Teachers, students subject to ethical standards<\/p>\n
By Mochtar Buchori<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): When a teacher punishes a student in an
\noutrageous manner, what happens?<\/p>\n
In most cases, nothing. In certain cases, the bureaucracy
\nsays, \"We have not received any report yet concerning the
\nincident.\"<\/p>\n
Thus, again nothing happens. In special cases, when there is a
\npublic outcry, the bureaucracy says, \"Those terrible mistakes
\nwere not committed by our teachers, but by oknum (meaning
\nundesirable elements within a working unit).<\/p>\n
\"There are still many excellent and dedicated teachers in our
\nschools. The public should not be upset by mistakes conducted by
\na number of oknum.\"<\/p>\n
When a student beats a teacher until he or she is knocked out,
\nwhat happens? The educational bureaucracy immediately says, \"This
\nis an unforgivable act. The student must not only be expelled,
\nbut he must also be prosecuted.\"<\/p>\n
In the mind of the public, this is a double standard. I have
\ntalked to a number of parents about this situation. Most of these
\nparents think that the teacher who punished some students
\nrecently by ordering them to run naked around the schoolyard must
\nbe fired and prosecuted.<\/p>\n
The teacher who poked a burning cigarette in the thigh of a
\nstudent must at least be reprimanded or given a kind of
\nadministrative punishment. Applying no sanction whatsoever to
\nteachers who administer educational punishments in a brutal
\nmanner is certainly not a good practice of educational
\nmanagement.<\/p>\n
I am not defending students who physically attack their
\nteachers. They must be punished and expelled from schools if the
\nentire teaching staff is convinced that the school no longer has
\nthe capability to constructively guide such students.<\/p>\n
What I absolutely reject is the policy of not applying any
\nsanction on teachers who have employed atrocious methods in
\npunishing students.<\/p>\n
From an ethical point of view, ordering students to run naked
\nis a more serious abuse than hitting a teacher. The mental damage
\ncaused by having to run naked, and watched by the entire teaching
\nstaff, is much greater and has a more lasting effect than the one
\ncaused by being hit by a student. Why, then, must the student be
\nexpelled and prosecuted, while the teacher declared innocent and
\nprotected?<\/p>\n
I think it is appropriate to ask why a student would
\nphysically attack a teacher. In any normal Indonesian school, any
\nnormal student would have enough respect towards any normal
\nteacher. So the idea of physically attacking a teacher would not
\nnormally enter a student's mind.<\/p>\n
The fact that such incidents happen suggests that there is
\nsomething basically wrong in the particular schools where they
\noccur. What or who is abnormal in these cases: the school, the
\nstudent, the teacher, or all of them?<\/p>\n
It would be wise, I think, to reflect upon this question. It
\nis only after we have figured out the set of circumstances that
\ntriggered such an incident, that we can be able to prevent a
\nsimilar incident from occurring again in the future.<\/p>\n
But pronouncing hastily that the student must be expelled and
\nprosecuted without carefully analyzing the case would not
\nguarantee that the event would not be repeated.<\/p>\n
I find this situation very appalling. It clearly shows the
\ninability of our educational managers to combine bold thinking
\nwith human feeling as a guide in making important decisions.<\/p>\n
With this kind intellectual shortcoming we are bound to
\nstumble upon the same mistakes again and again. What will
\nultimately happen to our society if justice is no longer observed
\nin our educational institutions?<\/p>\n
I can see only one prospect -- that is further disintegration
\nof our social institutions.<\/p>\n
Another disturbing phenomenon about this situation is the
\nhabitual practice of declaring a member of an institution who has
\nmade a blunder an oknum.<\/p>\n
This seems to be the standard practice among high-ranking
\nofficials whenever something goes wrong in their working unit.
\nWhenever pilots are caught smuggling ecstasy pills, they suddenly
\nbecome oknum, and their identity an aircraft pilot is brushed
\naway.<\/p>\n
Whenever police are caught red-handed while extracting
\n\"protection money\" from shop-owners, for instance, they are
\nimmediately declared oknum.<\/p>\n
They are denied their identity as a police officer. And
\nwhenever teachers are caught administering an unacceptable method
\nof punishment, they are declared oknum, and thereby their
\nassociation with the teaching profession is publicly denied.<\/p>\n
The purpose of this practice is -- and this is just my guess
\n-- to clear government units from involvement with any
\nwrongdoing. A government institution must keep its reputation
\nclean. This is, of course, a very noble goal.<\/p>\n
But is it effective as a policy? I don't think so. The stigma
\nthat is caused by illegal, unethical or unprofessional conduct by
\na member of a government organization while performing his or her
\nofficial duties would not be washed away by declaring such an
\nindividual an oknum.<\/p>\n
Public disapproval and condemnation would persist until the
\nstigmatized government bureaucracy shows in a convincing manner
\nthat it can control its members and that it honors the public
\nsense of justice and decency.<\/p>\n
After so many unhappy incidents in our educational system, I
\nthink the public trust in our educational system has been eroded.
\nThe public is aware that there are indeed more trustworthy
\nteachers in our schools than unreliable ones. What has made our
\nsystem lose its credibility, however, is the fact that it is
\nunable to prevent ethical misconduct among its teachers and
\nadministrators. Disavowing members of the system who offend the
\npublic sense of good professional conduct will not restore its
\ncredibility.<\/p>\n
The public perception of a reputable system of education
\nincludes strict observance of ethical standards and even-
\nhandedness in judging violations of such standards.<\/p>\n
As long as the public still feels that ethical misconduct by
\nteachers is judged more leniently than similar misconduct
\ncommitted by students, the public feeling that our educational
\nsystem is in dire crisis will not go away.<\/p>\n
In the public mind, teachers and other educational
\nadministrators should be subjected to more rigorous standards of
\nethical conduct. This is because they, being adults, are supposed
\nto be more mature in their ethical consciousness and firmer in
\ntheir observance of ethical standards.<\/p>\n
Teachers and educational administrators who fail to meet this
\npublic expectation are bad educators who, in the opinion of
\nGilbert Highet (1906-1987), just \"waste a great deal of effort\"
\nthroughout all their activities, and \"spoil many lives which
\nmight have been full of energy and happiness\".<\/p>\n
Are we doing enough justice to the young generation by keeping
\nsuch elements in our system?<\/p>\n
The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/teachers-students-subject-to-ethical-standards-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }