A Year at an American High School

Task 1

Find out:
1. Where Ketil went to school
- Rowland High School in California

2. How he got to know people
- The teachers had him to talk about himself in front of classes and the other students became curious and began to ask questions about Norway. That is how he made friends.

3. The subjects he studied
- One of his subjects was “Getting Around”, where he learnt to handle bank and money matters, and even to organize a wedding. The point of this subject was to prepare the students for life.

4. What he did in leisure time
- He played soccer at the school’s soccer team
- He also went to the dessert with his family, and they let him drive a dune buggy and a dirt bike.
- He also went shooting with his hostfather who was a gun freak, and he visited both Disneyland and Disney World.

5. What made Tonje’s school somewhat special
- She went to Fallbrook High School. There were 2400 students there, including a lot of Mexicans and a few Blacks. It was an outdoor school with no corridors; the classroom doors lead straight out into the open. Even the lockers, where they kept all their vooks and other belongings, were outside.

6. How big the classes were at her school
- In most classes there were 25-35 students, so you could only talk to the teachers if you really had a problem.

7. What kind of food they had for lunch
- It doesn’t say, but some brought lunch from home, others bought lunch in the school cafeteria.

8. How the students were informed about daily events at the school
- Every morning at 8 you could watch school news on TV screens in every classroom. I think the students were informed about the daily events there.


Task 2

True or False

1. There is a national school system in the USA.
- False. In the USA there is no national school system. Each state decides how its schools are to be organized.

2. Schools are run on a local level.
- True

3. There is homogenous grouping in some American schools, which means that young people with all sorts of ability are mixed in each subject class.
- False. A homogenous grouping in some American Schools does not mean that young people with all sorts of ability are mixed in each subject class.

1. After-school activities are an important part of life in American schools.
- True.

2. Southern California has a hot, dry desert climate.
- True.

3. Students from poor families often go hungry during the school day.
- True. Their lunch is not free.

4. Class sizes in the USA are about the same as in Norwegian schools.
- True. We are 29 students in my class.

5. The school day begins with morning prayer.
- False. They say the Pledge of Allegiance.

6. Most states in the USA guarantee students 12 years of schooling.
- True.

7. Most schools do not care whether students feel much school spirit or not. Students come and go as they please.
- False. They have to come to school every morning at 8 and go home 3 in the afternoon.

In The Name Of The Father

Today, we watched the movie "In The Name Of The Father" in our english class. The film is based on the true life story of the Guildford Four, four people falsely convicted of the IRA's Guildford pub bombing which killed 4 off-duty British soldiers and a civilian.

The Guildford Four were charged with direct involvement with the IRA attacks. They were:

• Paul Michael Hill, aged 21 at the time of the trial, convicted of the Guildford pup bombings.


• Gerard "Gerry" Conlon, 21, convicted of the Guildford bombings.


• Patrick "Paddy" Armstrong, convicted of the one Woolwich and two Guildford bombings.


• Carole Richardson, 18, covicted of the Guildford bombings.

5/10-1974
A bombe exploded at the Guildford pub in England which the IRA had planted because it used to be british soldiers there. Five people were killed and sixtyfive were hurt. Around this time the situation in the British society was tense. The parlament adopted an antiterrorist law where the suspects could be kept in jail for seven days without being charged. The police were under huge pressure and short time after was Gerry Conlon and Paul Hill from Belfast, Northern Ireland, arrested and accused for the bombing. Two friends of them, Paddy Armstrong and Carole Richardson, which they had lived with in an occupied house, was arrested for participating. The four of them refused they had anything to do with it but it didn't take long until the police presented written confessions from all of them. Under the trial in 1976 they all claimed the evidence had been fixed on and that they were innocent. The court didnt believe them and gave all of them a lifetime in jail. At the same time, Gerry's father, Guiseppe Conlon, an aunt and some other relatives were accused for helping the terrorists and they gave all of them long time in jail.

In 1989 the case came up again, and the 19th of October the same year they were released and their case was dismissed. Under this trial it came up that a homelessperson could give Gerry Conlon an alibi for not being close to the bombing. This man, Charlie Burke was interrigated by the police, but the police kept this information from the court. The case could also have been taken up again in 1977, when a group of IRA-people confessed to the bombing at the Guildford pub. In the mean while the innocent people sat fifteen years in prison and Gerry's dad, Guiseppe Conlon died.

The four of them later got componsation, but there is no excuse from the responsible ones.

The movie "In The Name Of The Father", tells us what really happened seen through Gerry Conlon's eyes. But the director of the film, Jim Sheridan, took the freedom to do some changes like, that the father and the son shared the same celle, which in real life they didn't. Or that Gerry Conlon and Paul Hill were not in the park at the same time, or that the decisive proof with the homeless guy wasn't found like the movie shows. And the last trial didn't go like the movie showed us it did. But either wat, the movie has the same story and the same message. The most important thing is that the movie was about a miscarriage of justice. "In The Name Of The Father" tells us about british policeofficers torturing and manipulating to get confessions. About a system that follows up on lies and commit miscarriage of justice, and what coincidences that made the four of them free men after being judged for a lifetime in prison.

This was one of the strongest movies I have ever seen. I have to say it was awful and to see how everybody can be wrong is scary. Because they could actually been doomed to hanging, and it is a miracle that didn't happen. I will definetly recomand this movie to everybody that is interrested in something else than horror and comedy. This film brings out a true and awful story which has a good ending.

The trailer of the movie: