Norwegians: What's Wrong with Finland?

Like news organisations around the world, the Norwegian press filled their headlines with news of the Kauhajoki bloodshed. They have been trying to figure out what led to the most recent tragic outbreak.

Norwegians pinpoint the Finnish school system as one place to look for answers. The country’s experts say Finnish students are at a far greater risk of becoming marginalised than their Norwegian counterparts. Finnish schools drive students to perform, and teachers are very results-oriented. Additionally, the Finnish education system doesn’t do enough to accommodate students, say the Norwegian experts. In comparison, Norwegian schools say their ultimate goal is to hone students’ social competence.

The Flipside of the PISA Test

Norwegian schools have been publicly heckled in the local media for students' poor results on the PISA exam, an internationally standardised assessment that measures the abilities of 15-year old secondary school students in 57 countries. But now Norwegians have started to view students’ educational performance in an entirely different light.

"Finnish schools may excel in international testing but they would perform far worse if social skills were being weighed," writes journalist Per Anders Madsen in an article analysing the events in Kauhajoki.

The public deconstruction of the school massacre in Kauhajoki has offered some degree of consolation to a country embarrassed by its average results on the PISA exam. Finland, once again, took the top spot in 2007, and its showcase results have generated considerable international interest.

"A small, secluded and quiet nation with a blood-stained recent history. A society where self-destructive hermits fall off society’s radar," writes Madsen.

A Form of Terrorism?

"Saari was a man who spoke with bullets. He initially did so on the web and then later in real life. He was looking to make a mark on history," analyses Madsen.

Madsen fluidly connects the events at Kauhajoki with terrorism. Are school shootings a new take on terrorism, he asks.

Madsen links the patterns of the school shooters to the rise of modern anarchist schools of thought over a century ago. He draws comparison between terrorist activities in Germany and Italy in the 1970s to violent expressions of anarchism.

"Anarchists said they were revolutionary and that they wanted to overthrow the state, which they perceived as an autocratic oppressor. In reality, anarchists lived in a macabre, imaginary world that was detached from reality. This is why they must be categorised as a marginal group of murderers and violent criminals whose purpose is to attract attention,” writes Madsen.

But terrorists always work in groups and have organisational ties. School shooters work alone, or do they?

Incomprehensible Gun Laws

Norwegians have also expressed bewilderment over Finland’s liberal gun laws. It’s easier to obtain a gun permit than a driver’s license in Finland, the Norwegian media reports.

Firearms merchant Sami Raunio, who sold guns both to Jokela school shooter Pekka-Eric Auvinen and to the Kauhajoki perpetrator Matti Saari, defended Finns' right to bear arms to the newspaper Aftenposten.

"It's a shame that Finland recently lost its second place global gun standing to Yemen. People need guns to fight crime," he said.

Finland has the world's third highest rate of gun ownership after the United States and Yemen.