ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 reflects upon a case or a real event on bullying which occurred in a Norwegian lower-secondary school. The event was later documented in a Norwegian newspaper, entitled “Teacher Bjørndal’s Method.” The newspaper article turned out to be a great success to the general people, and teacher Bjørndal’s method has been presented as a happy story and a model of dealing with bullying. What is particularly interesting is that teacher Bjørndal takes an indirect approach, that is, he attempts to indirectly affect and improve the situation of bullying in his class. However, when Bjørndal’s method is framed from an ethical perspective, the Levinasian call for responsibility for the other and justice for all others, we find that he plays a dangerous game and that he indeed plays with the students’ fate. He tries to solve a bullying problem through an innovative and cunning method, with a lack of ethical assessment. I, therefore, argue that teacher Bjørndal crosses an ethical line. At the end of the chapter, I look at the case hypothetically. How could the teacher hypothetically have acted indirectly in an ethically legitimate manner with regard to the bullying situation?
