Foreign 'educators' should be carefully examined

Pieter Van Der Vienhart, Tilburg, Netherlands

Systems of education all around the world are, it seems, destined to be forever the cause of much heated debate and discussion. In many countries of Europe, the debate revolves around a perceived and feared process of "dumbing-down", meaning that more and more students are graduating, but, simultaneously, standards are perceived to be falling.

Whether or not this reduction in true achievement is really happening remains debatable; this again illustrates how education causes so much discussion, and even sometimes conflict.

But for countries such as Indonesia the debate over education is much more concerned with raising standards up than fears that standards are falling and, of course, this is deeply affected by limited resources and funding and seemingly unlimited numbers of school-age children.

The debate over education in Indonesia always seems to begin from a negative and pessimistic viewpoint that Indonesian schools and teachers are almost always failing to achieve what is needed for their students and so they are "failing to prepare their students for the modern world."

This proposition needs to be checked, as often Indonesian students are really doing quite well, and it also should be looked at with caution because too often this misperception is being exploited by foreign "educators".

The concerns that, quite naturally, exist regarding to Indonesian education and schools particularly, have opened the door to a stream of foreign institutes and individuals who enter into the field of education in Indonesia with the offensive idea that they know best what ought to be done to improve matters. It would be wonderful if they did, but very often they are far, far from being purveyors of solutions, often bringing out-dated ideas and baggage that adds to problems rather than reduces them.

There are, quite simply, too many foreign institutes and individuals selling themselves and selling their claims of "superior education" when in truth, with some examination, it can be seen that they are offering nothing exceptional in either the field of education in Indonesia or education internationally/ globally.

This is an offensive condition because quite often it creates a condition in which foreigners are imported into Indonesian schools and given priority treatment ahead of their Indonesian colleagues even though their Indonesian colleagues may be superior in terms of intellect, experience and qualifications to teach in schools.

A number of Indonesian teachers have highlighted how they have had to accept expatriate teachers into their ranks who are, to quote one teacher's assessment of one such expatriate teacher, "incompetent, incapable as a teacher, and not very smart." What adds insult to injury here is that these "expatriate teachers" receive salaries significantly higher than their Indonesian colleagues.

One senior teacher noted that for "one bad foreign teacher, we could employ four good Indonesian teachers." He said this with a combination of dismay and resignation, realizing that Indonesian teachers are lowly paid and so, comparatively, these expatriate teachers are a great expense with limited or little benefit.

What seems to be happening here is a deeply undesirable remnant of colonial thinking. There is a pitiful assumption that just because a teacher comes from a Western or Westernized country they will automatically have access to and be able to apply superior thinking and methods to education in Indonesia. This is simply not the case, and it is time that Indonesia better scrutinized these individuals and institutes and examine their true value.

A friend of mine has a particularly smart and critical daughter who will probably continue her education outside of Indonesia but, for now, is attending a so-called "national plus" school.

She found that one of her teachers, an expatriate American, seemed to have a rather poor grasp of basic general knowledge. Over time she became frustrated with this and so she became curious about this "teacher's" educational background. Eventually she found out that back in the US he had been a waiter in a restaurant.

Such an individual has, no doubt, come to Indonesia to be "respected as an expatriate teacher" and to receive a salary far in excess of his better qualified, Indonesian colleagues. This seems quite wrong. An inadequately educated individual is being entrusted to work as a teacher in a school that would claim to be superior. One cannot help but feel deeply uncomfortable with such a situation.

Expatriate teachers in Indonesia often regurgitate trite statements about "what education should be" and how they are "providing Indonesian students with the education they really need". Sadly these people often lack knowledge of their Indonesian students and the Indonesian context in which they are working.

People who were born in Indonesia and/or who have lived for some years in Indonesia are more receptive and better placed to truly understand and respond to the educational needs of the nation. Careful examination of needs, and assessments of individuals' and groups of individuals' abilities to meet those needs, should be applied.

For example, it was noted above that often Indonesian education is seen to be failing to prepare its students for the modern world, but there are examples of Indonesia's education system doing a good job.

A number of students who have spent part of their education in Western countries observe that schools there are both "too easy and too relaxed". Many Indonesian students find traditionally difficult subjects like mathematics "too easy" in schools in countries like America and Australia.

Some might try to dismiss this as a product of "drilling" knowledge in Indonesian schools but it might also be part of that feared "dumbing-down" in certain countries. Indonesia's system of education is, without doubt, struggling to succeed, but exposing it to the weaknesses of the West and fallacies of superiority will not help. Improvement will not come from blind faith but must come from insightful examination.

The writer is an education consultant. He can be reached at pietervdv48@hotmail.com.