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)