"Brain drain": When the cream of the crop leaves the country

"Brain drain": When the cream of the crop leaves the country

Simon Marcus Gower, Executive Principal, High/Scope Indonesia
School, Jakarta

"The other day one of my college lecturers asked me what I
planned to do after I graduated. She told me that she assumed I
would be returning to Indonesia to 'help out'. With quite a lot
of embarrassment I had to admit to her and to myself that I was
not entirely happy with the idea of returning to my home country.
In fact, to be honest, I would be happy to stay right where I
am."

Where this person is, is the United States of America where
she is currently evidently enjoying her studies. She sent this e-
mail message as a reflection upon the dilemma that she will be
facing as graduation looms. Unfortunately, like many other young
Indonesians, she is struggling to accept her home country as the
place where she wishes to continue living and working.

A considerable number of young Indonesians both at home and
abroad are clearly suffering in this quandary. Indeed many are so
caught up in this quandary that it is making them miserable and
depressed about the future of Indonesia. This is a serious
condition, as future generations seem to be mentally unhappy and
ill-at-ease with where they are.

Should anyone feel less than at home in their home country is
a sad state of affairs but this problem, for Indonesians, is
compounded by the fact that it often seems to be the best
students and best minds that seem miserable and depressed about
prospects at home. This is, if unchecked, likely to lead to the
regrettable condition of what has elsewhere been termed as "brain
drain"; as the best minds will be attracted and likely to stay
overseas.

Naturally, this will leave Indonesia suffering even more from
a shortfall of professionals. The country already suffers from
something of a lack of leaders in politics, business and science
development but if the brain drain effect does take further grip,
problems of leadership may only grow.

And there is tangible evidence that the best among future
generations are content to contemplate life outside of Indonesia.
Anyone involved in high schools or higher education can witness
this on almost a daily basis. Take these comments from two senior
high students. Both were achieving excellent grades for their
schoolwork but sadly this did not seem to be any solace for them.
In fact, for them their good grades merely represented something
of a ticket to leave Indonesia.

The first, a boy in the last year of his schooling explained
that he was "working extra hard to get the best grades and be the
best of the best. If I do that, I have a better chance of getting
a scholarship. I hope to get one for America but if not I'll be
happy to go to Australia." For this student, then, who
incidentally was among the top students in his school, the
motivation was clear. Get good grades, get a scholarship and get
out. He was asked to explain why he was so keen to get a
scholarship overseas; his answer was simple and to the point,
"Universities in the U.S. or Australia are better than in
Indonesia."

Something of a double blow may be observed here. He doubted
both the future prospects of remaining in Indonesia and the
current value of participating in Indonesian education. This kind
of complaint is also apparent in the comments of another high
school student who is very clearly looking for an alternative for
her education.

This student, frustrated and essentially overwhelmed by the
excessive curricula forced upon her by Indonesian schools, made
the bold decision that she wanted to move away from Indonesia.
With family members resident in Canada and after doing some
research on the nature of schools and schooling in Canada she
concluded that the move to that country would prove most
advantageous to her.

With about one and a half years to go in her high school
education the challenges of contemplating a move, at such an
intense and sensitive time, are great. But it seems that she is
convinced that she would be making the right decision. Her
enthusiastic comments include the fact that "at schools (in
Canada) students don't have so many subjects to study. The
teachers really seem to care and look after students and they can
enjoy school work with the interesting projects that are
assigned."

In short, she found the promise of education in another
country uplifting. She was seeing that it would give her more
opportunities to explore abilities and really grow through going
to school.

In a real sense she was seeing an opportunity to be
rejuvenated by the change and move to a different system of
education. Comparatively Indonesian education had left her
depressed about herself and her own abilities. She was unhappy
with her surroundings and effectively fearful for her future.
Foreign experiences were reaching out to her as a way of
generating new life and new hope.

Clearly both of these students' experiences are less than
favorable for Indonesia. One's only motivation to do well was
that he could opt out of Indonesia, whilst the other felt that
she had little or no other choice to opt out before it was too
late.

Two further things are striking about these two experiences.
First, both of these students were and are highly capable and
intelligent and so their dismay with Indonesian education is
regrettable as it directly represents the brain drain effect. But
also both of them are still really very young, at the ages of
sixteen and seventeen they are both as yet still only on the
brink of adulthood.

Two intelligent teenagers are, then, in a state of mental
depression about their home country and the prospects that it
holds for them. And sadly they are not alone. Others too are
dismayed that, even if they do well in their studies and gain
good qualifications, Indonesia may still hold only limited
prospects for them.

"In Indonesia we often joke about collusion, corruption and
nepotism but that is how it works here. It doesn't matter how
good you are, what really matters is have you got a friend to
look after you." These comments of a university student
struggling to come to terms with the poor prospects for him after
graduation are sad indeed.

Evidently, then, there is much work that needs to be done to
restore faith in both the education system of Indonesia and
prospects for graduates to remain within the country. The task is
hugely challenging but there are still hearts and minds in
Indonesia that are up to the task. But efforts to redress and
restore confidence levels have to be maintained and on-going and
have to be committed. If they are not, then there seems to be
little doubt that the future will witness a growing and more
painful brain drain from Indonesia.

The opinions expressed above are personal.