Education system in Indonesia<\/p>\n
Your article on the Indonesian educational system (The Jakarta
\nPost, Nov. 5) leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps a way to
\nevaluate an educational system is to look at the success of its
\ngraduates.<\/p>\n
When I did my PhD at the University of Manitoba in Canada from
\n1996 to 2000, there were 83 lecturers on staff who were
\noriginally from India, more than half as many from China and none
\nfrom Indonesia!<\/p>\n
How many internationally acclaimed scientists from Indonesia
\nin either the natural or social sciences are widely known? Why
\ndoes the fourth largest nation in the world produce so few
\nscientific research papers in renowned international journals?<\/p>\n
Unlike schools in the West, where critical thinking and
\nindividualism are encouraged while teaching dogma is banned --
\nmost Indonesians don't even know that religious instruction is
\nnot allowed in public schools in the West -- Indonesian schools
\ncontinue to foster the opposite.<\/p>\n
Teaching children blind obedience and beliefs based on
\ninsufficient (or contradictory) evidence, such as religious
\ndogma, is contrary to teaching them to be intellectually curious
\nand to rely on the scientific method in their thinking, which is
\nthe best thing we've got in the last 200 years. Without the
\nscientific method, we would perhaps still be counting how many
\nangels can sit on top of a pin (a major intellectual pursuit in
\nEurope during the Middle Ages).<\/p>\n
No wonder some Indonesian parents are not happy with
\nIndonesian education and choose private western-like schools
\ninstead for their children in spite of the high cost. Perhaps it
\nis time to take a hard and critical look at \"Indonesian
\neducational values that the private schools must respect to
\nbe allowed to operate\", which the editorial refers to without
\nexplaining these values.<\/p>\n
If Indonesia wants to have an internationally competitive
\nworkforce, a major overhaul of its educational system is only the
\nfirst step in a long process that lies ahead.<\/p>\n
NESA ILICH
\nCalgary, Canada<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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