Norwegian Apartheid in the Classroom Nov30

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Raquel Benson

is a Senior Contributor to TDA, a journalism student, humanist, and artist with issues of chronic imagination. She may be brash, but it stems from a deeper concern for the world around her.

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Norwegian Apartheid in the Classroom

Civil Rights – As far as political correctness is concerned, it’s fair to say that Oslo is having a bad year. Just months after the racially-charged shooting, a high school (not too far from the location of the massacre) has been accused of apartheid.

Segregating their students based on ethnic background, the Bjerke Upper Secondary School began by first separating students of immigrant decent into one of three rooms–something Anders Breivik would have supported whole-heartedly.

Oslo education commissioner Torge Odegaard said, “This is the first time I’ve heard about this, and it is totally unacceptable. Such a division of the students is not in accordance with the requirements of the Education Act. The school regrets this error.”

The classrooms were immediately switched back to their rational default after the ongoing complaints from the parents of the students.

Christian politician Robert Wright criticized the switch as his concern was with the “drain” of white “ethnic Norwegians.” He commented that some of the white students were beginning to feel like minorities– so clearly the only answer was to ostracize everyone else.

Principal of the school, Gro Flaten said, “We made the decision because many Norwegian students were moving to other schools because they were in classes with such a high percentage of students from other nations. They seemed to be in a minority.”

A not-so-opportune time to make a controversial decision, Norway is still not only grieving the lives that were taken as a result of the Norwegian shooting, but it is also facing an immigration influx—immigrants now make up 28 percent of Oslo’s population… Which is just too much apparently.

Read more at Huffington Post and Telegraph.