Graduating students across the country now receive their diplomas. For many, the grades should help them get into their desired field of study. The twin brothers Danilo and Konstantin hope they can start on study specialization combined with top sports this autumn. Then the diploma they received this week is a great help. Both got sixes in all subjects. – There is hard work behind it; structured work and good planning, says Danilo. The brothers moved to Hammerfest from Serbia in 2015. Last autumn they moved to Tromsø to focus on football. But the school has been an equally high priority, and now they have ended their last year of upper secondary school at Krokelvdalen school with top grades. It was in Tromsø that first wrote about the twins’ achievements. Plan B Seven years after they moved to Norway, the two Serbs have even received the best grade in Nynorsk. – We have moved around a lot, and thus become familiar with several different languages. It is useful to repeat a lot, and use the language actively, says Konstantin. Their father has been a professional football player, and they have therefore lived in several places in Europe. The brothers envision studying medicine or studying engineering. But it is really plan B, because football is the big passion. Therefore, they have already moved away from mom and dad, who live in Hammerfest. Big sister Jovana Cvetkovic lives with her little brothers in Tromsø. She only got sixes on her high school diploma. Photo: Eva Ersfjord / news They think it is important to get to know the environment well in advance, and are currently playing for the boys’ team of Tromsdalen IL. – But even though we play football, we think that school is very important. So if the football career does not go according to plan, then we at least have something to fall back on, says Danilo. In Tromsø, they live with big sister Jovana. She has just finished her first exam in medical studies at UiT – Norway’s Arctic University. She only went to primary school in Norway for one year, before she started high school. And what grades did she get there? Only sixes. – She is a role model for us, the little brothers say. Impressed Åshild Berg-Brekkhus is an associate professor at the Department of Education, Religion and Social Sciences at the Faculty of Education, Arts and Sports at the University College of Western Norway. She congratulates the two young people with good grades. – It is fantastic that they have managed to make it happen, and it shows that they manage to transform the resources the Norwegian school has, into high grades for themselves. At the same time, on a general basis, she believes it is important to emphasize that even students who drop out of school with lower grades may have performed as much as them. – It may be that they have put just as much effort into getting a tree, but they have not had the ability to take advantage of the training offered in the school. We also know that many boys do not benefit from the school’s offer as much as girls, says Berg-Brekkhus. Åshild Berg-Brekkhus is an associate professor at Høgskulen på Vestlandet. She is impressed by the boys, but points out that good grades are not the most important thing. Photo: Private Good grades are not everything Berg-Brekkhus has previously written a statement that the school must not be a talent competition for particularly gifted children. There she points out that achieving a top score academically is not the main goal in the Norwegian school. – Our goal is to create useful people who can participate in work, society and democracy, says Berg-Brekkhus. She points out that the new curriculum places more emphasis on democracy, citizenship, public health, life skills and the development of sustainable societies. – If we are to be able to manage good grades in a good way, then we must also have ethical and social knowledge. The purpose is for everyone to take part in society, and then good grades are only a means – but never a goal in itself, says Berg-Brekkhus. – There we are a little different from many other countries.
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The twins from Serbia received top marks on the diploma from the upper secondary school – news Troms and Finnmark
