Searching for partners in America

November 2018: Decorah, Iowa. Fargo, North Dakota. Moorhead, Minnesota. It is minus 12 degrees outside, and snow covers the streets. The US Midwest’s weather is similar to Norway’s this time of year, changing from minus degrees and freezing to plus degrees and mild weather.

Luther College.

14 co-workers from the University of Agder (UiA) stand outside, freezing in the main street West Water Street in front of Hotel Winneshiek in Decorah, Iowa. Most of them have travelled for around ten hours by plane Kjevik-Amsterdam-Minneapolis, and then three hours by car from Minneapolis in Minnesota to the city Decorah.

At breakfast, they are met by a large Norwegian flag next to the counter of Magpie Coffeehouse. It sounds like home when the waiter says "ver så god" in broken Norwegian and serves coffee and omelette. The waiter is one of the students attending the Norwegian course at Luther College in Decorah.

Kevin Kraus

“It is not enough to teach the students subjects. Personal growth must also be a part of it all," David Wahlberg, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications at Minnesota State University Moorhead, says.

"We believe in our students. We teach them to read and think better. The world is not either black or white, most of it is a shade of grey," Vice President for Academic Affairs Kevin Kraus said when he presented Luther College to the travellers from UiA.

The Norwegian US

Mustad at MSUM.

The states Minnesota, Iowa and North Dakota are among the most Norwegian in the US. That is why Norwegian courses are still taught for American students at Luther College.

Many of the Norwegians who emigrated to the US in the 1800s and later came to this area. The Norwegian author Kristofer Janson was a priest in Minneapolis. Norwegian author Knut Hamsun visited him several times, having two long stays in the Midwest.

To this day, you can find Norwegian names and designations on company cars, shop signs and in adverts and newspaper articles in this part of the US. Luther College was founded by Norwegian emigrants in 1861 and still holds Norwegian traditions alive, both at the college and elsewhere in the city of Decorah.

"If you build; They Vel-kommen" is the theme for the Nordic fest in 2019. Their grasp of the Norwegian language is not completely solid, but their enthusiasm is not lacking. They are proud of their Norwegian roots, and it all makes even Norwegian guests a little proud. "Lutefisk og lefse, uff da", the Americans say with a smile.

Education and societal attitudes

Minnesota State University Moorhead’s vision is "Life Transformed". Both Luther College and Minnesota State University Moorhead prioritise societal attitudes and education equally, a notion that is not foreign to those at UiA with the most international experience.

Jan Erik Mustad ordering breakfast at Magpie Coffeehouse in Decorah.

"The students who have been abroad are clearly more academically confident and better at speaking and writing English. They also become more confident as people," Jan Erik Mustad says.

Mustad is an associate professor in English at the University of Agder (UiA) and an expert on the UK.  Together with Janne Strøm-Fladstad, adviser at the International Education Office at UiA, he organised the trip to the US and Luther College and Minnesota State University Moorhead for his UiA colleagues.

Mustad has collaborated with the college in Iowa and the university in Minnesota since 2011. The goal is now to establish contact between UiA and the American education institutions for several fields of expertise. Education theory and practice, mathematics, medicine, outdoor recreation, art, Nordic language studies, kindergarten education, teacher education and English are some of the fields that were represented on the trip.

Cooperation on several fields

A cold November morning in Decorah.

"Luther College and the university in Minnesota are interested in the research and development work we do at UiA. They are positive to developing the cooperation to involve more fields than English," Mustad says.

He hopes that new agreements will be made after the visit, both regarding student exchange and exchange of professionals between UiA and the American education institutions.

"In the same way students get experience from other countries and education institutions when participating in exchange programmes, it might be interesting for an educationalist, mathematician or musician to go to another country and participate in education and research projects there," Mustad says.

For academic employees it might be a research stay with or without obligation to teach for a couple of weeks or more, all depending on what the cooperating universities agree on.

