A Norwegian politician from a very rightwing party wrote eleven rules for integrating children in immigrant families into Norwegian society.
Personally I felt rather sick reading most of his rules, but I decided to make a little experiment:
If that man and his family or any other Norwegian family for whatever reason (political, economical, job appointment for several years, wanting to live in a warmer climate) moved to another country (f.ex. Spain, France, UK or the States as fairly neutral choices, countries in the Western world), and then tried to apply these rules on his Norwegian family in that new situation, then:
1. They would speak
only Spanish/French/English at home. The parents would not speak Norwegian to each other or to their children.
2. They would let their children watch children's TV
only in the local language and listen to the radio
only in the local language. (No cable TV, no DVDs)
3. They would read local folk tales in the local language for their children. (Forget about the Norwegian folk stories, read in Norwegian)
4. They would let their children visit local friends from school, stay over at their homes at night and attend their birthday celebrations.
5. The parents would engage themselves in the school life of their children through parents' meetings and being elected to parents' council. (Guess their own knowledge of the local language Spanish/ French/ English is so excellent they feel really comfortable in such settings)
6. If they belong to a Protestant church, they should not send their children to a Protestant Sunday school or to any Protestant religious activities for children. (Guess Protestant Christmas celebrations in the Norwegian Seamen's Church is not good for their intergration in the local society)
7. They would be active in their neighborhood - in sports activities, the local school orchestra and voluntary work.
8. They would not go back to Norway for the long summer holidays. (Just short visits to prevent the children from feeling too connected to Norway. Hopefully the children wouldn't know much Norwegian at all, so they wouldn't be able to talk to the grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. What a blessing!)
9. Not let their children marry somebody from Norway, just the local guys.
10. Liberate their daughters and let them marry whoever they want to.
11. Let their daughters find their way on their own in the local society and not push any cultural and religious limitations and restrictions on them.
In my eyes, intergration is a long and often painful process for both parts.
I do think it helps to sometimes put yourself in the immigrants' shoes.
Language is important. Knowledge is important.
But sometimes I wonder if perhaps the country itself, in this case Norway, should try to define their basic values as a country so that potential immigrants would know what to expect.
What are
Norwegian values?
What do the "old" Norwegian citizens expect from the "new" Norwegian inhabitants?
What do the new Norwegian inhabitants (and hopefully later Norwegian citizens) feel are important values to keep from their old life and what do they see as challenges in their new Norwegian life?
How do they think they can help themselves and their children to be intergrated in Norway, according to their own expectations?
Should you be able to become a Norwegian citizen if you do not know the Norwegian language above a certain level to be tested?
Is there basic knowledge about Norway you should be tested in , before receiving Norwegian citizenship?
These thoughts are more like ramblings just now.
But I do feel this subject is important.
And I did not like most of that politician's eleven rules.
