Experts reject call to revive ethics lessons

Experts reject call to revive ethics lessons

JAKARTA (JP): Officials and experts have rejected a call from
a number of school teachers that lessons in ethics be
reintroduced as a separate subject in Indonesian schools.

Suheru Mulyo Atmojo, secretary of the education ministry's
research and development agency, said on Saturday that ethical
values have already been incorporated in religion and Pancasila
morality subjects.

Furthermore, the government cannot afford to set up a new
division to deal with the teaching of ethics at teacher training
institutes, he told a seminar on ethics education.

Two other speakers, psychologists Zakiah Daradjat and Sarlito
Wirawan Sarwono, also dismissed the suggestion that ethics be
reintroduced as a separate subject in schools. The subject was
dropped from the school curriculum in 1975.

The proposal that the subject be revived was promoted mainly
by the teachers present at the seminar. They said the subject's
reintroduction was desirable because of the increasing incidence
of juvenile delinquency in Indonesia.

The seminar was organized jointly by the Association of
Indonesian Book Publishers and the ministry of education and
culture.

Suheru, who was representing Sri Hardjoko Wirjomartono, the
head of the research and development agency, said teachers play a
key role in the upbringing of Indonesian children today.

Teachers, he said, should play the role of educators who
confer both knowledge and ethical values on their pupils. He said
most teachers tend to transfer knowledge but ignore ethics.

"Since ethics ceased to be taught as a separate subject,
teachers have tended to play the role of teachers only," he said.
"They no longer educate students about values," he added

He said ethics are incorporated not only in the subjects of
religion and Pancasila morality, but also in other subjects,
including the exact sciences.

He cited a 1986 study by his agency which found that teachers
were not paying enough attention to their pupils in the field of
ethics.

The study found that only a small number of teachers rewarded
their pupils if they did good deeds, while equally few teachers
scolded pupils if the behaved badly, he said.

Suheru conceded that there are other difficulties in the
teaching of ethics at schools.

One is the increasing interaction of various ethnic groups,
each one with different set of ethical values. Another is the
increasing penetration of the country by foreign culture.

"But the most important thing to note is that children imitate
older people around them, such as parents, teachers or public
figures," he said. "These people should set good examples, so
children won't be misled."

Zakiah, a professor at the Jakarta Teachers Training
Institute, also argued against the reintroduction of ethics
teaching as a separate subject at school.

The task of teaching ethics to pupils should be carried out by
all teachers, including mathematics teachers, as well as parents
and society generally, she said.

She emphasized the role of religion as important in teaching
ethics.

"Religion has values which can't be changed since they come
from God," she said.

She added that ethics should be taught even when a child is
still in the womb.

Sarlito, a professor of the school of psychology at the
University of Indonesia, said ethical values tend to change
rapidly nowadays and that, consequently, the teaching of ethics
as a separate subject would have little impact on pupils'
behavior. (05)