell broke loose. Angry people from all over Norway harassed the girl, who actually paid too big a price for going to the skating association with this anyway, in all sorts of horrible ways, saying she was just a mediocre skater and would be nothing anyway, and why should she "rob" the Norwegian nation for all the gold medals this fabulous coach could bring us?

Reading this, it reminded me of my stay with my family in Tampa, Florida, when I asked dad´s cousin´s wife (who was thank the Lord only married into my family!) if she really meant that the US was better off winning no Olympic medals than having a black runner, Carl Lewis, win them. She almost shouted out a "yes"! I could not believe what I heard - the US in the 1990s and people still lived in the slavery years when blacks and whites were both separate and not at all equal! That was racial discrimination, the one(s) made by Mueller - sexual.

My question is (or rather my questions are, as I cannot seem to stop at one): are we living in a society where only the winners matter and the losers must stand small, and I mean literally small, with no self-confidence and no self-respect, yes, with nothing but "you deserve this for being such a bad sport not coping with a few sexual comments here and there!" I wonder if coaches and other authorities around the world know how much power they have and how easily they can use that power to break people rather than to make them better? Think about kings and presidents, bosses and teachers. Are we really aware of the huge responsibility that lies on our shoulders and that you, the people, the workers and the students are at the mercy of us and the decisions we make, the words we use and the ways we react?

This Sunday I had a discussion going on with one of my students in the E-class about what some teachers can allow themselves to do. I could not believe what she told me! I must say that most of the teachers I know are fair, respectful and do listen to their students, but unfortunately not all are. I guess that goes for people in all occupations, but a recent study shows that teachers generally are too afraid to speak up about their students rights in fear of being treated badly amongst their colleagues.

Anyway, this was not really supposed to be a blog entry about teachers, but about people in power and how they deal with this power. Another topic I tried to shed some light on was whether people of different races or different sex deserve to be treated like crap just because they are mediocre and not winners!

Well, luckily, the winner did not take it all all this time. In fact he lost, and it was about time he did, if you ask me!

Go you people who dare say your opinion!

DECEMBER QUIZ

Where is this picture taken?

Remember, both city AND location is necessary:0)

"OH MY GOD!" (No offence)

Foto: Astri Marie Remme

Tonight, at 7 pm, I checked in at "Hotel Hvarnes". I must admit that I was not sure what to expect, but as soon as I "entered" the lobby, I knew that this was a "show for me" (Susanne and Eline will know what I am talking about!) It started off with a fierce song and a catchy melody. And I promise you, these girls (and boys) can sing!

The guests were many. Petter Solberg with his selfmade English always makes me laugh, but no one, NO ONE is like the one and only Jan Thomas! Eline´s interpretation of him was "spot on", and I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants! JT has always been my favorite. Now and again I take my laptop with me to the couch to watch an episode or two of Fanthomas. (My husband rolls his eyes and thinks I am mad, but there are so many fascinating things about this (wo)man!) I also loved the Facebook visitors, the wedding guests (especially the priest!), the bubble babes and the bet.

All the songs were great, but "Back to the 90s" certainly took me back to the 90s and the 80s (Aqua´s original lyrics).

To sum it up, this was a show packed with a lot of humor, energy (where do you get all that energy from, Susanne?), catchy music, meaningful lyrics and "spot on" numbers. If I was to critique "Hotel Hvarnes" for a magazine or a newspaper I would certainly give it a 7 on a scale from 1 to 6.

Way to go girls! I am already looking forward to visit "Hotel Hvarnes" next year!

PS! If you have seen a show, a film or a play lately that you think was so exciting that it is worth sharing with me and the other students in class, feel free to write me a blog comment, a report, a review or just a personal text on it!

We don´t need no education! Or do we?

Last week I spent three days on a seminar in Røros with well educated IT-people. One of the lectures we had when we arrived (9 hrs late!) included watching the You Tube video "A vision of students today" by Michael Wesch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o). This video brought up a lot of questions and reflections.

If I used Google Docs in my teaching, would that improve my teaching?
How much would a reduction in class size improve my teaching?
Do as few as 18% of Norwegian college teachers know their students´ names?
How important is a personal relationship between a student and her teacher?
Is very little of what we try to teach our students relevant for their lives?
Do I use IT too much or too little in my teaching? (Less formal writing, more informal?)
Are students today living lives that are too stressful?
What will the future look like?
Will the world ever be a peaceful world?

I suggest you watch the video yourself and see if you can come up with some good answers......