Education for a civil society

Education for a civil society

By Mark Heyward

BOGOR, West Java (JP): A panel discussion to mark World
Teachers' Day in Jakarta centered on a challenging theme:
Teachers as a force for social change.

What kind of social change are we talking about? One
significant change required not only here in Indonesia but
globally is the development of a civil society.

The civil society is one where the rule of law prevails, where
people can trust that they will be treated fairly by their
government, their institutions and their fellow citizens. The
civil society is created by informed and responsible citizens.
Citizenship means acting in a way that considers the rights of
others, whatever their national, religious or ethnic background.
The role of the teacher is to prepare the students of today to
become the citizens of tomorrow.

Development of informed and responsible citizens is the most
significant job of the teacher; this is what makes the teacher an
agent of social change. Imagine a society in which everyone knew
the rules, and everyone understood the rights and
responsibilities not only of themselves, but of the entire
community. There would be no need for violence, dishonesty,
corruption or oppression. There would be no need for abuse or
violent conflict of any sort between individuals, ethnic groups
or nations.

This may sound like utopian dreaming, and it probably is. But
it is the role of teachers to dream, to envision the future and
to pass on that hope and that vision to their students --
together with the practical tools to help them create it. That
is what being a force for social change means.

Citizenship is primarily about rights and responsibilities.
Some sections of the Asian community have tended to become
nervous about too much emphasis on individual rights. This is a
Western cultural construct, it is sometimes claimed, and focuses
too much on individual freedoms. In Asian societies the focus is
on collective rights -- the rights of the group -- rather than
individual rights.

There are differences between cultures; the West does tend to
emphasize individualism and Asian societies collectivism. The
concept of citizenship, however, is one that can cross these
cultural divides. Citizenship implies not only individual rights
but responsibilities toward the group. The concept of the civil
society means learning to consider the needs of the group and of
fellow citizens. For every right there is a corresponding
responsibility.

The job of teachers is to teach students what this means.
Learning to be a good citizen begins in the home and in the
classroom. What do children learn in kindergarten? They probably
learn the most important lessons of their life. They learn to
share, to take turns, to treat others well, to follow simple
rules -- basically they learn to live and work in a cooperative
community.

As children grow older, this learning expands to the school,
the wider community, the nation and ultimately to the globe.

An example is found in classrooms in international schools,
where the rules of conduct are typically not imposed by the
teacher but are developed collaboratively by the students and the
teacher.

The teacher does not say "Do this because I tell you to!" or
"Do this because the rules tell you to!" What the teacher says
is "Do this because this is what we have agreed to do".

Teachers work with their classes to develop shared objectives.
They are then reformulated as rights and corresponding
responsibilities: We have the right to learn, so there is a
corresponding responsibility to study hard, and not to interrupt
the teacher or other students. We have the right to be safe, and
a corresponding responsibility to behave safely. We have the
right to respect, and the responsibility to show respect to
teachers and fellow students.

What do students learn from this? They learn that being a
member of a community means accepting responsibilities. The
development of agreements like this, in which rules are stated as
rights and responsibilities, sets the scene for a supportive
school environment. It is an environment in which students are
free from harassment and bullying and able to focus on their
studies.

It also teaches students about citizenship and how to live in
a civil society.

What kind of a future do we want? Will that future reflect
the vision of an apocalyptic clash of cultures -- between East
and West, Muslim and Christian, for example -- as described by
Samuel Huntington in his well-known book The Clash of
Civilizations (1996)?

Or will our future reflect the vision of a cooperative and
pluralistic global civil society? The answer will largely be
determined by the extent to which today's students learn the
competencies, understandings and values necessary for citizenship
and a civil society.

The risk of societies -- local, national and global --
fragmenting along ethnic as well as political divides is
increasing. Here in Indonesia it seems that the task is urgent.
We watch almost daily television broadcasts of students brawling
or staging violent protests.

Arif Rahman, a lecturer from the Jakarta Teachers' Training
Institute, has warned that students are learning that violence is
the normal means of settling disputes.

"We have become accustomed to settling our problems by forcing
our will (upon others) and neglecting dialog as a means for the
management of conflict," Arif was reported as saying last week.

The teaching profession has a proud record in Indonesia. It is
through education that a common national language has been
taught, that a shared national vision has been developed and that
high levels of literacy and numeracy have been achieved. These
are remarkable achievements in a short 50 years. International
teachers also have a proud record. We are at the forefront of a
movement toward global citizenship and intercultural literacy in
education.

The time has come for the next step: the development of a
civil society -- here in Indonesia -- and a global civil society.
To achieve this, teachers must focus on teaching citizenship.
They must become a force for social change.

The writer is a private consultant in education and training
based in Bogor, West Java.