Can we teach morals without referring to culture?

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): "The various crises we have been facing thus far -- economic, political and social -- are all the consequence of a deeper crisis; a cultural crisis.

"This crisis has moved into our society in a very quiet manner, and has steadily become increasingly worse. Because it entered quietly, there are many among us who are not even aware that we are in the midst of such a crisis.

"Unless and until we understand the nature of this crisis and take measures to heal ourselves and our culture, we will never be able to mend our economic, political and social crises in a fundamental and lasting manner."

This was the closing statement of a participant at a seminar on ways to facilitate the birth of a "new Indonesian society", defined in the seminar as a society which consciously struggles to put sovereignty into the hands of the people.

Since this participant did not elaborate on what he meant by "cultural crisis" or "culture", the discussion that ensued was rather chaotic. As I saw it, this chaos stemmed primarily from the many different meanings the participants assigned to the word "culture", and also from the different notions the participant had regarding the interrelationship of culture, politics and economy.

Out of this lack of conceptual clarity, the term "sociocultural" was in the course of the discussion always defined in a negative way and treated as a wastebasket. "Sociocultural" is everything that is not covered by the terms "sociopolitical" and "socioeconomic".

The lack of precision in defining the meaning of culture is not confined to participants of this seminar. In my experience in many circles within our society, people tend to emphasize one aspect or another when using the word "culture", and they seldom try to integrate the different aspects into one rounded and holistic meaning.

In one circle, people use the word "culture" primarily to denote monuments. In another circle, this word is used primarily to denote arts: Literature, music, dance, etc., while in yet another circle, the same word is used primarily to denote customs.

There are not many among us who adopt the comprehensive view of Professor Ray Browne, and use the word "culture" to include ideas, practices and objects.

This view is usually referred to as the "popular view" of culture, distinguishing it from another view which is highly intellectual and artistically elitist.

This confusion concerning the various meanings of culture has led some among us to believe that education and culture, traditionally one managerial domain within the system of Indonesia's public administration, should be separated from one another, and that cultural matters should be delegated to the government institution handling tourism.

I have grave reservations with this view. In the first place, I believe that culture is basically the business of the people, and not only of the government. If there is a governmental agency charged with handling cultural matters, its function is primarily to support and facilitate groups within society which wish to promote cultural life, be it in the realm of ideas, practice or objects.

Second, I think there is a great difference between culture for the purpose of promoting tourism, and culture with the purpose of educating the young. Whereas in tourism, culture is used to exhibit to foreigners the nation's past achievements, in education culture is meant to guide younger generations in their journey toward the future.

Thus, whereas in tourism culture is always used in an exhibitionistic sense, and is meant to offer static glances into the past, in education its function is primarily to continuously renew a force that in the past shaped the character of the nation.

This self-renewal is a device to ensure a nation will not be entrapped by its past achievements, become static and repetitive, and deteriorates in its zeal. The culture that is provided in educational institutions is meant to stimulate the nation into redefining itself, to engage itself in an endless endeavor to revise its outlook on life and to give fresh responses to the new challenges it meets in its journey toward the future.

I hope it has become evident by now that the two kinds of culture should not be confused. Let tourism define the culture it sees fit for its purposes, and let education nurture its own culture for the purpose of guiding the young for the national task of building the nation's future. Do not rob education of its natural habitat: Culture as a domain of values and value systems.

I cannot imagine any educational enterprise that operates without a cultural context. Up to a certain age, the main task of education is to instill in the young the capability to make moral decisions and to be responsible to oneself for these decisions.

This means that education must introduce children to the moral norms that are valid at any one time in society, help them understand the meaning of these norms and voluntarily accept them by regulating their conduct according to the dictates of these norms.

Is it possible to teach moral norms and moral values without referring to the culture that is alive in society? I don't think so.

What will happen then if the cultural component is removed from education? Educators will still refer to existing value systems, but without relating these value systems to their sources, i.e. the philosophical underpinnings of morality.

The ethical background of value systems will then only be implied, and not explicitly explored. In a society whose culture is undergoing a process of transformation like ours, such implicit assumptions are not healthy. Children will then live in two contrasting worlds: The world of the ideal or the normative, and the world of naked and brute reality.

With this kind of educational setting, younger generations will never understand why there have been so many ugly anomalies in our society in spite of the splendid ethical standards that have been stored in the collective memory of this nation. They will be culturally handicapped in their prospective task of restoring the nation's morality.