All over the world, managing a schools can be a real challenge

Simon Marcus Gower, Jakarta

It seems as though the management of schools, and the schooling system, in Indonesia is constantly facing problems and difficulties: It is not achieving standards; that it is not preparing students for the world of today; and even that many schools are the subject of malpractices and corrupt and collusive behavior that forms an obstacle to progress.

It is very easy, and quite common, when considering matters of difficulty to exercise negativity that only makes matters worse. We should have a breadth to our thinking that allows us to realize the nature of our problems and apply a realistic and positive approach to finding solutions.

Perhaps too often we permit ourselves to wallow in the realms of negativity that undermines the chances of solutions being found. It is true that there are problems for education in Indonesia but it is equally true that there are significant problems for education in countries all around the world and being aware of this can help understand the problems being met and assist in the realization that they are not unique.

People have a tendency to apply the mentality that "the grass is greener on the other-side of the fence". For example, people in Indonesia will consistently look to Western countries as an example of a good place for schools and schooling.

But a shallow and simple analysis of the Western approach to schooling and school systems should not be allowed to bring people to the naive conclusion that all is well in education there and all is not well here in Indonesia.

Examples can be found in this system of education of institutes in which children have access to outdated, ill- equipped and insufficient libraries. School libraries can often be found that have encyclopedias that are thirty or forty years out of date and books that are in terrible need of repair. School buildings can be found that are decrepit and effectively falling down.

Worse still many schools in this system of education are places of danger and great concern for the students attending them. For example -- many schools are known to be places of risk at which there is the danger that children are going to be exposed to drugs and drug taking. On top of this when visiting some schools within this school system, to enter in to the school premises it is necessary to pass through a metal detecting device which most of us would only recognize from airport security systems.

In short, it is possible to see that schools can be places of great concern for the health and welfare of the students attending them. Conditions such as this have to be gravely concerning and would perhaps leave us with feelings of great dismay and disappointment for the condition of our schools.

The conditions being described above are in fact conditions that maybe encountered in schools in the United States of America. Of course, these are worst case scenarios; these are the very worst of conditions that can be experienced at schools there. It would be wrong to think that all schools in America suffer from conditions such as this; but it is the fact that these awful conditions do exist.

Many people in Indonesia would quite easily and quickly look to America as a model for education that this country could and perhaps even should follow; but perhaps they would not be quite so quick to see the kind of problems that America too faces in its education system. We do have to be realistic and honest about the problems that exist in bringing education to people through the schooling system.

Criticisms that schools are not providing the right kind of formula to prepare students for the life that lies ahead of them are consistent throughout the world and represent the nature of the challenge of bringing education to people for the twenty first century. There is a growing recognition throughout the world that the model of education that is applied in schools needs to be, practically, constantly updated and improved.

Again, in Indonesia the following thoughts would probably be seen as familiar and an area that does need to be addressed here: School students are consistently under pressure and stressed out by the need to perform in school. They are most often required to simply regurgitate the knowledge and answers that the teachers require of them.

They are most typically required to not to "rock the boat". They are basically required to do as they are told; not to think but simply accept what is given to them and not to question authority. The single aim is that they do what is sufficient and required of them to pass the necessary examinations.

This kind of approach to education would, most likely, be seen as something that is not really acceptable and that is, in effect, part of the problem not part of the solution for education in 2004. And yet those observations of a school system that simply requires students to not "rock the boat" and do as they are told and not question are based on an examination of the school system in the United Kingdom.

It can, then, clearly be seen that problems and challenges remain for even the most "developed" of nations and their school systems. Indonesia is experiencing difficulties in rendering its system of education but this is understandable and, in a very real sense, it is right. Problems and challenges are, effectively, at the heart of all education systems and schools. But the hearts and minds of many should be involved in seeking solutions and rising to the challenges.

The writer is Executive Principal of the High/Scope Indonesia School. The opinions expressed above are personal.