21 minute read
Kulttuuria kampukselta
Lassi Leppänen viimeistelee kauppakorkeakouluopintojaan, työskentelee OP Kevytyrittäjä -palvelun asiantuntijana sekä ihmettelee elämän kummallisuuksia Ihan Pihalla -podcastissa. Lassin kanssa podcastissa keskustelevat Kemistä Ouluun muuttaneet veljekset Jyri ja Henri ”Henkka” Pesonen.
”OLEN AINA OLLUT SELLAINEN TEKEVÄ TYYPPI, joka haluaa olla kaikessa mukana ja kokeilla erilaisia asioita.
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Ihan Pihalla -podcast sai alkunsa spontaanisti Levin mökkireissulla pari vuotta sitten. Jyri ja Henkka ovat taustaltaan muusikkoja ja heidän bändihommansa olivat tuolloin tauolla, joten päätimme kasata äänitysvehkeet autoon, huristella mökille ja kokeilla jotain ihan uutta. Automatkan aikana podcastille oli ehditty kehitellä jo nimi, tunnari ja konsepti. Siitä reissusta lähtien olemme julkaisseet jaksoja viikoittain, ja nyt podcastia on tehty jo yli 110 jaksoa.
Siinä missä päivätyöni OP:lla ei ole koskaan tuntunut työltä hyvän jengin takia, pätee sama myös podcastiin.
Alusta lähtien podcastin ideana on ollut se, että mennään poikien kanssa yhdessä hengailemaan ja äänitetään meidän välinen, aito kommunikaatio podcast-jaksoksi. Minulle hyvä porukka on kaiken lähtökohta niin koulussa, työelämässä kuin harrastuksissakin. Kun ympäristö on luonnollinen ja turvallinen, on asioista helppo puhua.
Haluamme tehdä podcastissamme mahdollisimman paljon huumoria sekä itsestämme että vallalla olevista trendeistä ja ajankohtaisista aiheista. Keskusteluille ilmeistä on myös podcastin nimi ”Ihan Pihalla”, joka liittyy jonkin asian kyseenalaistamiseen. Saatan vaikka sanoa pojille, että: ”Hei olen vähän pihalla tosta laturaivosta, ymmärrättekö te sitä konseptia yhtään?”.
Podcastissa kuulutetaan myös paikallisuuden perään, sillä haluamme tuoda Oulua ja Kemiä maailmankartalle.
Jutuistamme ilmenee välittäminen asuinkuntiamme kohtaan, mutta osoitamme myös kriittisyyttä.
Vitsailemme usein esimerkiksi Oulun kangas-päätteisistä asuinalueista, kuten Metsokangas, Kiulukangas, Aaltokangas ja niin edelleen. Minulla on myös oma nimikkoannos tuiralaisessa Grilli-Swingissä, jossa luomukseni kantaa nimeä ”LASSIKKO”. Lassikon syöminen vie kokijan korkeimmalle mahdolliselle kummikuuntelijuuden tasolle, eli lassikkotasolle.
Minun roolini podcastissa on varmaankin olla sellainen pakansekoittaja, joka tuo uuttaa kulmaa keskusteluihin.
Tulemme poikien kanssa erilaisista taustoista, joten meillä on monesta asiasta eri kokemuksia ja fiiliksiä. Pojat ovat muusikonretkuja, ja minä taas entinen lupaava jääkiekkoilija ja muutenkin urheilutaustaa omaava tyyppi. Jaamme samat arvot keskenään, mutta olemme myös monista asioista eri mieltä. Se on iso osa podcastin dynamiikkaa, eikä tämä olisi mitään ilman meitä kaikkia.
Podcastimme on äänitorvemme omiin asioihimme ja mielipiteisiimme. Keskustelua ei moderoida ja leikataankin vain hyvin vähän. Se on podcastimme omaleimainen tapa tuottaa helposti lähestyttävää sisältöä. Olen aina ollut innokas jakamaan mielipiteitä, mutta podcastin kautta olen päässyt enemmän esille ja purkamaan paljon omia patoumia. Ehkä esiintyminen ja esilläolo ovat lähellä meidän tarpeitamme, ja podcastimme on yksi ilmaisutapa muiden joukossa. Pojat ovat muusikkoja, joten he ovat tottuneet olemaan esillä. Itselleni taas podcast on ainoa kanava ajatuksieni julkituomiseen.
Isoin asia podcastin teossa minulle on kuitenkin se, että joku arvottaa sitä niin korkealle, että käyttää viikostaan tunnin, kuuntelee meidän juttujamme ja on niistä jotain mieltä. Ei niinkään se, kuinka paljon meitä kuunnellaan, vaan se, että aina on joku, johon se kolahtaa. Se on ihan parasta, että saa tuotettua jollekin toiselle viihdettä ja herätettyä reaktioita. Ja tietysti se tekee aina hyvää, kun pääsee poikien kanssa jauhamaan.” •
International students’ funding reformed
The Board of the University of Oulu will discuss a reform of the scholarship model for international students at its meeting on Thursday, February 25th. According to the Student Union of the University of Oulu, the new model weakens the position of international students and the preparation of the reform has been undemocratic.
“THE SCHOLARSHIP MODEL IS TO BE WEAKENED for students from outside the EU and EEA area”, says Olli Joki, Chairman of the Student Union of the University of Oulu Board (OYY).
At the beginning of the week, OYY issued a statement on the decision-making process regarding the scholarship reform. Criticism is not limited to the weakening of grant funding, it especially concerns the decision-making process. OYY’s Board says that the reform of the model has been planned since December, but the proposals made to the University Board do not reflect a long process.
“Our criticism is that grants are being weakened. We are concerned about how this will affect the international attractiveness of the University of Oulu in the future”, Joki says.
“We are also concerned about how the University board was presented with a completely different presentation of what had been discussed in the Education Management Group. In our opinion, such urgent and careless preparation is not good administrative practice or in line with the values of the university.”
The Education Management Group is the part of the university administration that decides on the management and development of education. Its task has been to plan the reform of the scholarship model. According to Joki, however, the discussions in the Education Management Group have not been taken into account. “The University Board is now being presented with a completely different model than what was to be presented on the basis of the discussions. This model is much weaker from a student’s perspective.”
In its statement, OYY demands that the decision-making process be suspended and that the reform of the grant model be prepared more thoroughly. The goal of the statement is that the University Board meeting on Thursday would not approve the models presented to it. OYY also says they are worried because the consequences of the new models have not been estimated.
Presented to the Board on Thursday are four different options for scholarships. In the first option, no scholarship is awarded to the student at all.
In the second option, each student pays the fee for their first academic year in full. From the second year onwards, the student has the opportunity to be reimbursed 70 percent of the tuition fee, as long as they have completed the required number of studies and have fared well in their studies. In bachelor’s programs for the third year and for master’s studies, the scholarship is 70 percent per year if the same conditions are met.
In the third option, the student also pays the full tuition fee in the first year. For the second year of study, the grant is 50 percent if the conditions are met. In bachelor’s programs, the scholarship for the third year and master’s years is 50 percent.
The fourth option is for exceptional cases. It grants scholarships every year and the percentage stays the same throughout your studies. With current scholarship models, a student can receive either a 50 percent scholarship, a 75 percent scholarship, or a full scholarship. In each current model, the scholarship continues through the studies if the student completes 60 credits during the year. The change proposed in the reform would therefore be big, especially for the first year students.
“An individual student in particular cannot be at all sure if they will receive a scholarship for their entire study period. The new grant system also limits applicants to those from only a good socio-economic background, which may limit the number of good applicants”, Joki says.
The current tuition fees are around 10,000 euros depending on the subject. With the current scholarship model, at best a student pays nothing for their tuition and at maximum they pay 5,000 euros per academic year.
In the models proposed to the University Board, the student will have to pay the entire 10,000 euros for their first year. After this, depending on the model, they pay either 5,000 euros or 3,000 euros per academic year. For example, a three-year bachelor’s degree currently costs from zero to 15,000 euros and, based on the proposed model it would cost at least 16,000 euros.
Of the proposed models, the most advantageous for the student corresponds to the most expensive option of the current model. On top of that the student will in any case have to pay the full amount of 10,000 euros for their first year. Taken as a whole, the new proposals increase the tuition fees for individual students.
“I don’t understand what motivates this change. It is going well now, so why change this system? One of the pillars of Finland’s education system is free and quality education for all, this step by the university weakens it”, Vivek Manjunatha Swamy of the OYY Board says.
“Changing the scholarship system limits the opportunities for international students. It is no longer a single question of whether they are academically qualified, but of their financial situation too.”
The number of scholarships has decreased since 2018 and the model now being prepared would further reduce the scholarship received by the student. The University justifies reforming the model by cutting red tape and developing education.
