Discussion: Corona measures have gone too far for young people

There is nothing I regret more than tacitly accepting the authorities’ coronavirus measures that have affected young people.

This is the facts. The facts express the writer’s position. You can send logs and discussion posts to [email protected].

Firstly Svenbe, Leader in The right of youth

Results from OECD School Survey Hit again like a bomb.

The PISA survey shows that Norwegian students have never performed worse in reading and are getting worse in mathematics.

By all accounts, development is going in the wrong direction. She was serious.

After that, the political debate became highly predictable. Many politicians seem more interested in riding their own fads, rather than approaching the report and numbers with an open and curious mind.

Digital skeptics believe screen use is the explanation. Test skeptics believe a culture of stress and pressure is the explanation.

While those who question the government believe that its policies are the explanation.

These are all exciting discussions. The problem is that the PISA numbers are not the only negative development we have seen recently.

Educators report that violence in schools is a growing problem. The mental health of children and young people is deteriorating. At the same time, more and more people are concerned about young people’s relationship with drugs, or the increasing celebration of drugs.

I don’t think evolution came about by chance.

If I had been asked, when I was 15, if I could drop out of high school, I probably would have said yes. After all, these are uncertain and uncomfortable years for many. Many felt embarrassed to move forward, doing their best to survive.

When I myself went to high school, I probably thought that my feelings of inferiority and social awkwardness were somewhat unique. Today, I understand that feelings are the rule, more than the exception. Perhaps this is the feeling that everyone should feel.

One spends the years, especially in high school, getting to know other teens, parents, and the school system. Which, overall, will be very formative years for your personality and identity.

Years deprived of those who were going through when the Corona virus came to Norway.

Today’s high school students, and those who just graduated, are seriously Corona waste. They were just starting middle or high school when the community shut down.

As society opened up again, they had to move forward. Either for high school, or for further study and work.

Today’s younger generation would have faced its challenges anyway. We also saw many developmental traits dealing with school violence or poor mental health before the pandemic.

But I believe that the anti-coronavirus measures have been harmful in themselves, as well as having reinforced already existing challenges.

I remember, for example, the celebration of May 17, 2021. I celebrate every year with the same group, and I did the same thing then. We have considered the current Corona measures as a guideline in 2021, so that everyone in your group of friends can participate.

Quite a few did not. In Oslo, the restrictions included five and ten people throughout the pandemic. I don’t think we should underestimate the number of people who were in sixth place. Or number eleven

Who might just be starting a new school and environment, and who should use the time to make good friends. But they were not invited due to restrictions on state and municipal numbers.

At Unge Høyre, we feel all too well the consequences of social restrictions. Now we spend more time keeping people calm, because the concentration of new members is worse than it was before the pandemic.

We spend more time and resources on resolving conflicts that were previously resolved in high school. But who is now attending high school?

This year is also the first time an outside speaker has come to me with a message of concern. He believes that this year, unlike two, four and six years ago, it has been harder to give honest feedback.

Because everyone seemed more sensitive than before.

In other words: what you mostly got rid of in high school, those who missed out on regular high school carry on with them. One notices that there are some developmental features that are simply missing.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this also affects academic outcomes. We know that corona-borns have not learned what to do. The then Education Minister, Tunji Brenna, admitted this when she canceled classes
Examination in 2022. UDIR’s justification that overturned the decision was that “the pandemic has affected the quality of education.”

Those whose private examination was canceled were sent directly to further studies or work without further discussion. As for those who have not yet finished their studies, we can now read about them in the PISA survey.

In Norway, we tried to assess and evaluate the authorities’ handling of the coronavirus. This is a reasonable. But there is still a lot missing.

I do not think we have taken into account the consequences that this decline has had on young people. The debate on how to compensate for the loss of learning, socialization and youth in general is non-existent. Not good enough.

We can start by apologizing to whoever was the eleventh participant in the gang, as the state only allowed ten people. Or those who have lost basic training and social stimuli. It shouldn’t happen again.