Education needs evolution rather than revolution

Simon Marcus Gower, Principal, Harapan Bangsa High School, Tangerang

Education, like so many other facets of Indonesian life, has come under the scrutiny of critics who conclude that there is a need for major reform, if not revolution, in the way education is conducted in Indonesia. But caution is advisable; to be swept away in a whirlwind of a reformist mentality may not be best policy where changes are needed.

It is reasonable to propound that changes are needed; but a sense of perspective and realism is necessary to ensure that the changes that are made are, in fact, made for the betterment of the situation not merely for their own sake.

Change is surely a natural feature of any system of education. In order to attain any degree of sophistication and relevance to our ever-changing world, education must be flexible and able to grow.

But this flexibility should not be misconstrued or over extended to a point of malleability that allows "reformists" to shape and bend it to their every whim and ultimately undermining its integrity.

Reform and revolution have their place but for the world of education an on-going evolution should be recognized rather than a misplaced faith in change for the sake of change. So called "expert educational consultants and advisors" should be carefully screened, or at least viewed with a healthy degree of critical thinking -- not to say skepticism.

Recently a visiting Australian "curriculum consultant" came to Indonesia to promote the virtues of the Australian schooling system. He seemed to propose that the managers of education in Indonesia would be best advised to resign from their Indonesian curriculum efforts and take on, almost wholesale, the model ("the excellent exemplar"), of the Australian system.

To such depths was he convinced of this, almost outrageous, notion that he intimated that in order to facilitate this shift to, what he would claim to be, a higher paradigm educators in Indonesia would all need to be able to understand English. Curriculum builders and designers would, in short, have to be fluent and fully capable in written and spoken English so that they could manage this move.

There could surely be no debating the fact that there are linguistic, cultural, thinking and facilities differences that have to be considered and accommodated in adapting and applying essentially foreign models.

Internationalism in education is a longstanding and legitimate practice. One only needs to look at the likes of Silicon Valley or world-renowned research centers in the likes of Cambridge or Oxford to witness the benefits to be gained from a world without borders when it comes to educational and academic growth. But carte blanche acceptance of outside ideas does not work.

Indonesia very clearly is exhibiting development of its education sector. True, and almost inevitably, the recent social, political and economic problems have not helped this process of development. Indeed nationally they have setback the improvement of education considerably but there are also signs of improvement.

There are very well and deeply dedicated people that believe in and are actively pursuing the advancement of better education. In addition, the plethora of national plus schools that have been established and continue to take root and more fully formulate their programs of education also indicate the manner in which change for the better is actually occurring.

For growth and development to continue it is not, then, necessary to "reinvent the wheel" or rip up what has already been done and start again. Reference to what is going on in the wider world with regards to education will always be useful and important. But it is essential, for it to work, that those that refer to this big world of education possess acumen in judgment and skill in application to adapt and match to the needs and capabilities of the Indonesian schooling system.

Evolution theorists recognize the concept of natural selection in the evolutionary process. In the evolving system of education in Indonesia it should be natural for selectivity to be scrupulously applied. Even where there is dissatisfaction with the current situation this should not be allowed to waste what is already good.

Education and educational development is a gradual process. What is essential is that parties concerned in education have a desire to change and progress. Knowledge that progress is being made is always going to be helpful. But recognition and targeting of end results should be maintained. If the perceived need for progress and change becomes obsessive there is the risk that longer-term objectives may be forgotten and consequently become increasingly illusive.