read time: approximately 4 minutes

This week

• I started working in my university office for the first time!
• On Tues and Wed, Aug 26-27, the Oslo-based Rovers came down to Østfold, my region of the country, for our Østfold Orientation
• On Fri, Aug 29 the Rovers and I did observations at Edvard Munch Videregående skole (VGS; upper secondary school for grades 11, 12, 13 on academic and vocational tracks; Oslo)

Bonus picture before we get to the serious stuff.

I’ve been teaching since 2003, which sometimes makes me think that I know a lot about teaching. And I do. But I don’t know everything and I’m looking forward to discovering what I’ll learn here, including about myself, what and how I think about the US, and how I convey those ideas.

On Friday (28 August), the other Fulbright Rovers and I went to Edvard Munch Videregående skole (VGS; upper secondary school) in Oslo. I cannot stress enough how awesome it was to get into a classroom. I have spent the last four weeks learning about Norwegian classrooms and schooling, but to actually step into a school and classrooms and hallways and canteens (cafeterias) illustrated the statistics and information we have been fed throughout the many informative orientations.

In the last 15 minutes of an English class we were observing, the teacher had the students ask me and the other two Rover observers questions about the US. Their very first question was “Have Trump’s policies affected your teaching?” Their fourth question was, “How did you personally react to Trump’s election?” During the observation I happened to be sitting next to a pod of four young women of color. During some quiet reading time in class, they whispered, “can we ask you a question we haven’t been able to ask any other American?” Checking to make sure they had done what they were supposed to be doing during that time (“we read it last week—we were curious! And a little bored”), they asked, “What do you think about Donald Trump?” and then they showed me their F*ck Trump stickers on their computers (that’s what the sticker said; if you’re reading this you know I have no problem writing or saying fuck). The questions about Trump were overwhelming.

After dismissal, when the students were supposed to go downstairs to an all-school event, they swarmed me and my Rover counterparts. A group moved in on a Rover from Vermont, a Rover from Queens, and me. Their questions to me varied from which American film about high school is the most accurate? Is it Superbad, they wanted to know? What do I think about Guantanamo Bay? They asked more questions about Trump, about socialized policies in the US, about bullying, about gun control, about if I think America has ever been great. One kid was even like, Fuck Reagan. 

One, they are 16 years old and how do they know so much about Ronald Reagan? I teach 20 year olds who have just started learning about his destructive (housing, education, health care, economic) policies we’re still dealing with. I don’t begrudge the Norwegian students from wanting to know about the US, and perhaps I underestimated my clout as someone from the States, but I felt like I was trying to defend the United States from heinous policies that harm people and advantage a select few. It reminded me of living abroad (Morocco) during the September 11, 2001 attacks and trying to explain away conspiracy theories about who had authorized them and the country’s response. I remembered trying to explain George W. Bush to my French host family in the second semester: what’s with the axis of evil talk? You’re either with us or against us language? Are Americans really not calling them French fries anymore? 

My experiences of living abroad and trying to explain the United States are feeling like mirrors when I was talking to the students at Munch. When a new colleague and I were hiking last week she said her partner was concerned I would get a lot of critical questions about US politics. When I told her the last time I lived abroad was during the presidency of George W. Bush she said, oh, so you know. But I’m over twice the age I was when I lived abroad in college and have more teaching and life experiences to draw on. It didn’t feel that way with the students at Munch. I want students to learn about the US because they are curious, but I also feel a desire to help them also understand why I love the United States so much too, despite the exceptional flaws that drive my life’s work. It’s a question I’ve been struggling to answer this week.