TEC blogs

We are happy, everything is almost perfect; this is the shortest conclusion about the welfare questionnaire. 12b loves their teachers, methods that are used to teach us different theorems and some material that is necessary for tests but useless in real life. Our class was absent more than 3000 lessons which basically means that each student was not at school for one day every week. When I saw the results of the questionnaire I was quite surprised and I tried to figure out why everything is so roseate for us when we often whine and some of us are really depressed.

The first thing that I noticed was the magical number 3000. More than 3000 lessons where someone of our laborious collective was absent, that is unbelievable. Other classes did not have any change to beat us. Everything in our contemporary society is connected, the more you skip, the more you can rest and everything seems more beautiful and agreeable when you do not sit in a quiet classroom for 45 minutes 8 lessons every day. So respect goes to these students who can survive and thanks to them this huge number is still lower than 4000 or 5000.

When I remember correctly the welfare questionnaire took place in April or May. As the 11^th year in school is probably the most difficult, the end was near and that brought out our positive emotions. I do not know why but I would say that results should be quite similar or even better this year. No matter how often we say that we hate the system, or everything is bad and unacceptable, we still love our school and after the state exams we will come back to visit it. Maybe our class is too optimistic and do not take these things seriously and consider these questionnaires pointless but maybe they will help to change something. In my opinion these surveys should be done more frequently as periods are different and to calculate the average and find out the biggest problems results are needed more than once a year.

“Mina olin siin” is a film and a book about the problems of our society and generation. Back then when I first read it about 3 or 4 years ago, for me there was everything fresh about the book. The style, the topic and the fact that it had no page numbers. Even the two first lines were striking. After seeing the movie, I picked it up again, opened from a random place and read about 10 pages, because I just could not put it down. I pictured the film in my mind and played it all over again. I was amazed that I still remembered some of the minor details of the book.

The problem with richer kids is that they have all the money in the world and the parents who are making the money do not have all the time in the world to spend with their children. And that is where problems begin. In many cases parents are the ones to be blamed in the issues of their kids, because they have raised the corrupted children. Rass is a good example of how easy it is to make such mistakes when everything is not well at home and there is no father figure who could lead you to right direction.

I liked it 3-4 years ago, I like it now. I just wish that Sass Henno had written the other two books of the trilogy when he promised, they supposed to come out in 2005, but I still have not heard a thing about them. It would be a good timing in the next few years, short after the film. The movie will most definitely stay in people’s minds for a while because of its topic, disturbing scenes and great acting.

I’m scared, bloody events come closer to us every day. A few years ago shcool shooting was mostly actual in America but now tragedies are not far from us, only about 100 kilometres sunder us form Finland, where a 22 year old Matti killed 10 of his schoolmates and after that shot himself. That is not the first incident in Finland, similar massacres have happend, the latest about a year ago. His schoomates and friends charactirised him differently, some of them said that he was not self-effacing and a solitary person, as some said that he was disturbed and desperate.

Shooting and violence are not myths for the students in Estonia anymore, danger is among us everyday but we can not descry it. Guns are not toys, my point has always been that when a person buys a gun, he actually is ready to shoot and kill. Weapons are not decorative objects that can be put on a wall and I do not understand why so many people have pistols at home. I’m quite sure that they all are not ready to kill and several accidents happen because weapons are often misused by incompetent people.

It is not hard to get a weapon in our contemporary society and that is the reason why school shootings have become frequent. Life is stressful, some of us are able to tolerate the pressure and problems but some people suffer until they break down mentally. A few of them requite and that happened in Kauhajoe. Students must open their eyes; in some cases pain and anger are caused by themselves. We do not notice them among us; from day to day we meet those potential killers and maybe innocent victims, we use the same trams and busses and breathe the same air, until one day blood and tears can be seen in one of Estonian schools and we understand that the problem is real.

Mina olin siin will probably become one of those movies that everyone talks about because it is a) an Estonian movie and b) it discusses a very sensitive topic that we all have somehow been in contact with. So expect to hear about this over and over again like it happened to Klass.

The movie was quite good, in my opinion. Not the greatest achievement of cinema art but it was well-connected to the book and I loved some of the knacks René Vilbre had used, for example when Rass talks about how methamphetamine is made and his face is almost cut into two.

But the main point the movie and the book are trying to make is not how it is connected to his life but how it really is related to what we all are doing here. A point that one reviewer from Postimees made was that all parents and teachers should definitely see this movie and ponder on why it was so important for Olari that Rass went to a school of “the rich and beautiful”.

It was easy for Rass to sell drugs at his school because his class- and schoolmates were all possible buyers and users. Parents should ponder on this and really think through if they know what their child is doing because it is often so that parents think that drugs are only the concern of Russian junkies with bloodshot eyes and no place to live. 

The biggest issue with drugs is, in my opinion, not those hardcore addicts but those young people who think it relaxes, clears the mind and is all for the good. They don’t think that drugs are illegal, that they can and most probably will push you into addiction. Rass didn’t realise that selling drugs is something that bad because his intentions were good - after all, he did want to become a doctor - but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

So let’s not judge. Let’s try to understand, relate and ponder. And maybe even learn something. 

