Indonesia's schools should target higher standards<\/p>\n
Simon Marcus Gower, Executive Principal, High\/Scope Indonesia,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
A strange experience may be had in Jakarta at present. It may
\neven be described as an Indonesian phenomenon as it would rarely,
\nif ever, be seen in many other countries. Schools across the
\ncapital promote themselves on the basis that they follow foreign
\ncurricula. In effect, it seems that they are keen to exhibit the
\nfact that they are providing a program and implementing a system
\nof education that is, in fact, quite alien to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The promotion of schools on the basis of their use of foreign
\ncurricula may be understandable in the context of frustrations
\nwith the existing Indonesian curricula, but does this kind of
\nfrustration necessarily allow us to condone a straightforward
\nrejection of the national curriculum? Can it really be right that
\nan Indonesian school, educating Indonesian students, can and will
\nso willfully turn its back on the Indonesian schooling system?<\/p>\n
It is usually Singaporean or Australian systems of education
\nthat are being offered. It seems that Indonesia's nearest
\nneighbors are viewed as having school systems and curricula that
\nare more attractive than Indonesia's own. Schools that fall into
\nthe category of \"national plus\" schools are, often, those that
\nseem to be turning towards other nations for the basis of their
\nschool programs. By definition this means that those schools that
\nare generally seen as being amongst the elite of the Indonesian
\nschooling system are, in a sense, opting out of the local scene.<\/p>\n
This kind of condition does seem, at least somewhat, sad and
\ndisappointing. The more expensive schools of the capital, and so
\nthose schools that are attracting the sons and daughters of
\nprofessional and well salaried people, are effectively saying
\nthat they are no longer really providing an Indonesian education
\nbut are instead providing a foreign education.<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly much of the justification for such orientation
\nwould revolve around the notion that students attending these
\nschools are more likely to pursue their higher educational
\ncareers at overseas universities. Nonetheless opting out of the
\nlocal scene and adopting a foreign approach does undoubtedly run
\nthe risk of undermining an important, if not essential, quality
\nof schools and schooling; namely that schools have a social role
\nto play and, in a very real sense, successful education in our
\ntwenty-first century is fundamentally a social activity.
\nIncreasingly all learning will, and probably has to, be viewed as
\nsocial in context and significance.<\/p>\n
Where then does this leave the notion of schools that will
\nadopt and implement a foreign system of education? Increasingly,
\nsuccessful schools are those that recognize their social
\nsignificance. Increasingly, schools that recognize that they are
\na living, social system\/ organization are those schools that have
\nthe most to contribute to their wider society -- and that wider
\nsociety is the city and\/ or nation in which they are active.<\/p>\n
It has to be questioned whether a school that simply
\ntransplants another system and\/ or curricula from another
\ncountry, that may have a quite different social set-up, can
\nreally be seen as existing as a \"social organization\" or an
\neducational institute that values its social significance.<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly, key among the motives for implementing foreign
\ncurricula is the notion that these curricula are academically
\nmore sound and valid to students of the early twenty-first
\ncentury that must respond to and adapt with the changing and
\nchallenging times of globalization. It may indeed be fair to
\nsuppose that the education systems of developed countries such as
\nAustralia and Singapore may be superior to that of a developing
\ncountry such as Indonesia. But the sense of isolation that
\nstudents may feel in following a foreign program of study here in
\nIndonesia may be difficult to overcome.<\/p>\n
They will inevitably be isolated from the vast majority of
\nother schools and school students within Indonesia as they are,
\nafter all, only a small and quite select few within the whole
\nscheme of Indonesian education. But they may also be isolated
\nfrom that group which they would be aiming to join.<\/p>\n
A high school graduate from an Indonesian school who went on
\nto an Australian college, for example, would probably be viewed
\nwith some skepticism should he claim that he got an Australian
\neducation in Indonesia. It would, quite simply, understandably be
\nviewed as a little odd that an Indonesian person, resident in
\nIndonesia, did not get an Indonesian education and the veracity
\nof his apparent \"Australian education\" would be likely to be
\nquestioned.<\/p>\n
Also, given the changing nature of the way we learn, the
\nvalidity of simply adopting apparently more academically rigorous
\ncurricula may be dubious. It is a reality of our times that
\nschools no longer hold a monopoly on information for children.
\nChildren may learn in such a huge variety of ways and from such a
\nhuge variety of mediums that schools are no longer the sole
\narbiters of what students will learn. From books and magazines to
\ntelevision and the Internet, today's generation of school
\nstudents is far more information orientated than previous
\ngenerations.<\/p>\n
Employers, and potential economic prosperity too, will more
\nand more be orientated towards valuing listening and
\ncommunication skills, and towards the ability to co-operate and
\ncollaborate with the use of critical thinking skills to work in
\nenvironments that are increasingly interdependent, dynamic and
\ndiverse. In this sense learning as a social skill and education
\nand schools as a social entity has heightened significance.<\/p>\n
Indonesian schools, and the Indonesian education system,
\nshould be seeking out their own higher standards and cultivating
\nthe social value of what they are providing for their wider
\ncommunity. The temptations to effectively \"sell-out\" and utilize
\nother systems from other nations is great and quite
\nunderstandable but should it really be seen as the way to
\nproceed?<\/p>\n
With a greater sense of self-worth, respect and confidence in
\nwhat educators are doing, it must surely be possible for people
\nto acknowledge the value and legitimacy of having an Indonesian
\neducation in Indonesia. Education and the school experience is
\none of the most formative, valuable and vital aspects of people's
\nlives.<\/p>\n
If an Indonesian school simply contracts this educational
\nobligation out to, or tries to adopt, a foreign system, it is
\npossible to read an underlying message that the Indonesian
\nexperience is not valued. Education has a critical social role to
\nplay and if schools may be seen to undermine this social role by
\nadopting foreign ways and means then a genuinely regrettable
\ncondition may have been reached.<\/p>",
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