Curriculum more than subject list<\/p>\n
By Mochtar Buchori<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Educating students about human rights became a
\ntopic of discussion recently. It was argued that students should
\nreceive instruction in human rights to make society more mindful
\ntowards problems of human dignity. The problem is how to
\nincorporate this particular topic into an already swollen
\ncurriculum.<\/p>\n
This kind of discussion, typical to Indonesia, comes up every
\ntime someone feels the need to add a new subject to the
\ncurriculum.<\/p>\n
The curriculum has always been viewed as a list of courses,
\nand renewing it is just a matter of adding a new subject while
\ndropping an old one from the list. Since all parties jealously
\nguard their favorite subject, the process of curriculum building
\nhas become an exercise in bargaining among interested parties.<\/p>\n
When no agreement can be reached, the easy solution is to add
\nthe new subject without dropping a subject. This has led the
\ncourse list for various educational institutions to grow to
\nunwieldy proportions.<\/p>\n
I witnessed this same phenomenon at a recent seminar. In a
\nseminar discussing the design of madrasah unggul (super Islamic
\nboarding school), a common understanding was reached that this
\nparticular type of school should have both the features of
\nsuperschools for general education and those of Islamic religious
\nschools.<\/p>\n
When the discussion reached the stage of identifying courses
\nto be taught, however, the debate became chaotic and
\nunmanageable. The participants were divided into two camps. One
\ngroup maintained that a super madrasah should be on par with
\nsuperschools in academic quality. The other camp argued that
\nsuper madrasah must be superior primarily in its religious
\ninstruction.<\/p>\n
The session purported to generate a curricular skeleton
\nbecame a bargaining session between the two sides. The curriculum
\nwas again viewed as a compilation of courses without serious
\nattempt to define its structure. Since neither side was able to
\ndecide which ones among their proposed courses can be
\n"sacrificed", the discussion came into a deadlock.<\/p>\n
As long as curriculum is considered merely as a list of
\ncourses, the problem of competing interests will remain unsolved.<\/p>\n
It would be more productive to view curriculum as a structure
\nwhich founded upon a chosen design. Curricular structure can be
\nenvisaged as a building with a number of compartments, each
\ncompartment having its own character and distinct function.<\/p>\n
Each time an innovation or even an overall revision is needed,
\nthe nature of the change must be described and the definition
\nbroken into several components.<\/p>\n
In the case of introducing a course in human rights, for
\ninstance, defining the essence of human rights education must
\ncome first. Then its main components must be outlined. Finally,
\nthe curricular substance of each component must be delineated. In
\nthis way, human rights can be introduced into the curriculum
\nwithout adding a new subject, but by making changes in the
\nsubstance of courses already within various compartments of the
\ncurriculum.
\nPhilip H. Phenix of Columbia University suggests in his
\nclassic book Realms of Meaning that curriculum for general
\neducation should ideally comprise six basic realms or areas. They
\nare symbolic (language, mathematics, and non-discursive symbolic
\nforms), empirics (physical sciences, social sciences), esthetics
\n(music, literature, the visual arts, and the arts of movement),
\nsynnoetics (personal knowledge), ethics (moral knowledge), and
\nsynoptics (history, religion, philosophy).<\/p>\n
This design of Prof. Phenix is of course only one of many
\npossible designs, but all view curriculum not as list of courses,
\nbut as a building block.<\/p>\n
Using this particular design, human rights can be introduced
\ninto the curriculum through three areas: empirics (cases of
\nviolations of human rights), synnoetics (the subjective meaning
\nof violation of human rights for the victims), and ethics (norms
\nof human rights).<\/p>\n
Within each of these three curricular areas, there are a
\nnumber of courses which can be used to transport materials
\nrelated to human rights.<\/p>\n
I find synnoetics enriching and useful. In his introduction,
\nProf. Phenix stated that it embraces what Michael Polanyi called
\n"personal knowledge", and referred to by Martin Buber as
\n"I-Thou"-relational insight.<\/p>\n
According to Phenix, the Greek word synnoetics means
\n"mediative thought", and is the compound of syn (with) and noesis
\n(cognition). To me it simply means insight into inter-subjective
\nrelationships. It is a curricular area within which students are
\nstimulated to understand themselves and to understand each other.<\/p>\n
The problem in teaching within the area of synnoetics is that
\nthere is no particular discipline available for this purpose.
\nPhenix suggests that works of literature, especially tragic
\ndrama, and arts be used to stimulate the growth of this
\nsubjective and intersubjective insights within students.<\/p>\n
His reason is that great works of literature and arts are
\nportrayals of life. The art in teaching synnoetics is how to
\nguide students to grasp the meaning of various situations of
\nhuman life portrayed by the great authors and artists in their
\nworks.<\/p>\n
Treating curriculum development as an exercise in adding and
\nsubtracting courses from a list will never generate a meaningful
\neducational program.<\/p>\n
Realizing that every proposal cannot be downloaded into a
\ncurriculum is a first step. Indonesian students have only so much
\ntime for learning and only so much capacity for learning.<\/p>\n
If the essentials of a curricular structure are defined
\ncarefully and with insight, students will learn all that is
\nnecessary to guide themselves further through the various life
\nsituations they will meet after leaving school.<\/p>\n
The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/curriculum-more-than-subject-list-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }