Are Norwegians sufficiently well mannered

By Class 6B at Storevarden School in Rogaland County. Winner of 'Nysgjerrigper of the Year' for 2008.

I wonder why

The pupils at Storevarden School are very concerned about environmental issues. Like the physical environment, the social environment can also be 'polluted'. If people's manners are good enough, perhaps the atmosphere between them will also improve? The children hope that focusing on each other's behaviour will have a positive effect. For that reason, the sixth-graders wanted to determine whether Norwegians' manners are good enough.

Why is it like this?

The pupils believe that older people have always felt that young people show too little respect for their elders and for other people in general. They decided to base their work on the hypothesis that Norwegians’ manners are not generally good enough. Perhaps we do not attach enough importance to good manners?

Draw up a plan for the investigation

In planning their investigation, the class decided to do the following things:

• Contact the former caretaker of the school. He would certainly have some thoughts about trends in manners over a time span of many years.
• Make a dramatisation for guests at an Open House on manners.
• Make a list of “minimum requirements for good manners”, which they would present for teachers, the mayor and parents. Perhaps those groups have something to add?
• Interview the general population – what do they think?
• Survey pupils at the school (255 pupils).
• Make covert, that is, secret observations.
• What do foreigners think?
• Contact a specialist.
• Apply for a research grant from the Nysgjerrigper Fund to make an excursion to Stavanger to do research.

In distributing the responsibilities, some of the pupils were also assigned roles as photographers, illustrators and secretaries.

Collect data

The pupils rolled up their sleeves and set to work. The meeting with the caretaker proved interesting. He told them that many years ago, adults were allowed to box the ears of rude pupils. The pupils write: “There were probably not many who dared to be rude in the light of such strict punishment. All 19 pupils sat still and listened to the caretaker. At least he thought we had very good manners!”
 
At the Open House and the discussion of 'minimum requirements', the pupils emphasised table manners and how people greet each other and socialise. The minimum requirements for what constitutes good manners were approved by all the adults who examined them. These minimum requirements were used for covert observations that took place on the bus on the way to swimming classes, during recess and at restaurants.
 
The project's most important tool for gaining knowledge was a survey taken among no fewer than 834 people of different ages.
 
One of the pupils has a grandmother from Austria. She thinks that Norwegians are polite and friendly – more so than the people in her own country. But she adds that many Austrians think that Norwegians lack a sense of humour and do not have good manners.
 
Finally, the pupils contacted a research group in Stavanger. The research specialist they talked was of the opinion that they had used such a variety of research methods and got so many answers that it is possible to generalise.   

What we found out

The tests that gave the clearest responses were covert observation (which indicates that only 25 per cent of those observed showed good manners, based on the pupils' criteria). The questionnaire survey accounted for the most answers, based on people's opinions about manners. It indicates that 24.1 per cent feel that today's Norwegians have good manners, while 53.4 per cent hold the opposite opinion. By the same token, a large majority hold that good manners are important. Thus the conclusion of the surveys indicates that: No, today's Norwegians are not sufficiently well mannered!
 
Consequently, the pupils recommend the following initiatives:

• Place more emphasis on good manners
• Have some type of reward for those who display good manners
• Parents must take care that their children do not watch so much TV when reality series are on. Perhaps this is something parents can agree on at a parent-teacher meeting?
• Parents must behave and speak well!

Tell everyone else

These pupils have been named Nysgjerrigper of the Year 2008 and will thus be able to tell a large audience about the importance of having good manners.

View the project report (in Norwegian, PDF-file).

Translation: Linda Sivesind

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