Indonesia's school face a dilemma about idealism<\/p>\n
By Mochtar Buchori<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): From my childhood on until my late twenties I
\nwas continuously exposed to a rather romantic view of education.
\nI was always told that education is a very powerful cultural
\nforce that shapes the future of our nation.<\/p>\n
To illustrate this view it was always pointed out to me that
\nall our national leaders -- from Dr. Wahidin Wirahoesada to Bung
\nKarno and Bung Hatta -- succeeded in changing the political
\npanorama of the country because their education gave them the
\nability to read the course of history and see the historical
\npossibility for bringing about a big political change.<\/p>\n
These national leaders were able to transcend the colonial
\ndesign of their education, and used all the knowledge and skills
\nthey had received to marshal the existing popular force for
\nstrengthening the national struggle towards independence.<\/p>\n
Years of exposure to this kind of rhetoric made me believe,
\nfor quite a time, that education is indeed a great cultural
\nforce.<\/p>\n
Since the early 1960s, however, I have gradually lost this
\nbelief. My real life experiences since that time completely
\nchanged this romantic view.<\/p>\n
Education has, in my view, stopped being a cultural force in
\nthis country. It has no longer the capability to influence the
\ncourse of political development. Rather it has become an
\ninstrument of politics. The relationship between education and
\npolitics has become asymmetric.<\/p>\n
Noting how our educational establishment behaved when facing
\npolitical pressures -- both at the time of the old order and
\nduring the present new order -- I cannot escape the impression
\nthat education exists primarily to serve the interest of the
\npolitical establishment, and fails to defend its basic
\nprinciples.<\/p>\n
The very sad thing in this regard is that politics itself does
\nnot seem to be an independent force in this country. Until very
\nrecently politics has been dancing to the tunes of the big
\neconomic players.<\/p>\n
The existing relationship between politics, economy and
\neducation suggests that economy has been the real master of the
\nhouse, politics has been \"the butler\" of the economy, and
\neducation has all this time been \"the valet\" of politics.
\nEducation has thus become \"the valet of a butler\".<\/p>\n
Of course, no educational system in this world can afford to
\nneglect the political interest of the nation.<\/p>\n
However, any responsible and respectable system always retains
\nthe right to decide how a national program for political
\neducation should be designed, and how it should be delivered.<\/p>\n
No respectable educational system gives a full mandate to
\npolitical entities outside the system to design and develop a
\nfinished program for political education.<\/p>\n
This policy has been adopted for the reason that politicians
\ndo not in general know much and care little about pedagogical
\nsensitivities.<\/p>\n
The present behavior of education also indicates that
\neducational idealism is vanishing. We no longer have educational
\nvisionaries who, like the late Ki Hadjar Dewantara and the late
\nKi Mohamad Said, always reflect about the kind of human being
\nthat education should produce in order to bring about a given
\nkind of ideal society.<\/p>\n
We no longer have educational leaders who reflect about the
\nrelationship that should be fostered between educational idealism
\nand political idealism, and translate these reflections into
\neducational programs.<\/p>\n
We no longer have educational idealist who, again like Ki
\nHadjar Dewantara and Ki Mohamad Said, consistently refuse to
\nsubjugate education to politics.<\/p>\n
These two leaders had their political views and beliefs, but
\nonce these views and beliefs were translated into educational
\nprinciples no one was allowed to change them for the sake of
\npragmatic political gains.<\/p>\n
What is educational idealism? It is a view concerning the
\nideal man that will emerge from the educational process. No real
\neducator works without educational idealism. No real educator,
\nfor instance, will allow his or her disciples to remain trapped
\nby the habit of solving existing problems through the \"easiest
\nway\".<\/p>\n
Instead, they will drill their pupils to solve any problem
\nthrough the \"right way\", no matter how difficult and bothersome
\nthis path may initially seem to be.<\/p>\n
This principle is consistently implemented out of deep concern
\nfor the future of the children. They are concerned that the habit
\nof solving problems through \"short cuts\" will make them believe
\nthat the key to success in life is \"outsmarting\" others, and that
\nlife is made for them. Such an attitude will constitute a serious
\nhandicap later on in real life.<\/p>\n
This question about educational idealism has become
\nsignificant now that more and more parents begin to demand
\nschools to prepare their children seriously for life in the
\nglobalized world.<\/p>\n
These parents realize that life patterns have changed
\ndramatically in this time of globalization, and that our old ways
\nof educating children will not suffice for the future.<\/p>\n
Our old educational system that has become accustomed to serve
\nthe interest of politics suddenly is expected to become an avant-
\ngarde force.<\/p>\n
Can our educational system meet this expectation? Not as long
\nas our educational community refuses to acknowledge that there is
\na functional relationship among education, politics and economy,
\nand as long as it chooses to remain ignorant about these two
\nother forces.<\/p>\n
And not as long as it looks upon politics as an untouchable
\nforce, and upon economy as a force that belittles education. In
\nshort, education must first recover its own sense of identity and
\nits sense of self-respect.<\/p>\n
I am afraid that it will take a while before our educational
\ncommunity can elevate itself from its current social and academic
\nstatus to a higher one.<\/p>\n
And this will be acquired only if and when education as an
\nacademic discipline has developed a new way of looking at the
\ntask of bringing up children, in which the social and cultural
\naspects are systemically analyzed.<\/p>\n
In the meantime the Indonesian school is in a real dilemma.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, it has to seriously prepare the young
\ngeneration for life in a globalized era, which it knows cannot be
\ndone if it persistently clings to the present official program.<\/p>\n
But on the other hand it has no freedom to modify or change
\nthis program, because its hands are tied by the rigid policies
\nadopted by the bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
Our schools have to make the painful choice of either serving
\nthe young generation for the sake of the future of the nation, or
\nserving the bureaucracy just for the sake of bureaucratic
\nobedience.<\/p>\n
It is a question that deeply touches the conscience of every
\ngood educator.<\/p>\n
The writer is an observer of social and political affairs.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesias-school-face-a-dilemma-about-idealism-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }