Gave a bloody brilliant speech (well, at least I think so!) at the presentation course this morning. My topic: The awfulness of the Icelandic school system as it produces individuals totally devoid of critical thinking and feeling of social responsibility. Og hana nú! The inspiration came from a talk with my 15 year-old sister who´s doing last year of elementary school, as she told me of a boy in her class who was going to write an essay on the elections for the City Council last spring. Their teacher forbade him to write any critique whatsoever in the essay; 'you´ll learn that in high school'.

In the absence of any training of their critical thinking, it´s also kinda sad to hear that in the courses where they are taught about their rights in society, their duties are totally neglected. 'Duties?', my sis asked. 'What´s that?' Well, you know, trivial things such as paying your taxes, voting...

Coming to think of it, the first time I ever experienced a teacher asking his class to write a critical review of anything was in an undergraduate course in anthropology. That´s university, mind you. Until then, we´re not expected, in some cases not even allowed, to think; we´re expected to be nice and quiet and accept everything the omniscient teacher has to tell as the holy truth. I was naive enough to believe these days were long past.

Another thing that amazes me is something I heard on the evening news on the radio tonight: More than 80% of parents in Reykjavík are happy with the education their children receive at school.