“One significant thing that will change is that the number of grant recipients will be reduced. This was not discussed at all in the Education Management Group”, Eetu Leinonen, OYY’s Specialist of Academic Affairs says. “Our intention is that no decision be made.”
OYY would also like to see broader perspectives and the consideration of the students themselves in making the decision. Manjunatha Swamy hopes that international students will be asked for feedback on this matter before making this huge decision. Joki also emphasizes that international students have other options than Oulu.
“Although this does not affect the lives of current international students, one should ask why international students chose Oulu. Did the available grant affect their decision?” Joki ponders.
The decision on the new scholarship model will be made at the university board meeting on Thursday, February 25th. It remains to be seen whether OYY will be able to delay the decision-making or return the matter to preparation, as hoped in their statement. •
Is there enough ITE for everyone?
From the very beginning of its existence, the Intercultural Teacher Education training programme (ITE) has been struggling to offer a fully English speaking programme in a Finnish speaking environment. The recent changes in the programme’s name and applicational status have made the programme more reachable for international students. The question still remains: what does the programme offer for its non-Finnish speaking students exactly?
THE INTERCULTURAL TEACHER EDUCATION training pro- The use of English: a useful tool or a complication? gramme (ITE) offers a unique model of teacher education: a Finnish teacher education programme with a multicultural ITE has been struggling to be fully functional in English approach. from the very beginning of its existence.
In 2019 ITE had to comply with a new Finnish legislation Anca M. Catana, a fifth-year Romanian ITE student, has and choose only one language of instruction: English. The not been able to take all the classes offered by the proprogramme also had to change its status into an internation- gramme in English. She had to force herself to take music al programme. theory in Finnish and could not take an optional course in
“This change has certainly complicated the application pro- literature because it was only offered in Finnish. cess”, says Jani Haapakoski, education designer and study “As for the use of English, there have been a lot of weird advisor of the program. situations when sometimes the teachers asked my FinnIn Finland, there are two application periods for higher education in spring. The first period (7.1.–20.1.) concerns programmes where the language of instruction is something other than Finnish or Swedish and art university ” Changes have been rather ish classmates to translate”, Catana tells. “It was unfair for everybody.” “It has happened multiple times that the teachers did not know that not all of the students of their class spoke Finnish and they only found programmes. The second period is for programmes in which the language of instruction is Finnish or Swedish. For now the ITE is in the confusing for candidates and out during the first lecture,” a second-year-student Filip Polák tells. “These kinds of problems decrease the quality first period. This change has caused some trouble for the also for us. of education.” English causes problems also at an adminITE programme, since its main target audience istrative level. One of the issues is the lack of is not international but rather national: Finnish speaking high English translations in emails. Even though the situation is school graduates who during the first period of applying are a little better than it used to be, there is still room for imusually busy studying for the matriculation examination held provement. in February and March. “Just recently we got an email in Finnish concerning the
In 2020 ITE programme coordinators tried to make it possi- impact of the Covid-19 situation on the organization of ble for the ITE programme to be both in the first and second studies in spring 2021,” Catana tells. “The email was first period of applying. This is why the programme’s name was sent in Finnish and only a couple days later in English bechanged into Finnish for the year. However, this was not possi- cause we had complained.” ble, because according to national policies, a programme can have only one language of instruction. Progress has been made but is it enough?
“These changes have been rather confusing for candidates and also for us”, Haapakoski admits. Currently the programme According to Katri Jokikokko, one of the teachers of the has only an English name once again. programme, studying in a Finnish university and not know-
Haapakoski says that the number of applicants has dropped, ing Finnish might cause feelings of exclusion for non-Finnafter the applying period was moved to the first period: in 2016, ish speaking students. there were 184 whereas in 2020 the number of applicants was This is why this year the ITE has taken notice of these 139. However, this year the programme has regained its previ- problems and tried to make the programme more available ous popularity with 170 applications. to its international students.
“The ITE programme should not be in the first period, since it This is done by having more courses available in English. is not an international programme per se but a Finnish teacher The optional course that Catana had to take in Finnish, for education program taught in English”, Haapakoski argues. instance, is now also available in English.
According to Jokikokko, this year the ITE launched a project that aims to reinforce the use of English within the programme. More support is given to teachers that are not that comfortable with English. The ITE helps teachers to translate their teaching materials and to get more confident with the use of English.
Even though the ITE has put more effort to satisfy its international students within the programme, it is still not very clear what an international ITE graduate can do with the degree.