"Erasmus grants also exist for academic employees, but there are no set arrangements for exchange of academics. This is handled individually by the professionals at the cooperating universities," Mustad says.

The Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund supports stays abroad

Aaron Quanbeck at MSUM, who has family from Kvambekk in Telemark, shows the TV room he uses for the journalism education at MSUM.

Today, 15% of all Norwegian students go on exchange abroad during their studies. The same percentage also applies to UiA students.

Minister of Research and Higher Education Iselin Nybø wants to increase the number to 50 %. This aim is in line with UiA’s strategy regarding exchange and global interaction. The reason for this, among other things, is for students to get first-hand knowledge of other cultures, increase their language proficiency and be more confident in their ability to speak a foreign language.

Student exchange usually involves a stay lasting between three months and a year. Students from the teacher education at UiA have also benefitted from going abroad to carry out the mandatory six-week practical training as teachers at an American school.

The Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund has support schemes for both practical training periods up to six weeks abroad and for longer exchange periods.

"Students abroad and students at home receive the same support from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund. In addition, exchange students can apply for funding for travel expenses and school/tuition fees. Those who choose to study in Europe can also apply for an Erasmus grant," Janne Strøm-Fladstad says.

Luther College has arranged for the students of the advanced teacher education level 8-13 from UiA to have their practical training at Decorah High School. And UiA has welcomed several students from Luther College as exchange students. Cora Egherman stayed at UiA in 2017, while Peter Smith is at UiA this year.

UiA has welcomed one exchange student from Minnesota State University, while 14 students from UiA has been in Minnesota. Two UiA students have done six weeks of practical training through Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Make America kind again

The Midwest region is still characterised by plains and miles upon miles of agricultural areas, grassy knolls and lakes. Knut Hamsun wrote that the prairie there is endless like the sea. This is the countryside and part of the large American corn and grain supply. President Trump has many followers here.

But America is more than Donald Trump, even in this part of the US. Rich Fromm proposed in the local paper Decorah Journal that the Trump slogan "Make America great again" should be put away and replaced with "Make America kind again".

Fromm believes that democracy withers when the public debate does not respect people having different opinions. He states that disagreement does not mean being enemies. If so, that leads to politicians not respecting each other. That makes it difficult to meet halfway and make compromises. He believes that this way democracy will come to a stop and development will end.

Hired practical training student

People from UiA and MSUM watching a presentation.

While specialists and administrative personnel from UiA are looking for possible exchange agreements in Iowa and Minnesota, advanced teacher education student Ingrid Brekka is already tied to Iowa. She has already done her six-week practical training at junior high schools and high schools in Decorah, in cooperation with Luther College.

As a part of the education, all students from the advanced teacher education programme at UiA must have practical training at a lower secondary school or upper secondary school. Brekka has both English and Norwegian in her range of subjects and desired a stay abroad.

We meet her at T-Bock`s Sports & Grill Bar in Decorah city centre. There she also met a representative from Luther College for the first time when she came to the city in January 2017.

She believes it is necessary to stay in an English-speaking country if you want to be a confident and good English teacher. You have to get out there and get the language in your ears, body and soul. According to Brekka, six weeks might be enough to fine-tune your understanding and expression. Her clear suggestion is that everyone should go abroad, especially those who are going to teach English. 

"A stay among people who speak English provides that little extra you need to be confident in speaking the foreign language. You will appreciate that when you are in the classroom, teaching pupils. I felt more confident in teaching English after those six weeks of practical training," Brekka says.

Professor Brekka, 23 years old

Ingrid Brekka was offered a temporary position at Luther College after her six-week practical training period.

Advanced teacher education student Ingrid Brekka ended up staying longer than six weeks in the US. When the practical training period ended, she was asked if she wanted to work temporarily as a teacher at Luther College. This presented the student with a dilemma as she was in the middle of working on her master’s thesis.

