Graduates don’t bother to be Russian and are supported by Ola Svenneby (H), who was the only one in the class without Russian trousers.
– I think that today’s debate is a little too much about having one common Russian time for everyone. I would rather wish that they created a youth culture where there was more room to make their own choices and where the pressure was not so great, says Svenneby to VG.
Even the leader of Unge Høyre was not drunk among the graduating students at Hamar Cathedral School in 2017, which you can hear more about in the video at the top of the story.
– I don’t think that culture was that attractive to me. I had the opportunity during Father’s Day to drink more than enough alcohol there and have partied more than enough afterwards, says the 27-year-old and adds:
– I’ve never really regretted that I wasn’t a Russian either.
BSU rather than bus
Gøril Sofie Auno-Stai at Vågen high school in Sandnes is dropping the Russian celebration this year:
– Not everyone has the finances to be drunk, says Auno-Stai, who has also spoken to NRK.
– Russian culture is also far too much about drinking and partying. I don’t want to stand behind it as an abstinence person, she says.
Auno-Stai would rather put the money into the housing savings account.
– That makes mum proud, she says.
Brage Grimsland at Risør upper secondary school shares Auno-Stai’s frustration with the high costs:
– It costs an insane amount of money. I don’t see how NOK 10,000 on country meets and Russian clothes add up when I can have three times as much fun with friends for two hundred NOK, he says.
Grimsland was interviewed together with several fellow students in the local newspaper Aust Agder Blad earlier this year. Of this year’s 19 graduating students, only four are drunk.
– There has always been a majority of drunks at this school, as far as I know we are the first class where the majority don’t bother, says Grimsland to VG.
Do you think that Russian time should be changed?
Svenneby: Symptom of a bigger problem
Earlier this year, the government came down hard on the Russian era and said that enough is enough.
They want to change the Russian celebration to prevent peer pressure, exclusion and strain on young people – but not everything was to the Russians’ liking.
See more reactions here:
Svenneby believes that today’s Russian era is a symptom of a problem:
– If it is the case that Russian culture is exclusionary, then that exclusion does not start on May 1 of the year you are Russian. Then it is a symptom of a much larger attitude problem among upper secondary students in general.
He believes the right solution is not political interference.
– These are not children, they are adults who have the right to vote, says Svenneby and continues:
– We can have reasonable expectations of the Russians, that they take care of each other, that they have an inclusive class environment, that they behave like people. It is adult education that applies, not that politicians should step in and regulate how the seats on the buses should be.
No regrets
Grimsland is very understanding that people want to celebrate the Russian era.
– It’s only once in a lifetime, but I think many people get on a bus or van without really thinking about what they actually want to do or should do, he says.
Auno-Stai herself was unsure for a long time whether she should drop Russian time, but does not regret her choice today.
– I have been lucky to have friends who still include me in things and do not feel that I have missed anything.
She encourages others to do the same if they feel like it:
– It is a matter of course to be drunk, but there are perhaps more people who think like you and make the same choice when they see others doing it. Therefore, rather stand a little forward instead of hiding it.
- Psst! Ola Svenneby was recently in Morten Hegseth’s new VGTV podcast, see clips from the episode here:
Published: 29/04/24 at 22:00
