Social studies

We talked about politics, wars and all kind of events that are happening around the world. The class is orginally in Finnish, but the teacher was really lovely and she mixed it with English so we could be part of the class as well. 

On the very first lesson she asked about Hungarian politics and social situation.  We presented it in a few minutes comparing that to their situation. For example we talked about extremist parties in Hungary (Jobbik, Fidesz) also about politicians. We had to do a research about Hungarian EU members and their tasks ( we looked up Klára Dobrev and her titles). We even mentioned that Hungary often crticizes countries who stand up against the anti democratic rules in Hungary. We talked about the speech given by Viktot Orban who criticized Finland's legal system and  said that Hungary must stay strong in its dealings with Finland so he talked about finding it ridiculous when Finland calls attention to Hungary's problems regarding the law and justice.

We also talked about good things happening in Hungary compared to Finland - firstly the students in Hungary get more discounts ( train tickets, shopping, participating on diffetent camp). We talked about CSOK system as well, helping young families to settle down, buy housing, motivating them to have more kids while Finland has no support given to these families. 

I attach a part of the book:

In the map, countries with the lowest total fertility rate are shown in dark green/ dark blue / light green. Countries in the Baltic/Mediterranean region have the lowest number of children. For example, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have particularly low fertility rates /Spain, Italy and Greece / Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. The Nordic countries with the lowest birth rates are Iceland / Norway / Finland

Another big topic was the arm licences and different arms, their keeping rules. They have strict rule, they have to keep the gun and bullets in separate drawers and it has to have different keys. In order to get a gun you have to go through a very thorogh vetting.

Next lesson we had to have a short presentation about how Hungarian politics changed from the point where we joined the EU until today, mainly how undemocratic tendencies started to get a stronger voice. We mentioned that at the beginning we were enthusisatic about belonging to a large democtaric and economically developed community but after some years and Fidesz ruling the focus shifted from using EU money to improve the financial situation in Hungary to corruption and trying to break as many rules as possible.  

From the coursebook: 

The far-right Hungarian government led by Viktor Orbán Fidesz party's activities under the EPP was suspended in the spring of 2019 for repeatedly violating the rule of law in his country. Fidesz collected more than half of all votes cast in Hungary's 2019 European elections. Orbán's close relations with Russia with Russian President Putin have haunted Western partners.

Insecurity and uncertainty among young peopople like , human-induced climate change, youth exclusion, international terrorism and the global political situation. In Finland, the main causes of insecurity are against insecurity are already being prepared for in advance. It is much easier to take care of fire safety than to extinguish an already a fire that has already started.

Helsinki Rescue Department exercises very frequently. In Finland authorities are constantly training to maintain their professional skills and to prepare in advance for real situations for real situations.

They have underground bunkers for all the houses ( apartment households) where they have enough canned food for a long time. They are very prepared for any imminent danger (war, natural disasters, sudden bombing).

Cartoonist Berndt's view on the EU's peace efforts. More information on the internet recommendation for different countries:

We taked about European Parliament elections in Finland in 2019 where the most active voters were 70-year-olds, of whom around 60 per cent exercised their right to vote.  Among the young people the turnout was less than 30%.

Despite this, the Greens' young voter base Alviina Alametsä, 24, managed to rise to the European Parliament when Finland's share was increased as a result of Brexit.

We were very sad that she left for a sabbatical as the second period we could not continue our studies as the other teacher did not speak English.