But this was an opportunity the 23-year-old could not decline. After consulting with the professors at UiA, she accepted the offer from Luther College. Since autumn 2018, she has lived in Decorah and worked as a teacher at the college. The students she teaches are her age and call her "professor".

"Hehe, they call all the teachers at the college here for professors," she says.

Luther College is one of the few higher education institutions in America that still offers courses in Norwegian. The curriculum includes both Asbjørnsen and Moe and Henrik Ibsen. The driving force behind the Norwegian education is Professor Maren Johnson. She currently works on a thesis about the TV series Lillyhammer and researches Norwegian literature and culture and especially Henrik Ibsen.

Together with Maren Johnson, Brekka teaches American students Norwegian.

"The students think it is fun being taught Norwegian by a native Norwegian” Johnson, the American professor, says in Norwegian.

Faith and learning

To this day, Lutheranism, Norwegians and Christianity still hold a strong position at Luther College. Faith and learning go hand in hand here. According to Kevin Kraus when he presented the college to the UiA representatives, the students meet Christianity in education and practical training, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming.

Kraus said that the education challenges the students to read and think better.

"We want to have discussions here. The world is changing, and the world is neither simply this or that. We challenge the students to think independent thoughts, and we support them while they are here," Kevin Kraus says.

The ability to speak and write well is a central part of the education at Luther College. For a long time, the college has held the position that the students should not just study sports, history, politics and other individual fields, but that they should also have a common introduction to academic and critical thinking and writing.

Common references

Kristin Skoglund Robstad discusses cooperation with MSUM.

This common course is called "paideia". It is Greek and refers to the old Greek culture of training societal attitudes. The culture meant not just educating students but creating good citizens and personalities out of the students.

The paideia course is similar to the Norwegian course ex. phil. but is still different. Not least, the course is more focused on practical training. There is a greater focus on conversation, using arguments, critical thinking and writing than what is normal in Norway.

David Faldet is a professor of English literature and cultural history and one of those who teaches the course.

"The aim is not just to provide an overview of philosophy, idea and scientific history but to give students some common references they can use in conversation and cooperation with teachers and students at the college" Faldet says.

Learning to read once again

This year, a deep dive into Homer is the common basis. This summer, the student received a letter from the school instructing them to read Emily Watson’s new translation of the Odyssey prior to semester start.

Throughout the year, several seminars about Homer are held. Religion researcher James Hoke has hosted a seminar about the similarities between Homer and Paul the Apostle. Herbjørn Gausta will lead a seminar titled "Finding the Hjemland". The seminar will be about both the hero of the Odyssey, the Norwegian emigrants and contemporary migration.

"Today, when students are reading, they are used to having headlines, subtitles and highlights. We must teach the students to read once again when they start college. We must teach them to read, think critically and find the meaning on their own in a 200-page novel where nothing is highlighted or marked graphically and where every page look the same at first glance," Faldet says.

Playing a role

Both Luther College (pictured) and Minnesota State University Moorhead have plenty of sporting arenas, indoors and outside.

Sean Taylor gets misty-eyed when talking about paideia. He is a history professor at Minnesota State University Moorhead, but his academic foundation is from Luther College.

In 2011 he was a guest lecturer at UiA, and since then he has cooperated with Jan Erik Mustad on the research and development project "Reacting to the Past". It is a teaching programme with role playing.

Sverre Tveit from UiA (left) discusses cooperation with a representative from Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Instead of just reading about history, historical events are played out and staged. Each student is given an historic role, for example defender or opposer of the UN sending military forces to pacify the conflict in Rwanda.

"The students must familiarise themselves well with the subject matter, so they are capable of arguing for or against different historical development traits," Taylor says.

The project promotes learning history, language and critical thinking, and it is cooperative effort between Minnesota State University Moorhead, Luther College and UiA. The Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SiU) is supporting the research and development project with NOK 2.5 million for a four-year period starting spring 2018.

"The role playing is about learning critical thinking and practicing looking at an issue from different perspectives," Mustad says.

Decorah, Iowa. A typical American town.