Verdighet i det pluralistiske klasserommet

Abstract

In this essay I will first present two cases from Norwegian school, where someone’s dignity may have been violated because of religious differences. I also comment on the use of words and concepts like dignity, human rights and equality of status, in curriculums and text books. After these introductory thoughts, I connect to Peter Schaber, who points out that “the violation of dignity consists in treating others as if they had no normative authority over themselves and over how they are treated” (2014, p. 159f), but also Jeremy Waldron and others who see dignity in the light of equality. The first case is a documentary produced by NRK (Norwegian Public Broadcasting Corporation) and made accessible for schools. Here we meet two Norwegian women with Vietnamese family background trying to explain their understanding of women’s karma, and a sceptic journalist who reacts in a way that may be understood as violating their dignity. The second case is a teacher student’s report from a discussion with a school teacher about how pupils belonging to Jehovah’s witnesses should be treated when they do not participate in e.g. birthday celebrations. Both cases show that violation of dignity actually is going on in Norwegian schools, and – more surprising – that it is motivated and legalized by the violator’s own value system. I therefore conclude the essay with a distinction between two ways of acting in accordance with modern humanist values: a deontological or “listening humanism” versus a teleological or “preaching humanism”.