Yet another way to look at culture is humor- our Finnish colleague Hannu Savolainen turned me onto Leikola Ismo who does comedy about learning English- The English Language Is So Confusing! Seems apropos to our project-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5aDB7WgTeo

And interview with news outlet in Houston-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ajzJeeFArA

Disclaimer 1- I am an EBD person- behavior people have a different sense of humor I have found than other people in different areas…more of a “gallows humor”- have to or go crazy yourself- and yes, as he points out- Ph.D. candidates in Finland get a top hat and a sword after defending their dissertation-

https://www.discoverphds.com/blog/finlands-phd-sword-and-hat-tradition

They also assign an inquisitor as part of the dissertation committee (our colleague from Germany- Anna-Maria just finished traveling to Finland serving as one- just sent me a picture with everyone in their tuxedos)- who is assigned to be the main “interrogator” to ask the hard questions- and it  is a great honor to be asked the hard questions- it shows the committee has respect for your work- to be asked easy questions shows disrespect and that the candidate doesn’t have the intellectual capability to field the hard ones.  

Disclaimer 2-  Ismo’s views do not reflect those of the Department of Education or Baylor University- or likely TAMU or UTSA either.

MDB