Grassroots resistance - school and livelihood in a North Norwegian coastal community circa 1850-1900

School resistance will normally - of school authorities - be seen as an expression of irrationality, as irrational actions taken of people not able to take care of themselves. In the manner in which accounts of the past are written from "the perspective of the winners," it is likewise fair to claim that the history of public education is written by the fox who is set to guard the chicken coup. Just as the history of women and the history of the average man largely have "fallen by the wayside" as themes of general historiography, the perspective of the common people on education has "fallen by the wayside" in the history of education. Thus it is no mystery why the theme of "how schooling was perceived by local communities" is a strange bird in the picture album of educational history. The present work can be seen as an attempt to make amends for this in a small way- that is-an attempt to let the common people of a coastal community have a say in the history of education.