Curricula impose fake pluralism<\/p>\n
Zakiyuddin Baidhawy, Center for Cultural Studies and Social Change,
\nMuhammadiyah University of Surakarta<\/p>\n
In a nation with so many communal conflicts, how can a
\nmulticultural society educate its members for democracy? Many
\ncontemporary controversies about public schooling turn on the
\nclash of two apparently competing educational aims: Securing
\ncivic values and respecting cultural differences.<\/p>\n
Democratic education should be able to integrate both civic
\nand multicultural aims in a principled combination.<\/p>\n
For three decades, our education system has barely touched on
\nthe problem of how we can respect different religious beliefs and
\ncultures. Instead various cultural identities were simplified,
\nalong with efforts to impose parts of Javanese culture to
\nstrengthen the rulers, through civic education, in particular
\nlessons and indoctrination in the state ideology Pancasila.<\/p>\n
This traditional model illustrates the problem with a civic
\neducation unmodified by multiculturalism. This model withheld
\nrespect for different ways of life, and denigrated the
\ncontributions of minority groups to Indonesian civic culture.<\/p>\n
When history classes exalted the contributions of the founding
\nfathers with scant discussion of the basic fundamentals of a
\nnation-state, or the contributions of many local cultures and
\nminorities to civic understanding, public schools failed to teach
\nstudents the civic values of democratic dissent.<\/p>\n
These purported history lessons were repressive and
\ndiscriminatory. Repression in schooling is commonly identified
\nwith banning books and punishing teachers or students for
\nunpopular ideas. A civic education is repressive when it fails to
\nteach appreciation and respect for the positive contributions of
\nminorities to a society's common culture.<\/p>\n
An antidote to this traditional civics curriculum is education
\nthat aims to appreciate the social contributions and life
\nexperiences of the various groups that constitute society. Such
\nappreciation defines one common conception of multicultural
\neducation, a conception compatible with the principles of
\ndemocratic education.<\/p>\n
The chief problem with segregated academies is not the
\ninaccuracy of what they teach children about the superior
\naccomplishments of their ancestors, but their attempt to
\ncultivate among these children a sense of superiority based on
\nethnic, culture and or religion.<\/p>\n
This comes at the cost of undercutting mutual respect among
\ncitizens. In a democracy, citizens are entitled to equal
\npolitical and civil liberties.<\/p>\n
Schools should not try to increase self-esteem by
\ndiscriminatory means. This aim is to be distinguished from
\nrecognizing and respecting the identification of individuals with
\nparticular cultures. This identification is something that public
\nschooling can support, as a way of respecting students with
\ndifferent cultural identifications, and also as a way of
\nrecognizing the multitude of cultural opportunities that are open
\nto all students as members of a multicultural society.<\/p>\n
We have identified two ways that schools have failed to meet
\nthe challenge of securing common values and respecting cultural
\ndifferences. The traditional civics curriculum imposes a cultural
\nsingularity that is false to the pluralism of Indonesia and
\ndisrespectful to many of its citizens. A traditional curricula
\nalso educates by exclusion by fostering a sense of superiority
\namong some students at the cost of degrading others.<\/p>\n
Why worry about cultivating mutual respect and toleration in
\nthe face of cultural and political differences? Toleration is an
\nessential democratic virtue and a necessary, but not sufficient,
\ncondition of mutual respect.<\/p>\n
Mutual respect is a public as well as a private good. It
\nexpresses the equal standing of every person as an individual and
\ncitizen, and it also enables democratic citizens to discuss their
\npolitical differences in a productive way.<\/p>\n
Schools can teach mutual respect in at least two ways that
\nmeet the challenge of joining civic and multicultural aims to the
\nbenefit of both. Schools can create a curricula that recognize
\nthe multicultural heritage as everyone's resource, belonging to
\nall of us and to future generations.<\/p>\n
It also can teach about foreign cultures in a way that is more
\nconducive to our remaining a society of immigrants. We need to
\nrespect not only the diverse cultures that are already ours, but
\nalso those that are not presently represented within our borders.<\/p>\n
Appreciation of cultural diversity is not enough to teach
\nstudents the civic virtue of mutual respect. Expanding the
\nknowledge of students meets only half the intellectual and moral
\nchallenge of the democratic ideal. The second way in which
\nschools can cultivate mutual respect is to teach students how to
\nengage together in respectful discussions in which they strive to
\nunderstand, appreciate and resolve political disagreements.<\/p>\n
A multicultural curriculum dedicated to teaching deliberation
\nwould encourage students to respect each other as equal citizens,
\nand to take different points of view seriously when thinking
\nabout politics.<\/p>\n
The practice of morally informed deliberation engages students
\nin according each other the mutual respect and moral
\nunderstanding that is too often lacking in contemporary politics.
\nTeaching mutual respect among citizens in these ways is a central
\naim of civic education in a multicultural democracy.<\/p>\n
The writer is also a religious studies and philosophy doctoral
\ncandidate at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic Institute in
\nYogyakarta.<\/p>",
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