Social control and moral code in the Teacher Training Seminary in Rauma in the 1930's

Authors

• Lauri Kemppinen Turun yliopisto

Abstract

Martti Volmari Salokannel, a student of the Rauma Teacher Training Seminary, died in a front line combat during the Winter War on March 3, 1940. After the war his former classmates published a memorial paper and one book to respect the memory of the fallen friends. They wrote five different obituaries about Salokannel. It seems clear, that the authors did not read each other’s texts before publishing because they are telling different stories. In this article I point out that those obituaries are not ordinary. Salokannel’s class mates were telling things, which are not usually seen in recollections, especially when the text is pointing to a deceased "hero". In Finland all men who died in World War II are respected as fallen heroes. By analyzing those extraordinary texts, we find out that Salokannel became a complicated hero for his former classmates. He was rejected and bullied by his former classmates during his time in the Teacher Seminary. They tried to explain their behavior by pointing out that Salokannel had broken the moral code of teacher trainees. He didn’t want to spend his free time with the other students in voluntary hobbies, such as the civil guard or the choir. This was taken as a proof of disloyalty against the group, because the students thought that they were supposed to share the same values. The story of Martti Volmari Salokannel offers a rare opportunity to take a peep in the mechanisms of bullying and the moral code of teacher trainees. It seems that Salokannel lacked social skills and came from a working class background. Both these facts made him an easy target for the leaders of the group. This article reveals the fact that we seem to know surprisingly little about the everyday life in the past schools.