Education and creativity

Education and creativity

Muhammad Zuhdi, Jakarta

The debate surrounding the national examinations over the last few
months has led us to misjudge the meaning of education. The
meaning of education, which has so far been reduced to schooling,
has now been further downgraded to academic achievement, more
specifically, the performance of students in the national
examinations.

It is clearly stated in the 2003 Education Law that the
function of national education is to develop Indonesia's future
generation to become well-adjusted, healthy, smart, creative, and
independent individuals, in addition to being faithful,
democratic and responsible citizens.

The point that I would like to highlight here is creativity,
since this is the most important aspect of education and one that has
almost been forgotten by many. It is clear that the debate over
national examinations for Indonesian schools misinterprets the
meaning of an "educated person".

Within the current educational system, children, under the
guidance or even pressure of teachers, are expected to achieve
certain measurable academic standards that will be assessed at
the end of the day. This system is certainly rational within the
context of accountability and quality control. This,
unfortunately, can mislead educational practitioners to limit
their goals to only guiding their students to achieve high
academic standards without paying attention to other aspects of
the students' lives.

Kieran Egan (1988), a professor of education at the Simon
Fraser University in Canada, emphasized the importance of
imagination in education, realizing how our current society,
especially our education system, pays very little attention to
this important aspect of education. According to Egan, every
society has its own oral cultures that are built upon
imagination. This is what he calls bonnes a penser, which are
things that keep society thinking about various issues.

Imagining is an ability to think and illustrate something
extraordinary. It is an invaluable gift that leads human beings
to invent their civilization. It is also an important means of
education that can encourage students to combine their
experiences and intellectual capacities to dream within their
consciousness. This is what makes imagination different from
fantasy. Hence, allowing children to use their imagination
through education will help them develop their own creativity.

In a rapidly changing and competitive world, creativity is a
very important asset of an educated human being that allows
him/her to survive and achieve a better life. Particularly, it is
something that Indonesia, in its present situation, needs in
order for this country to have a better future.

Our cultural heritage shows that imagination had its place in
our past generations. We can easily see how they productively
used their imaginations through folktales, folk songs, nursery
rhymes, architecture, and literature. Those works reflected how
our people creatively responded to various events in their lives
based on their own knowledge and experiences.

It is unfortunate, therefore, to see that our current
education system pays very little attention to the use of
imagination in today's classrooms. There is very little room for
them to use their imaginations and develop their creativity. It
seems that the use of imagination is something that is now
confined to pre-school education.

This, then, explains why the interest in reading among
Indonesian people is low despite the fact that our level of
education has increased. It is because students are only expected
to read textbooks and are rarely introduced to literary works
that could let their imaginations soar.

Therefore, setting aside the controversial issue of the
national examinations, the education authorities at the central
level should take whatever action is necessary to ensure that our
schools do not only teach our children to become academic high-
achievers but also creative and imaginative individuals. And this
will not take place until our schools' curricula allow and
encourage teachers to creatively and imaginatively manage their
classrooms.

The writer is a lecturer in the School of Education at UIN
Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta and a PhD student in the School of
Education at McGill University, Montreal - Canada. He can be
reached at muhammad.zuhdi@mail.mcgill.ca