A wise boy named Agu Sihvka once said, “To tell you the truth, I must start from the very beginning.” This is my story. I have a grandmother. She is very fond of books. During soviet times there were not many books available, especially rare were foreign authors. So she has read all the books ever published in Estonian during her youth (and not so youth). Now, you must not judge me as this is not my lie as my grandmother told me that. It might also be truth, you never know. But this is not what I wanted to ponder upon. My point is that every now and then she (the granny) goes to a book store and spends a whole day there. And then she comes back with many books, of which some are for me. This was how I ended up reading Sass Henno’s “Mina olin siin”.

It must have been some years ago, because I do not remember much of it. But I do know that I really liked the book at that time. I remember reading it and thinking, drugs?? whoever does drugs? And that was what makes me think again now. But the question is, who does NOT do drugs? or rather who has not got a friend who does drugs? I am pretty sure that my viewpoint has not changed because I am older now.. The 13-year olds today go to see the film and say, dude, metha is so second grade. Well, maybe not exactly but I would not be surprised to hear something like that.

I am not sure if it was because of the good actor work or the fact that films are more reality-like than books, but this film definitely was realistic. I enjoyed (maybe not the best word) the film, it was so rude, so disgusting, so sick, but so damn good that I wanted to scream. Well, yes, Olari was too obscene to be true, but let’s face it, there are guys like that living their ugly life in some gheto, selling and doing drugs and fucking their sister. And there are the rich children who buy drugs from them, whose parents do not give a shit about their life, who have money more than they could spend. “I was here” is not a stupid overdone American movie with crazy fighting scenes and lots of guns. It is a story of our youth disclosing every little filthy secret of it. Take it or do something.

The down to earth style book written by Sass Henno and the novel-based film “Mina olin siin” by Ilmar Raag are what you can call just above average. That is of course so when you leave the rest of the world out of the picture. Everybody knows that Estonian movies are what they are, they’ll never reach the peak of the mountain and “Mina olin siin” is another proof of that.

The book was an easy read and the film had no point in it but yet it wasn’t as boring and somnific as almost all the other Estonian films. I have seen Malev for three times and only because during the first two I fell asleep. But in the end I even liked it, especially some bits and parts. “Mina olin siin” however is fluid and by hopping into that boat you don’t even notice how fast you’ll be at the end of the valley. If you don’t have anything to do for two hours then it is a good wa to spend some time. But one shouldn’t set his or her expectations too high. 

It is an auspicious film, although I haven’t seen it nor read the book. �

15 year olds are permitted to buy a firearm with their parent’s consent.

15

year

olds.

What the hell do they expect?

The short story is as follows: the gunman was a 22-year-old culinary arts student Matti Juhani Saari. He went and fatally injured ten people with a pistol, before committing suicide by shooting himself in the head. All this took place at Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences in Kauhajoki.

Less than a year before that, there was the Jokela school shooting in November 2007, where there were eight casualties.

Anyway, Saari was described as a happy and social person. But in a note he left behind, he claimed that “I hate the human race.” From that we can theorize that the reason of him going on his killing spree was not because of abuse in school. Besides - he was 22 years old. Even if there ever was a bully, it should not have mattered to him anymore.

But now to the issue that most concerns us. Could it happen in Estonia?

Aside from the fact that Estonian gun laws are among the strictest in Europe and thus a gun is harder to acquire, I do not see a reason why it might not happen here.

There is school violence and abuse. There is parental abuse. Everything is basically set. Yet nothing that serious has happened yet (and we should be bloody thankful for that).

Because of this slightly depressing subject, I believe that a cute picture is in order:

God, I hope that this was the topic for our weekly blog post. My memory, it is not so good anymore.

I went to see this today and I thought that I was prepared for anything but this movie was more surprising than I ever even imagined. I knew something about it but obviously it was not enough. I managed to think about twice during the film why had I come to see this but actually I do not regret. The film was really good. I really much liked the soundtrack and the artistic side. The film itself had really shocking effect. When the film ended I could not stop pondering if this thing is really real. It was just too horrific to be true. I know that I was not the only one. Maybe this shocking screenplay made this movie so good because I’m sure to remember this when time has passed as well (and I usually do not remember what I’ve seen). And it also raised my interest in this book and as soon as I can find some time I’m going to read it (there is only one „but“ – if I can find so much time :D). It was really interesting to see how people we consider criminals are actually more innocent than we are. And we are so eager to convict them without even wanting to hear them out. Life is unfair, it has always been.  Maybe these films have the power to change human nature, to make them see that under the surface we can find something so bad we can’t even imagine. And of course the importance of the first time is highly stressed. For him the first arrest could really be the beginning of a new life. I’m really glad to see that Estonians still make good films and they sure are better than most of the films produced in the US for example.

Jousou & Karl -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine

… of course quote many well known authorities on the subject of conflicts between white and black people, such as David Chapelle, PhD .

Thank you.