Hooliganism a failure in education<\/p>\n
By A. Chaedar Alwasilah<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): What are the most significant characteristics of
\nIndonesian soccer? Violence, brawls and brutality perhaps. Recent
\nmedia reports of train accidents killing 10 soccer fans and the
\ndecision to move the final match of the fifth Indonesian Soccer
\nLeague playoffs from Senayan sports stadium in Jakarta to Klabat
\nsports stadium in Manado, North Sulawesi, are telling evidence
\nthat in Indonesian discourse, soccer is a multidimensional social
\nphenomena.<\/p>\n
Last year we were shocked to learn that soccer matches were a
\nlucrative area of monkey business, red tape and bribery. We were
\nleft to doubt whether the winning teams were really genuine and
\nsporting champs. And earlier this month, scores of fans were
\narrested at Senayan stadium for carrying dangerous objects,
\nincluding explosives and sharp weapons. Sports stadiums in
\nIndonesian discourse suggest melee and killing fields.<\/p>\n
The nation has played soccer for a long time, yet every year
\nthe playoffs are marred by brutality. The organizing committee
\nand the security officers are simply incapable of holding the
\ngames without disruptions and violations. Maybe all of this
\nconstitutes the inherent and unalterable characteristics of
\nIndonesian soccer and Indonesian sports in general.<\/p>\n
The coined phrase bonek (penniless and reckless soccer
\nsupporters) suggests three things: Soccer in the Indonesian
\ncontext represents regionalism and primordialism rather than
\nprofessionalism. Regionalism and localism are wrongly perceived
\nas patriotism. Soccer is the country's most popular
\nentertainment, yet few fans can afford it. \"Popular\" does not
\nnecessarily mean \"affordable\".<\/p>\n
Because soccer matches entail the above social disturbances,
\nit is important to see them in a broader social and psychological
\ncontext. Soccer fans constitute crowds which are temporary,
\nrelatively unorganized gatherings of people in close physical
\nproximity. Social psychologists classify such a gathering as a
\nconventional crowd, where fans assemble to support their favorite
\nteams.<\/p>\n
A conventional crowd may turn into an expressive crowd, where
\nfans reach a stage of self-stimulation and personal
\ngratification. For example, when their favorite team leads the
\ngame. The final and most critical stage is commonly called an
\nacting crowd, where excited fans are engaged in aggressive
\nbehavior in which established norms carry little weight. When
\ntheir favorite team loses the game, fans feel they are less
\nworthy than the other team and they tend to become aggressive.
\nThey turn into hooligans.<\/p>\n
There are three characteristics common in crowds:
\nsuggestibility, deindividualization and invulnerability. Members
\nof a crowd are more suggestible than they are in established
\nsocial settings. In other words, they tend to readily accept
\ndirections and propositions emanating from others. In this stage,
\nit is emotion rather than reasoning which works.<\/p>\n
Deindividualization is a psychological state of reduced
\nidentity and self-awareness. Crowd members are not themselves,
\ntherefore they may commit asocial acts which contradict their
\nself-awareness. Their sense of belonging to a temporary group
\noverrides individual uniqueness and distinctiveness.<\/p>\n
In crowd settings, fans acquire a sense of being more powerful
\nand invincible than when they are in routine settings. They feel
\nas if they are immune to public responsibility. No wonder they
\ntend to commit acts of aggression, risk-taking, self-enhancement,
\ntheft, vandalism as well as uttering obscenities in public.<\/p>\n
There are at least two preconditions for the collective
\nbehaviors mentioned above:
\n* Structural strain: A theory exists that when important aspects
\nof a social system are \"out of joint\", structural strain occurs.
\nProlonged economic crisis disrupts the traditional rhythm of
\nlife. People are now increasingly susceptible to courses of
\naction not defined by existing institutional arrangements.
\nRobbery, theft and coercion are a common sight on the streets.
