Evguenia Usoskina and Tatu Jauhiainen – a former and a present student of Oulun Lyseo – interview Teuvo Laurinolli, the retiring principal of Oulu’s most prestigious high school.

On a sunny Monday afternoon we enter the deserted Oulun Lyseo yard. The school building is over 150 years old, with bullet holes left on the walls to remind the passers by of the historical battles that took place years ago. We nervously wait in the quiet hall, going over the questions and looking at the peaceful paintings on the walls.

Photo: Maisa Harju

“Call me Grandpa” said the man, seven years earlier when he introduced himself to the students of Oulu International School as the new principal. At that time students didn’t quite get it. However, right now, here in the Lyseo, so many years later, we know these words reflected his vision of creating a special atmosphere of a proud, closely bonded school, almost a family, that Lyseo posesses until today.

We enter Mr. Laurinolli’s tidy office to begin the interview. A calm and relaxed atmosphere fills the air, and there is no tension present at any moment. The headmaster doesn´t remember our names, but knows that one of us has graduated some time ago, and the other is still studying

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Mr. Laurinolli will retire in December. However, because of the impressive four months of holidays he has managed to save up, in practice he will be leaving his position on the 1st August.

Mr Laurinolli never considered becoming a headmaster up until a year before he took up the principle’s position. He started off as a Mathematics student at the University of Oulu, then he became a Maths teacher at the Lyseo. “I have been maturing very slowly”, as he puts it.

He  takes great pride in Lyseo – he confidently tells about it being in the top 10% of Finnish high-schools, of 70% of the graduates continuing on to higher education, and of the many talented students taught under his supervision.

However throughout the interview Mr. Laurinolli prefers to stay rather vague – he doesn’t even mention the former Finnish president Matti Ahtisaari, who attended Oulun Lyseo. The same happens with the Lyseo building – the pride can be read in Mr. Laurinolli’s eyes as he talks about the building, but he prefers not to mention any specific examples. ”I haven’t visited many other schools where you meet a relationship between the people and the school so strong as we have here.” Mr. Lauronilli declares.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is an international high school program recognized by universities around the globe. It is taught in English, and the main difference with the Finnish system is that students concentrate on just 6 subjects, rather than taking a large variety of classes. IB has been around in Oulu since 1992 and is only a small part of Lyseo school, yet Teuvo pays great attention to the program. He used to be the IB Diploma coordinator at the Lyseo from 1993 to 2001 , and seems to favour it in comparison to the national program, and genuinely think it’s one of the best high school programs in the world. “If I had to choose myself, I would opt for IB”, he says firmly. He believes the IB is very balanced, unlike the Finnish program, which he compares to a marketplace, with students picking courses at random.

“What is the passing rate like at the final examinations?’ we ask. Unfortunately Teuvo doesn’t give statistics about how many students fail their exams, but he mentions that Lyseo is in the top 10% of Finnish high schools, and the IB yields results above the world average. With a reply as vague as that, we  do a bit of our own research. As we find out, Lyseo is the 18^th best high school in Finland, with Oulun Normaalikoulu being the 16^th! So why are Lyseo students viewed as being above all then, we wonder.

”Are Lyseo students a bit snobbish?” we ask, keeping in mind the stereotype of Lyseo students thinking they’re of higher class than others. ”If we start thinking that we are somehow better than others, then it’s a negative thing. It could be one form of racism,” Mr. Laurinolli replies.

The headmaster seems very protective of the school, and won’t answer any negative questions directly. However, he is willing to discuss some of Lyseo’s short comings. ‘Academically the school is good. What we need is more social communication between the students, between the staff…” he admits. What worries Teuvo is that some students in the Finnish high schools can feel lonely, and may have trouble aquaintanting with other students, as there are no permanent classes in the system and the system is not designed for socializing, but rather for learning.

Our question on how to improve a situation turns out to be a difficult one. A starting point has already been made when one of the IB teachers created a so-called “Bootcamp” – a field trip  for future IB students, lasting a few days. At the camp the students enjoy problem solving group activities and hence get a chance to get to know each other and make friends before the studies begin.

Of course, the IB classes are already small enough, with classes ranging from 5 to 20 people, to create a little cosy community feel. On the national side, on the contrary, the average class has about 25 students, sometimes even up to 35 or 40. This year there will be three Bootcamps, one of which is meant for the Finnish students, so they will also be able to get to know each other a bit before the school year starts.

What would Mr. Laurinolli have done differently if he could re-live his headmastership, we wonder. “My contact with students has been too thin, I would have liked to get to know them better ” says Mr. Laurinolli. On the other hand, he believes he has managed to create to some extent a Lyseo feeling that is very strong in the school and that makes all students very proud.

Teuvo has quite grand retirement plans, which involve learning to fly a small plane, playing Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and, together with a friend, understanding Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. Mr. Laurinolli is also going to continue leading the Lyseo Maths Club.

It is obvious that Mr. Laurinolli only wants the Lyseo to be seen in a positive light, as he takes great pride in it. Perhaps the word Grandpa does describe him well.

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