Fourth-year ITE student Waldo Seppä says that the problem is the employability of non-Finnish speaking ITE graduates in Finland.
According to Finnish law, technically all graduates are qualified to teach in Finland, but if a job seeker does not hold a C2 certificate either in Finnish or Swedish, and also a certificate of university level studies of the other language, they cannot get a permanent position in a national or municipal school. The only exceptions for this are IB schools and international schools where the official language of instruction is English.
“On one side, it is unfair, but at the same time, I kind of understand that Finns want to make sure that teachers are the most qualified they can be. In Finland you have to be prepared to teach the Swedish minority. This is an unfortunate set of circumstances for foreigners”, Seppä says.
For Catana, the problem is that the ITE does not offer enough Finnish language courses or beginner level Swedish courses for its own students. If someone needs to start Swedish from scratch, the only option is to go to upper secondary school for adults (aikuislukio).
The situation is further complicated for students that don’t speak English as their first language. Catana explains that Finnish international schools have high expectations for the level of English of their teachers and teacher candidates are often assumed to have taken English as a minor. However, a minor in English is not automatically available for the ITE students.
“It is hard to get accepted to the English minor programme, since the faculty of humanities have a quota for their own students”, Catana says. “You have to be among the best in order to get in.” For Catana, the main problem of the ITE is that it is not able to meet the needs of all of its students. An international student who does not speak English as their first language has fewer opportunities for teaching in Finland than their Finnish and English speaking classmates.
“The ITE should offer its international students the possibility to take Finnish language as a minor in order to properly learn the language”, Catana argues. “Having a quota for ITE students for the English language minor would also be very helpful.”
For Polák, one solution might be to increase collaboration between the ITE and Finnish international schools. “I would very much welcome this kind of cooperation, since we have a perfect programme to match with the needs of these schools.”
Katri Jokikokko hopes the rigid legislation considering both the language of the program and the language requirements for job seekers would change in the future.
“The ideal for us would be an adaptive plurilingualism, not only the use of English”, Jokikokko reflects.
For her, it would be necessary that everybody could be included in the instruction in English but in case it is needed, it would be possible to also use Finnish and study other languages as well.
A fourth-year ITE student Nicole Gonsalves also mentions that it would be interesting to have the option of using both Finnish and English in Multidisciplinary Studies.
“It would have been useful to get the important terminology both in Finnish and English, since we are going to work both in English speaking and Finnish speaking environments”, Gonsalves says.
Catana believes that the ITE has a lot of potential that could be used to develop the programme to different directions.
“Currently the programme is only seen as a Finnish teacher training programme. It could be such a magnet for international students if one could combine teacher education with other kinds of studies such as advocacy, psychology or political sciences”, Catana ponders. •
The rich man’s joke is always funny
Jokes, same as idioms, are difficult, if not impossible to translate into another language. The “flowers of humor” bloom differently in different places. In order to understand a joke, knowing the meaning of the words composing it is not enough, but a thorough understanding of the culture surrounding it is needed.
HERE IS AN EASY ONE: What do bees do if they need a ride? Wait at the buzz stop!
Two-line jokes are pretty popular. They are easy to remember, fast to tell, and quite ingenious most of the time.
In his 2005 book Humour across Frontiers Richard D. Lewis gathers this type of jokes under the umbrella term of humorous incongruity. In this category, the punchline can come from an animal behaving like a human and a human behaving like an animal or people and things being in unexpected places.
But here is another one: What did the duck say when she bought lipstick? Put it on my bill!
Although joking and laughing are practiced in any culture and by any human being (and even other beings), we might find slightly different things funny.
According to Lewis, slapstick humor seems to amuse people from all continents. Moreover, some popular jokes seem to travel around the world but take a local flavor, like jokes about who must jump first out of the airplane, elephant jokes, restaurant jokes and even death.
Why are there gates around cemeteries? Because people are dying to get in!
Lewis also explains some general traits of humor in different geographic areas.
According to him, Nordic humour is “the driest of all” (do you agree?) and jokes are often at the expense of Sweden, regarded as more pompous than the rest.
What is the example of a successful Nordic economic co-operation?
The Finns invent a product, the Swedes manufacture it, the Danes sell it and the Norwegians buy it. However, in other parts of the world, the humor changes entirely and is often political, in a despairing irony, or concerned more with words and ideas. In some countries, the sense of humor is subtle, focusing on irony and sarcasm, whereas in others it is crucial that humor doesn’t cause a person to “lose face.” Even traffic jams can become a source of amusement.
Personal bloopers
In my freshman year at the University of Oulu, my Finnish peers were over-enthusiastic about their student overalls. As it wasn’t something I was familiar with, I didn’t get what all the hype was about. Still, I got the idea that you were supposed to sew some patches on it, which reminded me of my parents’ stories about having different patches and pins on their school uniforms during Communism.
So I joked about how I should ask them if they have any of those patches left somewhere and sew them on my student overall. To my surprise, instead of laughing, my classmates stared concerned at me and one asked very seriously, “Why would you do that?”. The idea of sewing such patches probably sounded anything but funny to them.
Another humorless situation I encountered was during one of our lectures. While talking about the Moomins, I casually mentioned that I never heard of Moomins before coming to Finland. A classmate’s reaction to that was something along the lines of “Did you live in a cave?” It might have sounded funny to my classmate, but it went over my head.
I imagine that my classmate was unaware that during most of the time when the Moomins comics were published, between the 50s and the 90s, foreign goods and media were censored and forbidden in my home country, so there is no surprise that no Moomin managed to get in.
East German: ‘Capitalism is the root of all evil.’. Hungarian: ‘Is that so? How would you define capitalism?’ East German: ‘It is the exploitation of man by man.’ Hungarian: ‘And Communism?’ Czech: ‘Obviously, it’s the opposite’.
Three barbers, one Italian, one French and one Greek, competed with each other on a Roman street. The Italian’s sign read: “The Best Barber in the Country” The French “The Best Barber in the World” The Greek “The Best Barber on this Street”.
The ‘secret’ Italian joke
From a fellow student who used to live in Italy a while back, I learned about a joke that received lots of laughs from the locals. But when he told the same joke outside of Italy, he noticed that often people became confused rather than amused, and found himself explaining it, which ruins the joke, of course.
The joke tells about three soldiers, one German, one Japanese, and one Italian, captured by the allies during World War II and thrown in a cell. They are tied up and interrogate one by one. When the Italian is asked by the other two: “Well, did you talk?” he replies, “How could I talk with my hands tied?”.
Based on the reaction of the Italian public to this joke, it can be assumed that they took a lot of joy in using their hand gestures so expressively, but for a public unfamiliar with this custom, the sincere confession of the Italian soldier can come out as making no sense.
It’s no wonder that the Italian joke is sometimes challenging to understand. In a 2007 study, Nancy D. Bell pointed out that “humor can often carry an implicit negative message and thus be potentially dangerous to use”.
Moreover, while the occurrence of humor is universal, what is considered funny, as well as when, where, with whom, and under what conditions a person can make a joke, is different cross-culturally as well as between individuals of a shared culture, she adds. Still, the results of her research are surprising, concluding that misunderstandings and irritation due to confusion over humor in cross-cultural communication may not be that common.
A while ago, in 1988, Hasenauer wrote that in a pluralistic society with continuous contact between members of different ethnic, racial, and cultural groups, the study of humor can offer a closer look at emerging intercultural relations. Funny enough, the study of humor didn’t get much popularity until the 2000s.
Joking aside
In business and negotiations, continues Lewis, the Germans and the Japanese see humor as out of place, while in the USA is seen as a way of provoking more rapid progress. In France, it can be used to demonstrate a superior viewpoint and, for Brits it’s a multi-faceted weapon.
In his book, Do’s and Taboos of Humo(u)r Around the World Roger E. Axtell underlines that a rule of thumb for international humor is to avoid jokes at another person’s expense. Furthermore, while quoting the Foreign Service Journal, he notes that “Next to treason, making an inappropriate joke may rank as the second most taboo practice in diplomacy.”
Roger E. Axtell presents some more (mostly American jokes) that do not travel well: ethnic jokes, English malapropisms, puns, or smutty jokes. It might also be useful to remember that as comedian Steve Allen put it, “every culture, every town, every individual has his or her sense of humor”. Hence, as with everything, generalizing or stereotyping is not beneficial.
Nevertheless, humor is popular amongst all human beings but is also very contextual. A joke can have a huge success in one context while being a total disaster in a different situation.
That being said, you shouldn’t completely restrain yourself from joking every time someone unknown comes around. But if you decide to use humor, it might be wise to observe first what kind, if any, is used and enjoyed by the company before trying the water (even if you speak sarcasm as your second language). •
