An education is something every human being someday has to go through. In Norway, the school system is divided into two main parts: One obligatory part consisting of ten years of teaching, and the Norwegian equivalent to the American high school: A further education option called "videregående skole". The latter option is parted into three years, one obligatory year and two further teaching courses. In 1994, the then Norwegian education Secretary of State, Gudmund Hernes introduced a new reform with the rather unoriginal name "Reform 94". This reform reorganised the Norwegian secondary school system completely, and among other things forced students to purchase entirely unused books for their studies. Three years later, a new Reform was carried through. Unsurprisingly, it went under the name "Reform 97". This reform forced six-year-old kids to attend school as well. Both of these reforms forthwith got unpopular with teachers and pupils, among others.

When the Norwegian government carried through their Reform 94, quite a few eyebrows were raised. People were wondering why Norway needed such a sudden change of education system, and just how all the somewhat poor students everywhere should afford to purchase new books for almost every semester that went by. The major feature of Reform 94 was that every person now could demand a place in one secondary school or another, even if he/she didn’t have good enough grades on his/her graduating certificate to make it to his/her first choice of studying course and school.

In the Norwegian teaching plan, there is clearly stated that the education processes’ mission is to expand the student’s moral abilities. It is focused on humanitarian values, and the student should now as well learn how to deal with other people. In brief, the education no longer only focuses on unmodified theory.

Then people can ask themselves: Is this the right way of teaching? Personally, I’m not quite sure. Surely, you need humane skills to cope with the real world, inasmuch as you are likely to meet other people in all kinds of situations in life. Nevertheless, some people would say that basic theoretical skills probably are the most important aspects of education. Ever since the first schools started, theory has been significant. Although it is important to learn how to deal with other people and how to co-operate with others, these are things you can learn other places in life as well. Sorry to say, theory is not one of those things.

Learning languages has always been essential to make it in life. Consequently, I think it’s nice to observe that the Norwegian government is concentrating on incorporating language in the schedules in a more substantial matter. Since this autumn, even seven-year-old kids learn English at school. Moreover, German knowledge is put into the students’ brain cells as an elective subject already from the age of 12.

I’ve now personally attended secondary school for about three-and-a-half months, and one thing I’ve noticed is the enormous amount of group work we have. Although this follows the teaching plan to the bone, I don’t see upon it as positive. For starters, if a group consists of two students with rather weak performance at school, and one person with somewhat good grades, the person with the good grades will then give the two with bad grades a rare good grade due to their group work. That is, if the one with the good grades agrees to do all the work and not get credit for his efforts. To make a long story short, I think there should be smaller amounts of group work in the schools today. The teachers should rather attach importance to individual efforts.

Methods of teaching alter extremely among teachers. One teacher can encourage their pupils to speak during classes, while others might not even let their pupils talk at all. Some teachers rely wholeheartedly on oral education, while others prefer their pupils to deliver written work at a frequent ratio. As a student for almost ten years, I have experienced a manifold of learning methods. I personally mean that teaching with the main importance on written work is the best teaching technique. I give emphasis to this by mentioning the fact that it’s easier for a teacher to judge a pupil’s performance through a written work.

When it comes down to it, the occupation you will have in the future is all decided by which studies you will attend after completing secondary school. Hence, you should take secondary school seriously, and not just give a damn about the whole thing. I.e. if you want to become a doctor or a likewise prestigious occupation, you’ll need extremely good grades from secondary school.

Which occupations are the most appropriate to educate into? In these high-tech days, computers and mainly the Internet are on everyone’s lips. Thus, a job somewhere in that business will secure your future job carrier to a certain extent - apparently. Mind you, if everyone would think like this, there would probably be substantial masses of unemployed computer technicians and similar jobs in just a matter of years. So the conclusion is that there are a great deal of educating opportunities out there, yet no job secures your future when it comes to having a regular job and earning hard cash.

As you can see, there are a great deal of aspects to have in mind concerning education and a potential work career. It’s not just like you can start working at any place you want without any educational background. Take this tip from me: If you don’t have educated yourself to anything yet; do so. Because it’s not healthy to be unemployed - being in a such state decreases your self confidence and makes you lazy and sluggish. The bottom line is: Although there might be some strange things going on in the Norwegian school system, a basic education is something all people should be bound to have.