\n* Precipitating factors: These refer to factors which trigger
\nmass or collective asocial actions. Recently we have witnessed a
\nnumber of events which could set such actions in motion. To
\nmention just a few, bank liquidations, bankruptcies and prolonged
\nunemployment have the potential to bring about collective asocial
\nbehavior.<\/p>\n
How can we prevent or at least minimize such collective
\nasocial behaviors? The decision to move the soccer final from
\nJakarta to Manado was an operation of social control, meant to
\nprevent the occurrence of vandalism, brawls and infighting among
\nsoccer fans. As expected, the final ran smoothly and safely.<\/p>\n
How effective is such an operation? There are two types of
\nsocial controls: repression and prevention. The former refers to
\nan attempt to repress an episode of collective asocial behavior
\nafter it has begun. And that is what the soccer federation, in
\ncollaboration with the police, were doing and have done from year
\nto year. Repression is local and temporal in nature, as it
\neradicates the symptom but not the disease.<\/p>\n
Prevention refers to a deliberately designed attempt to
\nprevent the occurrence of an episode of collective asocial
\nbehavior by lessening conduciveness and strain. Welfare and
\ndecent employment, for example, are good examples of preventing
\ncrowds from engaging in collective asocial behavior. The fact
\nthat the annual soccer competition always features infighting,
\nvandalism and brutality demonstrates that our society is still
\nfar from welfare and decent employment, all of which causes
\nsocial illness and chaos.<\/p>\n
Education is only one way a culture inducts schoolchildren
\ninto its canonical ways. What does all this have to do with
\nphysical education (PE) in schools? Underlying PE is the belief
\nthat a person cannot think without a body, nor are his motor
\nresponses independent of thought. PE is aimed at promoting the
\nvigor of the human organism, neuromuscular skills, good
\ninterpersonal behavior, emotional balance and control and sound
\njudgment.<\/p>\n
Among all these qualities, it is interpersonal behavior and
\nemotional balance and control which are the least developed in
\nboth soccer players and their fans. In the eyes of educators, the
\nhidden curriculum of schools plays a role in educating children.
\nIt consists of a complex of unarticulated values, attitudes and
\nbehaviors which subtly mold children in the image preferred by
\nthe dominant institutions. Thus, the asocial attitudes and
\ndestructive behavior of soccer fans as reported in the media
\nshape schoolchildren's attitudes toward sports, competition and
\nsocial institutions in general.<\/p>\n
Criticizing the practice of education, many analysts take a
\npsychological or sociological approach. Ideally perhaps we should
\nsituate education, including PE, in a much broader examination of
\neducation in different cultural settings. Soccer matches, like
\npop music, are part of popular culture, and constitute a dominant
\ncultural setting. Interpersonal behavior and emotional balance
\nand control are mental activities. And we will never understand
\nthem unless we take into account cultural settings and resources.<\/p>\n
Dwelling on the principles of cultural psychology as defined
\nabove, we can hypothesize that educating schoolchildren and youth
\nin general should imply the following: First, popular culture
\nconstitutes a hidden curriculum which shapes children's culture,
\nsuggesting that a school's curriculum should be continuously
\nrevised to \"compete\" with popular culture. That hooliganism wins
\nsoccer games reflects social chaos, which in turn suggests the
\nfailure of education.<\/p>\n
Second, the social and moral values taught in schools, such as
\nrespect for others, tolerance of differences and discipline, are
\nvulnerable outside the classroom. Thus, society is the laboratory
\nwhere moral and social values are tested. This implies that
\nsuccessful education is not left to teachers alone. It is also
\nthe responsibility of society in general.<\/p>\n
Third, formal education should play the role of operating
\nsocial controls. Student brawls, truancy, vandalism and other
\naggressive behavior should be minimized if not eradicated by
\ncurricular as well as extracurricular programs. This suggests
\nthat schooling is not merely transferring knowledge, but also the
\nskills for conflict resolution. Thus sources of conflict, such as
\nethnic and cultural differences, should be included in the
\ncurriculum, especially in social studies. Such differences are
\nnot to be treated as a frightening monster, but as realities to
\nbe tamed by objective, academic and scholarly examination.<\/p>\n
Fourth, PE, when executed professionally, enhances not only
\nphysical fitness and dexterity but also mental equilibrium and
\ndiscipline. It is necessary that teachers understand the
\nphilosophy of PE.<\/p>\n
The writer is a lecturer at the graduate school of the
\nTeachers Training Institute in Bandung, West Java<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hooliganism-a-failure-in-education-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}