I have noticed that November is a hard month. And however optimistic the mood, at times it is difficult. Now darkness, now rain. A cultivated habit of always doing something gives no rest. So a gloomy November morning I begin with a cup of coffee and reading in Norwegian a nearly local newspaper. There is such a town Arendal, 30 km from my house. The town is densely populated, they have their own kommune, hospital and so on. And every morning we receive a newspaper called Agderposten, which is published in this town. I read and try to understand. It is hard for me to work out Norwegian, but I try — I develop. And then I am under the impression of what I have read. Probably I will be able to “impress” and outrage you who are reading too.
On the front page of the newspaper for 27 November it is written as follows: working as a teacher in school is becoming harder and harder: pupils push teachers, fight and scratch. National studies show that 35% of teachers have experienced violence, it is especially hard for teachers in the lower school. Anyway, Norwegian children have complete freedom of action. Living here, I am not surprised. “Gingerbread for the children, rods for the teachers!”
And today I watched the Norwegian news on TV…. a report from a prison in Oslo. There the prisoners spit in the warders’ faces. So they have already invented a special protective mask against spit, and one warder has already tried it on himself, but said that one can be in the mask no more than two hours. That is the protection they thought up. For teachers, probably, something protective should also be invented. I’ll continue tomorrow…