Boosting education

I refer to the two headlines in the Sept. 23, 2000 edition of The Jakarta Post: Education needs more attention on page 1, and Holland provides $30.4 million grant for local schools, on page 2. This is supported by the demand for 25 percent of the state budget to be allocated for education. We now find ourselves at a turning point in the Indonesian way of thinking about education.

All these ideas should be put into effect by the government and the people considering that Indonesia has a very big population. If the government fails to do so, many negative consequences are looming such as violence and disintegration, mainly because of a lack of education and conscience.

Colin Rose and Malcolm J. Nicholl, in their famous book Accelerated learning for the 21st Century (1977) have repeatedly reminded us of the importance of training our brain as in the following: The empires of the future will be the empires of the mind (Churchill); if you want to develop your brain it needs to be exercised constantly; one man that has a mind and knows it can always beat ten men who haven't and don't (G. Bernard Shaw); a mind that is stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimension (O.W. Holmes).

Further, brain storming or training is also related to health as stated by Rose and Nicholl: Studies show that people with higher education are generally healthier and live longer. Hence, it is high time for the government to heed education as a priority unless we want to be the slaves of the industrialized countries.

ODO FADLOELI

Cimahi, Bandung