Education: Learning from a crisis

By David Harries

JAKARTA (JP): Economic volatility and political uncertainty are fostering fears for the future in Indonesia and its neighbors, with good reason. The economic debacle is a global trauma. The worst of its effects are yet to come, and their form and force will be unknown until they arrive.

The hardest hurt from every prosperity and power level in society are unlikely to be in a charitable and tolerant mood for a long time to come. And, of most immediate concern, the end of the Idul Fitri holiday signals the end of Ramadhan's calming presence.

There are, however, two things about which there is no doubt. And they deserve more attention than they are getting. One is that the crisis, and crises it may spawn, will end. The other is that the world will go on.

Supercilious waffle? Not if you are serious about both dealing with the crisis and preparing for its aftermath. These two tasks point us towards both medicine for the present and insurance for the future.

They point at the young; the pre-schoolers, primary schoolers and teenagers, who as adults will manage and lead in the future. What they do as leaders and how well they do it depends on their preparation; on their personal and professional development, on their education.

Much is always made about the importance and value of education as a key to sustaining national development and increasing prosperity. In recent times, Asians have given themselves high marks for their words and deeds on education. Many outside the region have joined in the praise.

But, like so much else connected with the fall from grace of the Asian "economic miracle", education is being exposed as the recipient of at least as much lip service as system improvement in the recent past. A 1997 article, The Silence of the Lambs, in a major news magazine, described the situation in detail, even before July's first currency melt down. It noted that education in Asia, Southeast Asia in general, and Malaysia in particular, was neither providing nor achieving what was claimed or needed. In brief it failed to encourage critical thinking, analysis and creativity.

By education, I do not focus on literacy. Achievement of literacy is commendable, and countries such as Indonesia which have greatly increased the size of the literate population have much to be proud of. But literacy in the absence of real opportunity to advance intellectually and make real improvements to one's quality of life, is a double edged sword. People know more because they can read. But, the more they know, the clearer their perceptions of factors preventing betterment will become. Dissatisfaction and anger are the logical reaction to any perceived injustices.

By education, I do mean teachers and students in schools and universities, working together in mutually responsible and accountable ways. I mean qualified teachers striving to teach students how to think critically, question and analyze. I mean a partnership to produce graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to survive and succeed in an environment of competitive globalism.

In a country such as Indonesia, where the great majority of the population are smallholder or subsistence farmers, further education is hardly germane to the status quo. But the struggling middle class and the newly literate no longer believe in the status quo as best for them, or for their country. The structures and processes which the country needs to operate as a full and successful member of the global community can be developed and operated effectively only by people whose education provides them with the skills and confidence to do so.

Analogy to sport may be useful. To qualify for the right to participate in the Olympic Games, an individual must first achieve a standard. It is clearly posted and open to all who wish to try. If you did not qualify you do not compete.

Too many schools, universities, students and teachers in Asia are ignoring, or avoiding, the issue of quality and the need for appropriate and credible qualifications. Too many individuals want to earn their qualification, and expect to prosper from it, with little or no work. Levels of accountability and responsibility which would foster the necessary competence and credibility are too often absent.

Sadly, there are today many reasons for this condition. Near the head of the list, certainly in Indonesia, is the pay of the teachers and lecturers, who are civil servants. It is so desperately, unfairly and disproportionately low, relative to the importance and value of the profession, that many -- I have been told most -- teachers simply can not afford to maintain professional competence at the necessary level or foster the responsibility and accountability their profession calls for.

If the government of Indonesia could grant qualified teachers a reasonable financial status, their performance in front of students could only rise. The increase in their pride and confidence would rub off on the students. If more students understood the need for, and benefits of, a credible, earned qualification, they would perform better. The result would be fewer unprepared and incompetent graduates dropped into the work- world to add to the numbers of un-and under-employed, a particularly intense national issue in these hard economic times.

There is a role here for the international community as well. First, overseas universities currently practicing academic equivalents of affirmative action could de-emphasize the bottom line "fee for presence" philosophy in favor of one more orientated to "performance for future considerations".

Second, institutions could help soften the effects of the currency melt-down. Families of a large number of Asian students at universities overseas have been put in a terrible bind. Fees, living and home-visit expenses have gone up many-fold. For what is a truly tiny sum compared to the US$100 billion or $200 billion committed to bailing out the richest and most powerful in only a handful of debt-embedded countries, every Asian student studying overseas could have the "meltdown component" of his or her current school fees covered, on the condition that his or her work was of sufficient quality. In other words, deserving students would deserve an academic equivalent of an IMF bailout.

Thirdly, the NGO could weigh in anew. Many have just completed post-Cold War restructuring and re-missioning. Each of the major organizations working in the social sector should add another line to their task list: "Sponsor upgrades at strategic schools in major centers in economically-stressed and academically weak countries". The sponsorship would, in keeping with the theme of quality, be subject to regular performance reviews. Failure to perform would result in the activity being moved to another needy institution.

The future will come. The young of today will be the leaders. Education systems in Asia are mortgaging both, for a variety of reasons. But even in these times of unprecedented financial volatility and uncertainty, a relatively small and uncontroversial investment from within and without the country could be made which would pay enormous dividends for a future which enjoyed less of both.

Window A: But, like so much else connected with the fall from grace of the Asian "economic miracle", education is being exposed as the recipient of at least as much lip service as system improvement in the recent past.

Window B: Too many schools, universities, students and teachers in Asia are ignoring, or avoiding, the issue of quality and the need for appropriate and credible qualifications. Too many individuals want to earn their qualification, and expect to prosper from it, with little or no work.